FIRM PAYS PRICE FOR SEAT FAULT
Driver awarded $760,000
A TRUCK driver has been awarded $760,000 in compensation for a disabling back condition the Brisbane Supreme Court ruled was the result of a workplace injury.
Daniel John Peebles, 38, had been a truck driver for 10 years when he injured his back after hauling trucks on a broken seat throughout central Queensland.
In 2011, Mr Peebles began driving for regional trucking company Kurtz Transport and was assigned to making a 600km round trip five days a week from Brisbane to Chinchilla.
Court documents reveal Mr Peebles was given a prime mover which had a defective driver’s seat that left him feeling “every pothole or bump”.
In 2014, he began driving an extended 10-and-a-half-hour round trip that included Miles and Wandoan.
Mr Peebles claimed the roughness of the roads coupled with the broken seat threw him so violently about the cabin it “nearly winded” him.
In December 2014, Mr Peebles was getting ready for work when he sneezed and felt the “most horrendous pain” he had ever felt in his life.
He went to work but had to call an ambulance when he be- came unable to put any weight on his left leg. Scans later revealed he had a herniated disc.
WorkCover Queensland admitted there had been a failure to provide safe plant and equipment but said the faulty seat would have caused only short-term back pain.
The defendant claimed Mr Peebles’ injury was due to a pre-existing condition.
But last Thursday, Justice David Jackson ruled the harm caused to Mr Peebles would not have occurred without his employer’s negligence.
WorkCover Queensland was ordered to pay Mr Peebles $764,345.
Costs are yet to be determined.