Trip over an obstruction or uneven surface: NSW workers compensation guide

Trip over an obstruction or uneven surface can occur through a toe catching on raised flooring, a cable, pallet edge, packaging or stored material and a trolley or carried load obscuring the worker’s view of the obstruction. The incident history should identify the task, equipment, location and sequence of events rather than relying on the job title alone.

People commonly exposed include warehouse pickers and retail staff moving through aisles and construction, maintenance and office workers crossing temporary work areas. Employment records should identify each person's task, employer and position in the work area when the incident occurred.

Medical records after a trip over an obstruction or uneven surface may identify wrist fracture and knee injury. Each diagnosis should be linked to the event or exposure and to the worker's actual functional change.

After a trip over an obstruction or uneven surface, immediate reporting and safety records may include measurements and photographs of the obstruction or change in level before it is removed and aisle, cable-management or housekeeping records and the time of rectification. These records can establish what was known at the time without requiring the worker to repeatedly recount a traumatic event.

• CCTV, witness and task records showing whether the worker was carrying or pushing equipment.
• If the facts may meet the WHS Act definition of a notifiable incident, the SafeWork notification reference, inspector correspondence and scene records, without delaying emergency assistance or other action permitted by section 39.

For a trip over an obstruction or uneven surface, the first evidence to preserve includes site plan and exact route rather than a generic photograph of the workplace and maintenance requests, defect reports or prior complaints about the surface. It is most useful when dates, people, equipment, duties and later medical histories tell a consistent account.

• Stock, delivery or work-order records explaining why the obstruction was present.
• Early clinical history recording the direction of fall and body parts struck.

Medical and psychological evidence after a trip over an obstruction or uneven surface may include first-aid, ambulance and early clinical histories describing the trip over an obstruction or uneven surface sequence and diagnosis-specific examination, imaging and specialist evidence for wrist fracture, knee injury, shoulder injury, head injury. A diagnosis alone may not answer causation or capacity: the records should explain the work event, symptoms, treatment and practical restrictions.

• Certificates of capacity stating functional restrictions, hours and treatment rather than only a diagnosis.
• Operative, rehabilitation and psychological records where the event caused surgery, prolonged recovery or trauma symptoms.

After a trip over an obstruction or uneven surface, an insurer may dispute whether the object or level change existed and was on the worker’s route and whether symptoms are consistent with the recorded direction of the fall. The written decision should be answered with evidence directed to those stated reasons.

Fractures, ligament injuries and head impacts may require imaging or specialist review. A treatment dispute should address the injury caused by the impact, not merely the dimensions of the obstruction. If treatment is disputed after a trip over an obstruction or uneven surface, the request should explain the accepted diagnosis, expected functional benefit and reasonable alternatives.

Work capacity after a trip over an obstruction or uneven surface may turn on walking over uneven ground, carrying items, peripheral vision and use of stairs or ladders and whether duties permit safe movement when a wrist, knee or shoulder is restricted. Proposed duties must be compared with the real task demands and the worker's ability to sustain them for the proposed hours.

Any WPI question depends on the lasting diagnosed injury, such as restricted wrist or shoulder motion, knee instability or neurological consequences of head injury. The accident mechanism, surgery, imaging finding or pain report alone does not establish a WPI percentage. Any WPI assessment after a trip over an obstruction or uneven surface occurs after stabilisation under the NSW method for the accepted body system; the accident or surgery alone does not determine a percentage.

If a third-party occupier or contractor created or controlled the obstruction, a separate claim may need legal investigation depending on the facts. Any separate occupiers-liability, product, TPD or work injury damages issue is distinct from statutory workers compensation and depends on its own evidence and legal criteria. These issues are separate from workers compensation and depend on the particular facts.

For a trip over an obstruction or uneven surface, assistance may involve separate the trip over an obstruction or uneven surface mechanism from the diagnoses and identify any missing incident record and compare the insurer’s written reasons with medical, treatment and work-capacity evidence. The purpose is to identify the disputed decision and the evidence needed for the next step, not to promise an outcome.