A recent case has highlighted the importance of supervision and review when it comes to staff compliance with safety instructions, after a worker was award $160,000 in damages because her employer had a 10kg lifting limit for a particular item, that it did not prevent her from breaching.
The part time grocery store worker was formally trained in how to correctly and safely move trays of tinned tomatoes from their delivery pallet to the shelves. This training included an instruction not to simultaneously lift multiple trays if they weighed more than 10kg in total.
In making the finding against the employer, the Judge noted that despite this clear training, the reality on-site was that there was no confirmation that the staff had understood the training, and there was no oversight to ensure that they were in fact complying with the instruction. This led to the judge to concluding that the staff were left to determine what they were comfortable lifting and that this “invariably led to unsafe manual handling practices evolving”.
Learnings for business
“This judgement includes a very specific call out to all businesses on what is considered necessary for the safe system of work to be demonstrated – and that includes instruction, training, verification and observation – at a minimum”, explains ACAPMA’s Elisha Radwanowski.
The Judge spelled out the requirements “would be to implement a proper system of supervision to reduce and/or avoid unsafe manual handling practices to ensure, for instance, that product was lifted and carried close to the body, or that only one to two trays of product be permitted to be carried at one time, especially where speed of the completion of the task was not emphasised to inexperienced or newer staff members. At a minimum there ought to have been instructions given about the maximum weight to lift and the maximum number of trays to lift at any one time. The training on manual handling was cursory and part of a much larger volume of training information. The testing of the manual handling understanding was superficial and inadequate”.
Here to help
Safety Highlights are things to consider, implement and watch out for in your business. They are provided as general information for you to consider and do not constitute advice. You should seek further advice on your situation by contacting your legal advisor. ACAPMA members can access resources and receive advice, guidance and support from the ACAPMA employment professionals via employment@acapma.com.au, it is free for members. ACAPMA Membership delivers this and more benefits, see https://acapma.com.au/membership/ for more information.
Elisha Radwanowski BCom (HRM&IR)
ACAPMA
Source: https://acapmag.com.au/2022/12/160k-fine-for-failure-to-enforce-safety-instructions/.
