He kept working on eight Panadol a day - then his body gave out
A drover fell from a cattle truck at a Victorian abattoir. Nearly five years on, the court has ruled his injuries changed his working life for good.
The worker was loading cattle on the night of November 12, 2021. It was raining. The cows were distressed. He climbed onto the side of a double-decker trailer, electric prod in hand, trying to push them up to the second level.
He slipped and fell roughly 2.5 metres onto concrete, landing on his feet. His left ankle took most of the weight. His lower back jolted on impact.
He kept working for another month, getting through each shift on eight Panadol tablets a day.
The County Court of Victoria delivered its judgment on October 1, 2026, granting the worker - now 39, single and living in Queensland - a serious injury certificate under Victoria's Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013. That certificate is a gateway: it means he can now bring a full damages claim for pain and suffering and loss of earning capacity against the Victorian WorkCover Authority.
His employer at the time of the accident, Australian Meat Group Pty Ltd, ran the meat processing facility where the fall took place. The WorkCover Authority accepted the worker had hurt his left ankle and lower back in the fall. What it disputed was whether those injuries were serious enough to cross the statutory threshold.
The court found they were.
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