NOORI V MAJESTIC PLUMBING SERVICES PTY LTD AND OTHERS

[2021] VSC 63, Supreme Court of Victoria, Justice Forbes, 17 February 2021

Insurance (liability) – Employee injured at work – Claim against liability insurers – Whether employer in breach of reasonable care obligations

N was injured at work on 28 October 2015 when a length of guttering he was carrying on a scaffold made contact with overhead electric powerlines. He brought proceedings against his employer, the builder and two scaffolding companies, Western Scaffolding and Dhillon Scaffolding (Dhillon). In turn Dhillon joined its liability insurers to the proceedings. The insurers relied upon breach of various policy terms: an obligation to comply with Australian/New Zealand Guidelines AS/NZ 4576: 1995 relating to scaffolding; a reasonable care clause under which Dhillon was to "take all reasonable precautions to prevent Personal Injury or Property Damage" and to "comply with all statutory requirements and other safety regulations imposed by any authority"; and an exclusion for liability "arising out of the deliberate, conscious or intentional disregard by the Insured's technical or administrative management of the need to take all reasonable steps to prevent Personal Injury or Property Damage".