‘Win for the little guy’: Bunnings forced to make major payout to injured worker

Bunnings has been forced to make a whopping payout to a worker after she was seriously injured lifting a bucket of fertiliser.

Bunnings is set to fork out $1.25 million after a worker was seriously injured while lifting a bucket of fertiliser, a court has heard.

Sarah Jane was 31 and working as a merchandiser for fertiliser brand Neutrog at Seven Hills Bunnings in 2018, when she knelt down to lift and drag forward a bucket to the front of a pallet.

Ms Jane severely injured her back while doing so and says she continues to suffer from the injury today.

The woman was working as a merchandiser at Bunnings when the injury occurred. Picture: Supplied

The case was heard in the NSW Supreme Court this week with Bunnings agreeing to pay $750,000 in a settlement plus legal costs, which are estimated to be about $500,000.

Neutrog, which the woman was employed through, has also been ordered to contribute to the costs.

Ms Jane’s lawyer, Luke Power from Turner Freeman lawyers, said the settlement was a “win for the little guy” and said Bunnings had only “come to the party” in the last few weeks.

“There has been a lot of push back and we were told on numerous occasions there was no case,” Mr Power said.

“This has been incredibly stressful for her, and it was fought tooth and nail.”

As part of the settlement, Bunnings admitted they “knew or ought to have known” the foreseeable risk when they failed to train Ms Jane in using a pallet jack, which could have prevented the injury.

The 10 kilogram bucket of fertiliser. Picture: Supplied

The mum-of-two has won her case against Bunnings. Picture: Supplied

Ms Jane received training via a Bunnings module but was not given any indication of the availability of pallet jacks to assist her in moving stock forward to present to customers, which are regularly used by Bunnings worker.

“Bunnings owed a duty to merchandisers attending the Bunnings stores to ensure that the merchandisers were advised of the specialised work procedure including the pallet jack procedure,” the documents said.

“Bunnings devised, controlled and regulated the prevailing system of work for its own employees, but did not apply the same rigour or adopt the same precautions for the merchandisers, who were nonetheless subject to Bunnings control and oversight.”

Each bucket of the fertiliser – called Sudden Impact – weighed between 10.8kg and 11.2kg.

Ms Jane, who is also a mother, said the injury has dramatically changed her life.

“It’s a win but it doesn’t really feel like a win,” she said about the six-year ordeal.

“Not just everything that they’ve put me through, but just the injury itself, and how much it’s changed my life and how much I’ve missed out on with my kids when they were young.”