A scaffolding worker has been awarded more than A$752,000 in damages after an Australian court found his former employer negligent over a fall through an unprotected skylight at a defence site in Canberra.
The ACT Supreme Court judgment concerns an accident in August 2023 at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA), where the worker was employed by scaffolding company ACT Height Safety Pty Ltd.
According to the judgment, the worker was carrying out scaffolding upgrade work around 1.2 metres above the roof of a laundry building when he stepped backwards onto a skylight and fell through it.
He struck a washing machine during the fall and suffered injuries to his back and shoulder, as well as cuts to his hand.
Court finds employer negligent
Acting Justice Michael Elkaim found ACT Height Safety had been negligent by leaving the skylight uncovered, allowing the worker to operate near or above it and failing to warn him to keep clear of the hazard.
The court heard competing accounts of the incident. The employer disputed that the fall had occurred as described and maintained that the worker had suffered only a minor injury to his hand. The judge rejected key parts of that account and accepted the worker’s evidence.
The court also found that the worker had contributed to the accident by failing to take sufficient care around a visible hazard. However, the judge decided that damages should not be reduced on that basis, having regard to the employer’s duty of care and its failure to protect the skylight.
ACT Height Safety is now in liquidation and had not held the required workers’ compensation insurance. The claim was therefore defended by the ACT Workers’ Compensation Default Insurance Fund.
Heavy work severely limited
Medical evidence considered by the court indicated that the accident significantly aggravated the worker’s thoracic spine and left him with shoulder and lower-back problems.
Acting Justice Elkaim concluded that even with successful shoulder surgery, the worker’s ability to return to heavy physical work such as scaffolding would be severely limited.
The total award was A$752,487, including A$127,500 for past loss of earnings and A$342,619 for future economic loss.
