Nelson v BHP Coal P/L

[2000] QCA 505

Queensland Court of Appeal

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For Australian Law.

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Employment Law
2. › Contract of service
3. › Liability of employer for injury to employee at common law
4. › Safe system of work
5. › Whether injury caused by employer's failure to provide safe system of work
6. › Whether employee engaged in dangerous operation outside ordinary exigencies of task
1. Tort Law
2. › Negligence
3. › Duty of care
4. › Employer and employee
5. › Whether employer can be found negligent where employee takes extraordinary risk
6. › Whether task was strictly routine
7. › Standard of care owed
1. Tort Law
2. › Negligence
3. › Contributory negligence
4. › Employer and employee
5. › Whether accident contributed to by employee's negligence or caused by misjudgment
1. Tort Law
2. › Negligence
3. › Causation
4. › Whether effective cause of injury was employer's failure to provide safe system of work or employee's own conduct

Quick Take

An employee's implied contractual duty to exercise reasonable care in the performance of duties does not extend to a duty to take care for the employee's own safety, and breach of such a duty (even if it existed) would not operate as a defence to the employer's breach of its duty to provide a safe system of work. The employer's duty to provide a safe system of work includes anticipating foreseeable acts of negligence by employees. An employee's misjudgment in assessing workplace conditions, particularly where conditions are adverse (wet, slippery, restricted visibility), does not amount to contributory negligence.