Ryan and Linfox Armaguard Pty Ltd

Administrative Appeals Tribunal

DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION [2011] AATA 747

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL      )

)          No. 2010/3360

GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION		)          No. 2011/0120
Re		ERNEST RYAN

Applicant

And LINFOX ARMAGUARD PTY LTD

Respondent

DECISION

Tribunal Ms J Toohey, Senior Member
Dr I S Alexander, Member

Date25 October 2011

PlaceSydney

Decision The Tribunal affirms the decisions under review.

....................[sgd].......................

Ms J Toohey
  Senior Member

6.      Disease means an ailment suffered by an employee or an aggravation of such ailments that was contributed to, to a significant degree, by the employee's employment.

7.      Since 3 April 2006, the Respondent has been a licensed corporation under the Act.  It is common ground that any injury sustained prior to that date would be subject to the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) although nothing turns on this in these proceedings.

THE ISSUES

8.      We have to determine whether Mr Ryan suffered an injury to his cervical spine that arose out of, or in the course of, his employment; alternatively, whether he suffered an ailment, or an aggravation of an ailment, that was contributed to, to a significant degree, by his employment.

9.      For the reasons set out below, we are not satisfied, on the evidence before us, that the injury to Mr Ryan‘s cervical spine was related to his employment.  It follows that we do not have to determine the extent of the Respondent’s liability for any incapacity or medical treatment, or the degree of any permanent impairment.

MR RYAN’S EVIDENCE: HIS DUTIES

10.     Mr Ryan started working at the Respondent's Smithfield site in July 2000.  At that time he worked, on average, four days a week.  In 2005, he became a permanent part-time employee and worked two days a week, on Monday and Tuesday, generally in six-hour shifts from 5.30 am to 11.30 am.  Armoured vans delivered bags of coins for sorting and rolling.  The bags would be offloaded, placed on trolleys and taken to the area where Mr Ryan worked. 

11.     At Smithfield, the average bag weighed approximately 12 kg but, according to Mr Ryan, the heaviest weighed in excess of 20 kilograms.  He would pick up the lighter bags from a palette by hand, and the heavier bags with both arms, holding the bag against his chest.  From there, he would cut the bag open and empty it into the sorting machine, from where he would tag the sorted bags and transfer them onto a palette. 

12.     In May 2006, the Respondent transferred its coin-processing operation to Rosehill. 

13.     Until 2008, the average bag of coins still weighed approximately 12 kilograms, but in 2008 this was halved to prevent injury.  From then, the heaviest bag weighed 6.75 kilograms; others weighed between 4.68 and 6.41 kilograms, depending on the denomination of coins it contained. 

14.     At Rosehill, Mr Ryan worked only on the coin rolling lines as a coin handler.  Coins came in loose or in bags and were loaded into the sorting and rolling machines.  Mr Ryan would lift…