A local council in Western Australia has been ordered to reimburse the WA Department of Education more than $200,000 after a teacher seriously injured herself on an IKEA chair that collapsed during a work conference.
It’s another reminder to business operators and managers that organisations have a responsibility to provide a safe environment to all individuals that visit their premises.
The teacher, who was at a sporting centre owned by the council as part of the work conference, originally received compensation of $218,000 from the Department of Education for the injury, which she sustained in June 2013.
However, earlier this year the education department brought proceedings against the Shire of Northam, located around 100 kilometres from Perth, arguing the council was legally responsible for the teacher’s injury.
This is despite the fact the department had already paid out the teacher for her knee injury she sustained when the IKEA brand Martin chair suddenly collapsed beneath her.
The District Court of Western Australia heard similar chairs purchased by the council had previously collapsed and the IKEA Martin chair was unsuitable for the sport hall’s polished wooden floor.
While handing down the decision, judge Phillip McCann said the council should have suspected the existence of an “endemic problem” with the IKEA chairs given the number and nature of previous collapses.
“I am satisfied that the risk of a Martin chair spontaneously collapsing whilst a patron was sitting on it was reasonably foreseeable to the defendant for some time prior to 12 June 2013,” Judge McCann said.
“It follows that [the teacher’s] accident would not have occurred if the defendant had discharged its duty of care, that is to say, the defendant’s omissions caused the accident and her injuries.”
As a result, McCann ordered the Shire of Northam to pay the Department of Education just over $218,000.
Employment lawyer Peter Vitale told SmartCompany this case shows that venue-owners have a duty of care to not only employees, but also third parties.
“It demonstrates both in common law and work health safety law that owners have a responsibility to ensure that anybody who enters a premises is coming into a safe environment, and that any facilities they provide are safe,” Vitale says.
SmartCompany contacted the Shire of Northam but the council declined to comment.
SmartCompany contacted the Department of Education but did not receive a response prior to publication.
Broede Carmody is a former senior SmartCompany reporter. Before this, he was a co-editor of RMIT University’s student magazine Catalyst.
