Employers' Duties for Reasonably Foreseeable Psychiatric Injuries

Psychiatric injury, or mental harm, is readily foreseeable in some circumstances for emergency services personnel who are regularly exposed to traumatic incidents. However, it is far from straightforward to identify what appellate decisions have specified is a sufficient response for such emergency services and other employers to protect themselves against civil liability. This article explores the ramifications of the Queensland Court of Appeal decision in Hegarty v Queensland Ambulance Service [2007] QCA 366 and endeavours to identify from decided authorities when employers will be exposed to liability for failure to exercise due care for their employees, or, alternatively, to provide them with a safe workplace.