Australia - Postman seeks compensation for thumb injury from 'flicking' mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-15/p ... il/7329958" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Victorian postman has won the right to claim compensation for injury to his thumb from "flicking" mail into letterboxes.

Melbourne postie Mark Anderson had been delivering letters for more than 10 years with up to 900 addresses on his run, when he noticed pain in his left thumb.

Documents show the 47-year-old said he used a "forceful flicking motion" to deliver the letters and believed this had led to his injury.

" noticed the pain would come on every time I flicked a letter into the box or would roll my wrist over to get ready to do so," court documents read.

"It feels like a stabbing pain."

But Australia Post refused a claim for compensation, citing a medical witness who believed the problem was arthritis and not related to his work.

Mr Anderson went to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which agreed with him that his sore thumb was an employment injury.

The tribunal ordered that the rejection of his claim be set aside, opening the way for him to make a compensation claim.