Using IRAC model to solve the problem

Client

: Well, I work at a local fruit shop called "Fresh is Best" and part of my job is to

take boxes and crates filled with vegetables off the delivery truck and to put them

outside a storage room.

My employer, Jack, who is the sole proprietor of the fruit shop, also provides special

shoes for all employees and we are required to put them on because they have special

soles which prevent slipping. Sometimes there are leaves and peels which cover the

ground where we work and from time to time, the owner hoses them down to protect the

workers while they carry the crates from the truck to the storage room.

Lawyer

: and you slipped during the process?

Client

: Well, it wasn't as simple as that. You see, on that day - and I don't know why -

but the crates had been overloaded. They contained more than the usual weight

prescribed for them. I didn't know this. I was also running late. I didn't have time to

change shoes and kept my own shoes on. I was going to change into the ones we

needed to wear on our coffee break.

Anyway, I picked up one of the crates and that's when I noticed that it was heavier than

usual. It nearly slipped out of my hands but I managed to keep a hold of it by letting my

right arm take the weight to avoid the crate falling. My right arm was hit by a sharp corner

of the crate a number of times as I tried to balance the crate to stop it from falling. I felt

a sharp pain in my right arm but I didn't think any more of it and carried the

crate towards the storage room area.

It was only after I was taken to hospital after the fall in the storage room that I was told I

had broken my arm in a few places.

Lawyer

: Did you have to take the crates into the storage room?

Client

: Well, that's where it gets a little sticky.

Lawyer:

What do you mean?

Client

: Well, there was a notice to one side of the roller door which said: Workers: 'Leave

crates outside storage room. Do not enter'. And the owner had mentioned that he

wanted to do all the stacking of the crates in the storage room.

Lawyer

: And what happened next?

Client

: Well, I thought I was doing my employer a favor - because on that particular day,

the roller door to the storage room was open. And I thought I would help him out by

taking the crate I was carrying into the storage room. I didn't notice that some vegetable

leaves had fallen on the ground in the storage room and as I entered, I slipped on the

leaves. I dropped the crate I was carrying and stumbled over it. The strange thing about

it is that the storage room floor is always clean. Never saw any leaves or peels on the

floor - ever - all the time I have worked there - except for that day.

My right leg took a hit from the heavy crate which fell on my leg and broke it. I called the

ambulance with my mobile phone and later on my mate Jeff heard me and sat with me

until the ambulance arrived.

Lawyer

: And the prognosis?

Client

: I won't be able to work for six months and I need to attend hospital after the casts

come off, for rehabilitation.

I have also been told I will not be able to lift heavy items again and that I will never have

the same strength in either my arm or leg again. Whatever I do, it will have to involve

light duties. That means a substantial fall in wages and I don't know what to do or what

I'm entitled to.

There are hospital fees, doctor's fees, loss of wages and a permanent fall in the amount

I can earn.

I just don't know where I stand regarding all this.