รายละเอียดกระทู้

by: Kay Dibben http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/disability-worker-trained-to-walk-backwards-to-deal-with-aggressive-clients-awarded-369000-for-injury-from-fall/story-e6frg6n6-1226620206051 A DISABILITY worker who was trained to walk backwards to better deal with aggressive clients has been awarded $369,000 for an injury resulting from the manoeuvre. The Endeavour Foundation manager was training others in the "back steps" technique when she tripped, fell and was injured, a Supreme Court judge found. On Friday in Rockhampton Justice Duncan McMeekin ordered the disability charity to pay Christine Weaver, 54, compensation for her physical and psychiatric injuries and loss of earnings. The court heard that staff were trained to walk backwards on the balls of their feet, in a slightly crouched position, while looking ahead at their aggressor and not where they were going. Mrs Weaver, who was 152cm tall, weighed 96kg and was "hardly athletic", was demonstrating the "back steps" technique at a Rockhampton sports club five years ago when she fell and was injured. "It seems to me clear beyond doubt that directing a middle-aged . . . overweight lady to walk backwards on the balls of her feet while keeping her attention directed not to where she was going but to the 'aggressor' in front of her . . . involves a risk of injury that she might fall over," Justice Duncan McMeekin said. In the trial, lawyers for Endeavour Foundation denied claims it was negligent and said the risk of injury was not reasonably foreseeable. However Justice McMeekin said requiring Mrs Weaver to walk backwards quickly significantly increased the chance of a mishap. The court heard that another trainer, who took over staff training in the "back steps" manoeuvre from those who had instructed Mrs Weaver, told trainees to do it slowly and carefully. "Such a direction would have substantially reduced the risk . . . and justifies a finding that the fall would probably have been avoided in this instance had such a direction been given," the judge said. The court heard Mrs Weaver was injured in her lower back, tailbone and hip and developed a major depressive disorder. Her lawyer Gene Paterson of Macrossan & Amiet said usually "walking backwards" injuries involved contributory negligence, but the judge found Mrs Weaver was simply doing what she was told to do. "Not only was she instructed to walk backwards, but to walk backwards quickly," he said.