Endeavour Foundation v Weaver

[2013] QCA 371

Queensland Court of Appeal

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

See how it works

Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Tort
2. › Negligence
3. › Breach of duty of care
4. › Employer's duty to employees
5. › Instruction to perform physical manoeuvre
6. › Whether instruction to move 'as quickly as possible' was reasonable
7. › Relevance of employer's conflicting responsibility to prepare employees against assault
8. › Wyong Shire Council v [name withheld] calculus
1. Tort
2. › Negligence
3. › Breach of duty of care
4. › Assessment of reasonableness of response to risk
5. › Whether trial judge misapprehended content of instruction given to employee
6. › Whether alternative instruction by different trainer rendered original instruction unreasonable
1. Workers' Compensation
2. › Damages
3. › Future services
4. › Whether s 308C or s 308E of Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld) applicable
5. › Whether worker performed services before injury
6. › Services of substantially the same type
7. › Whether gratuitous or paid services provided post-injury
8. › Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld), ss 308A, 308C, 308E
1. Appeal
2. › General civil appeal
3. › Appellate review of findings of fact
4. › Whether trial judge's finding as to content of instruction was open on the evidence
5. › Whether error in finding justified setting aside judgment

Quick Take

An employer's instruction to an employee to perform a physical manoeuvre 'as quickly as possible' may be reasonable where the employer has a conflicting responsibility to prepare employees for real-life situations requiring speed, even where the manoeuvre carries a foreseeable risk of injury. The existence of an alternative, more cautious approach adopted by a different trainer does not render the original instruction unreasonable. Under s 308C of the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld), the words 'substantially the same type' require categorisation of services, so that the character of post-injury services as gratuitous or paid must be assessed by reference to each type of service, not collectively.