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A truck driver slips while exiting his cab

and wins $225,000

The Queensland district court heard that during a rain storm, in January 2008, the driver of a Volvo B Double exited his cab to attend to a mechanical fault and fell to the ground, after his foot slipped on the step of the cab. The driver sustained a head injury, neck and lower back injuries and a psychological condition. The employer was found guilty and fined $225,000

The workers case was that he was exposed to a foreseeable risk of falling from the truck due to a defective step and therefore the employer needed to have carried out a risk assessments to identify the shortcomings of the truck. The issue was mainly the rounded outside edge of the step, and that he should have been instructed how to alight from the truck.

The defendant accepted that a slip from a truck is a foreseeable risk of injury. However they submitted that the plaintiff had not proved that the defendant failed to discharge its duty to take reasonable care for him.

Via its servant or agent, the defendant had owned 35 Volvo trucks since 1999, employed at least 60 drivers and had no complaints concerning the access to or egress from the trucks, including from the plaintiff either in relation to the truck involved in the incident or other Volvo's for the period he was driving for the defendant.

Judgment

Irvin DCJ gave significant consideration to the experts evidence. Whilst the employer’s expert suggested that the access system was “…amongst the best that I have seen”, his honour preferred the view of the workers expert that the access step could be easily modified with non-slip material or bolting on aggressive traction which is a cheap, inexpensive response to the foreseeable risk. His honour further agreed there were other plausible explanations as to why the worker slipped, but preferred the worker’s version.

The judge found in the worker’s favour, ordering the agreed quantum of $225,000.

More:- http://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2012/QDC12-148.pdf

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