Supermarket in MS must respond for butcher’s knife accident

The Sixth Panel of the Superior Labor Court recognized the responsibility of Supermercado Nandas Ltda., from Sidrolândia (MS) for the accident suffered by a butcher’s assistant who cut his left forearm with a knife while working. For the board, the activity was risky, and the damages resulting from the accident must be borne by the company, regardless of its fault in the event.

Accident left consequences

In the labor complaint, the employee reported that, while boning the front part of an animal, the meat detached from the hook and fell on him. This resulted in a deep cut on his left forearm caused by the knife he was handling.

The official medical expert identified an occupational injury that left permanent consequences, including the partial loss of essential functions of the hand, such as the ability to hold objects and perform a pinching movement.

The company, in its defense, maintained that the blame for the accident lay solely with the butcher, who had not correctly fixed the meat on the hook.

The Court of the Itinerant Labor Court in Sidrolândia upheld the requests for compensation for moral and material damages. However, the Regional Labor Court of the 24th Region (MS) reversed the decision.

The predominant understanding was that the supermarket had taken preventive measures and that, according to the statements, the accident resulted exclusively from an unsafe act on the part of the worker, which removes any duty to repair the employer.

Company must assume risk of activity

For the rapporteur of the butcher’s review appeal, Minister Kátia Arruda, the case deals with risky activity, which implies the duty to repair regardless of the company’s fault. According to her, the simple practice of an unsafe act by the victim in a risky activity does not automatically exclude any and all liability on the part of the employer.

According to the minister, the detachment of the piece of meat from the hook, which ended up resulting in the knife being cut, falls within a broad concept of risk whose responsibility must be absorbed by the company. The same applies to the butcher’s possible negligence or incompetence.

With the decision, the process returned to the TRT for analysis of ordinary appeals regarding the amounts of compensation.

The decision was unanimous.