GILBARCO AUSTRALIA LTD v SAAD [1996] NSWCA 210

GILBARCO AUSTRALIA LTD v SAAD

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

CLARKE, HANDLEY and COLE JJA 27 September 1996, 27 September 1996 [1996] NSWCA 210

NEGLIGENCE — SHEET METAL WORKER — WHETHER SAFE SYSTEM REQUIRED PROVISION OF GLOVES AND A PRISE BAR AND A DIRECTION THAT WORKER USE THEM AT ALL TIMES

Clarke JA The respondent sued his employer, the appellant in respect to an injury to his left wrist which occurred during his work on 18 April 1983.

His claim came before Nash DCJ who found in his favour and awarded him damages. The appellant has appealed challenging both the finding on liability and the award of general damages. The respondent has cross-appealed claiming that his Honour erred in failing to make any allowance for impairment of future earning capacity.

The respondent, who was ordinarily employed as a spray painter, was on the occasion of his injury operating a machine known as an EPD. The process that was followed in the use of this machine required the operator to lift a metal sheet which was 4 feet by 2 feet by | millimetre in thickness from a stack and attach the sheet to two hooks on an overhead conveyer. The operator then started the conveyor and the sheet passed through a number of processes, and when it had completed the circuit the operator was required to remove the sheet from the conveyer and stack it in order that it could later be painted.

Gloves were available to be used during the operation and were in fact used by the operator to remove the sheet from the oven, because at this point of the process the sheet was hot.

The accident occurred when the respondent lifted a sheet, fixed one corner to the conveyor and the sheet then slipped from his hand and cut his left wrist. His case was that the system of work employed was not a safe one insofar as there was a risk of injury arising from the fact that the edges of the sheet were quite sharp.