Archive for March 20, 2016

Hobbies Lost

A worker crushed by a forklift has been granted leave to seek damages for pain and suffering, after the Victorian Court of Appeal found that while he retained the majority of his functions, his capacity to enjoy his hobbies was “substantially impaired”.

In March 2007, the now 67-year-old Wesfarmers Ltd timber yard worker, employed at a Bunnings store, was crushed against a steel rack when the forklift driver he was speaking to accidentally drove the vehicle forward and struck him.

The forklift then struck his body in a series of rebounding

Reduce Rest Breaks

An employer has been refused permission to amend its fatigue management procedures to reduce the number of rest breaks per shift, because it failed to obtain unanimous agreement from a cross-section of workers.

Queensland Supreme Court Justice Ann Lyons rejected the mine employer’s application for the Court to declare that a majority agreement was sufficient, and said it was particularly important that provisions relating to fatigue “will not change without the express and unanimous agreement of the mine workers”.

In 2014, Anglo Coal started reviewing the personal fatigue procedures at

Workplace Weight Loss Management Interventions by Employers

Employers can maximise workplace weight loss management interventions by providing socially supportive environments and explicitly addressing sleep, a new study has found.

In a study of 452 predominantly obese and male long-distance truck drivers, who averaged about 60 driving hours a week, the US researchers found those experiencing elevated life and job stress and low social support had the poorest sleep patterns.

They say the study confirms the need for health interventions for truck drivers because almost 75 per cent of participants showed metabolic syndromes, 61 per

Payout to worker with debilitating PTSD

A company has been ordered to pay $515,000, instead of $872,000, to a worker with debilitating PTSD, after the NSW Supreme Court found the worker’s funds could be managed by a less expensive trustee than the one selected by her mother.

Justice Monika Schmidt said that while it was entirely reasonable for the worker’s guardian to prefer the more expensive option, it “does not follow that an order for damages can rest on such a decision, without the reasons for the preference being revealed”.

If a plaintiff