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Lifting of boxes is part of normal office work

September 2015

A recent NSW Court of Appeal decision has shown that work involving lifting and twisting creates is not necessarily a precursor to the risk of injury.

The case of Hawkins v Ross Human Directions Ltd [2015] NSWCA 265 ("Hawkins") involved a claim brought by Ms Hawkins against her employer, Ross Human Directions Ltd. Ms Hawkins sustained a significant injury to her back as a result of lifting two archive boxes and twisting around to carry them to secure storage.

In the initial case, the judge found that the weight lifted by Ms Hawkins on the occasion was no more than 7kg. The judge held the view that Ms Hawkins had not shown that the Employer should have been aware of a risk of injury, when she lifted a 7 kg box and twisted. Accordingly the Judge found there was no breach of duty by the Employer.

The decision was appealed by Ms Hawkins and it came before the NSW Court of Appeal. While some error was found in the primary judge's decision, the Court of Appeal provided that in order for the appeal to succeed, Ms Hawkins needed to show there was a real risk of injury in her lifting boxes (that potentially weighed up to 9.8 kg) such that the Employer was obliged to take precautions in respect of that risk. The Court of Appeal found that Ms Hawkins failed to establish this and the appeal was dismissed.

Beech-Jones J comment was that:- “The only system that could have prevented Ms Hawkins’ accident from happening was one in which she was precluded from lifting any box because of the potential for her to lift a particularly heavy one. It is difficult to accept that an office environment could function if employees in Ms Hawkins’ position were precluded from lifting any box of documents. Of course the position might be different if her injuries were occasioned by repeated lifting but they were not”. Archive boxes

The decision is quite different from the approach taken in Queensland in Tabcorp Holdings Ltd v Dank [2011] QCA 253 ("Tabcorp"). In the Tabcorp case, the worker sustained a back injury at work when she lifted a box of photocopy paper (12.7 kg) from the floor to her desk. The trial judge found the employer had, in this instance, breached their duty of care.

https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/55e622c8e4b0012d84a757f5

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