Welsh v Biggin Pty Ltd (No 2)
[2023] QSC 211 · Henry J
Paul Welsh worked at a chicken feed business in Townsville. In October 2018, while using maximum force to quickly pull a heavily loaded pallet jack, he tore a tendon in his right knee. The injury never properly healed, leaving him with chronic pain, limited mobility, reliance on a wheelchair for longer distances, and an adjustment disorder with depressed mood. His employer disputed both how the injury happened and whether it was at fault. The court accepted Welsh's account that the heavy pulling caused the tear and found the employer had failed to assess the risk of musculoskeletal injury or train him to use only gentle force when starting the pallet jack. The judge held that proper training would likely have prevented the injury. The employer was found liable and ordered to pay Welsh $824,647.48 in damages, the largest part being his future loss of earning capacity, as he is now largely unable to return to physical work.
Incident & injury
Right quadriceps tendon tear suffered while applying high initiating force to pull a heavily laden pallet jack at work
Read the findings as text
- No risk assessment. No training on starting force.
- Breach of duty. Training would have prevented it.
- $824,647 awarded. [2023] QSC 211.
- Body regions
- Knee / lower leg, Right knee/quadriceps, Psychiatric (Right)
- Diagnoses
- Partial to full thickness tear of right quadriceps tendon, Adjustment disorder with depressed mood, Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism (post-surgical complication)
- Incident date
- 8 October 2018
- Location
- Garbutt, Townsville
Quick facts
- Date of judgment
- 20 September 2023
- Claim type
- WCRA Common Law
- Proceeding
- Trial
- Plaintiff outcome
- Successful
- Plaintiff age at injury
- ~45 (inferred)
- Occupation
- Warehouse/retail worker (chicken feed business) Labourer
- Liability
- Disputed
- ISV assessed
- 20 uplift applied · Item 137 - Serious knee injury (WCRR Schedule 9)
- Whole Person Impairment
- 11%
- Total damages
- $824,647
Outcome
Judgment for the plaintiff in the amount of $824,647.48. The court found the defendant employer breached its duty of care by failing to assess and instruct against the risk of musculoskeletal injury from applying high initiating force when using a manual pallet jack.
Defendant
1 Biggin Pty Ltd
Employer
- Apportionment
- 100%
- Judgment against this defendant
- $824,647
- WorkCover refund
- $94,178
Heads of damage
| General damages | $37,950 |
|---|---|
| Past economic loss | $238,889 |
| Interest on past EL | $2,656 |
| Past superannuation | $31,862 |
| Future loss of economic capacity | $384,219 |
| Future superannuation | $76,292 |
| Past special damages (plaintiff) | $57,419 |
| Interest on past special damages | $1,736 |
| Future special damages | $76,160 |
| Fox v Wood | $11,642 |
| Subtotal before refunds | $918,826 |
Key issues
Welsh v Biggin Pty Ltd (No 2) [2023] QSC 211
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