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ARTICLE · 13 NOVEMBER 2024

"If I'd had a safe system of work, I wouldn't be injured." Which case won?

The case for the worker vs the case for the club

AustraliaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration

The Facts

Wheelie bins placed around racecourse in anticipation of large crowd

A case in 2019 examined the question of whether a race club had provided one of its casual employees with a safe system of work.

Because of the big crowd of racegoers, and copious supplies of food and drink (which could be brought in or purchased), more than a hundred 240-litre wheelie bins were placed at various locations around the racecourse.

The bins had soft plastic bin liners placed in them and were positioned in groups at various locations. Some were on paved areas, but others on grass.

On one of these grassed areas (with a moderate but unquantified slope) was a group of six bins. Despite the worker's emphatic evidence to the contrary, the trial judge accepted that the bins were placed back-to-back, with their handles touching.

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