Brazel and Australian Postal Corporation

Administrative Appeals Tribunal

DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION [2007] AATA 1264

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL      )

)          No N2006/811

GENERAL  ADMINISTRATIVE  DIVISION		)
Re		TREVOR BRAZEL

Applicant

And AUSTRALIAN POSTAL CORPORATION

Respondent

DECISION

Tribunal Ms R Hunt, Senior Member
Dr M E C Thorpe, Member

Date30 April 2007

PlaceSydney

Decision The decision under review is affirmed.

…..................................

R Hunt

Presiding Member

summary

1.      Before the tribunal is an application by Mr Trevor Brazel for review of the decision of the respondent dated 18 May 2006. This reviewable decision affirmed the determination of a delegate of the respondent, dated 23 February 2006, that denied liability to pay compensation to Mr Brazel for permanent impairments of the spine and lower limb function. The permanent impairment claim arises from a back injury sustained at work on 22 July 1999 and subsequent aggravation at home, on 15 September 2004.

2. We have found no amount of compensation is payable under s24 of the SRC Act as Mr Brazel’s degree of impairment is less than 10%. This means Mr Brazel’s application for compensation for an injury resulting in permanent impairment of the spine and left lower limb function is fails. Our reasons are set out below.

Issue

3.      The only question before us is whether Mr Brazel has a permanent impairment to this spine and lower limb resulting from the 1999 and 2004 injuries and, if so, does this impairment amount to at least 10 percent under Tables 9.5 and 9.6 of the Comcare Guide to the Assessment of the Degree of Permanent Impairment.

Background

4.      Mr Brazel worked as a postal delivery officer with Australia Post, the respondent. Mr Brazel’s history with this organisation is set out in the facts and contentions prepared by the respondent.

5. Liability was accepted by Australia Post under s14 of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (the SRC Act) in respect of left posterior disc herniation at the L5/S1 level sustained on 22 July 1999 with payment of compensation under s19 and reasonable medical expenses. Mr Brazel also received compensation for soft tissue injury of the lower back in December 2002 following another back injury on 29 November 2002. Liability initially was denied for the 2004 injury but was accepted in 2005 as explained further below.

6.      Mr Brazel gave us the following description of how his injury occurred. On 22 July 1999, he arrived to clear a postal box at the corner of Newcastle and Albemarle Sts, Rose Bay. As he opened the door to step out of his vehicle, he felt a click in his lower back and a sharp pain from his back down to the lower leg. Elsewhere in the respondent’s documents before us, the exact time of onset of the leg pain was reported as that night, after he had been asleep. He developed worsening pain in the left buttock and leg with paraesthesia (pins and needles) on the lateral aspect of the left foot. Mr Brazel’s said it was as…