Amaca Pty Ltd v The State of New South Wales

Amaca Pty Ltd appealed to the New South Wales Court of Appeal against a decision concerning negligence in the construction industry, specifically relating to exposure to asbestos dust. The dispute involved whether the State of New South Wales owed a duty of care to employees of a company to direct that employer to address unsafe working conditions, particularly where State inspectors allegedly knew of these unsafe conditions.

The Court of Appeal was required to determine whether the State owed a duty of care to the employees of Amaca Pty Ltd to ensure their safety from asbestos exposure. This involved considering whether the knowledge of State inspectors regarding unsafe working conditions could be attributed to the State itself, and whether the circumstances of the case fell within any of the exceptional categories for establishing a duty of care in novel situations, as outlined in *Sutherland Shire Council v Heyman* and analogous to cases such as *Crimmins v Stevedoring Industry Finance Committee* and *Pyrenees Shire Council v Day*.

The Court reasoned that the statutory duties imposed on inspectors did not create a duty of care owed to individual workers. The knowledge of the inspectors was not to be attributed to the State in a way that would found a common law duty of care to prevent harm to employees. The Court found that the circumstances did not fit within the exceptional categories for establishing a novel duty of care, nor were they analogous to the situations in *Crimmins* or *Pyrenees*.

The appeal was dismissed with costs.