A Western Australian shire has been ordered to pay the Education Department almost $220,000 after a cheap self-assembled chair collapsed and injured a visiting teacher.

In June 2013, Northam High School teacher Jane Pisan was supervising students at a youth forum held at the Northam Recreation Centre.

The group was seated on chairs purchased by the shire in 2011 from Ikea, which were regularly used in the recreation centre's indoor sports hall.

Ms Pisan was sitting on one of the chairs when it collapsed underneath her, causing a serious knee injury.

She took action against the Education Department for workers compensation and was subsequently awarded $218,213.74, which was paid by the department.

The Education Minister then commenced action against the Shire of Northam, arguing its negligence in preventing Ms Pisan's injuries indemnified the department.

The basis for the Minister's claim was a section of WA's Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act (1981) under which employers are entitled to indemnity if the negligence of a third party was instrumental in causing the injury.

That indemnity applied even though the department had paid Ms Pisan her compensation award.

Same chairs had collapsed before, court told

The case was heard in the Perth District Court earlier this year, with counsel for the Minister David Clyne arguing the 270 Martin chairs purchased by the shire from Ikea — at a total cost of $9,450, were ill-suited to be used on the sport hall's wooden floor.

The chairs comprised a moulded plywood seat, which was screwed to two identical u-shaped tubes bolted together at right angles to create four legs.

The chairs were designed to be assembled after purchase using a supplied Allen key.

Mr Clyne also presented evidence that several other chairs purchased by the shire had previously collapsed in a similar manner to the chair Ms Pisan was sitting on before her injury.

In his findings, Justice Phillip McCann ruled the shire was aware of previous issues with the Martin chairs prior to the incident involving Ms Pisan, and should have reasonably suspected a problem.

Justice McCann said patrons of the Northam Recreation Centre would have had no appreciation of the risks of the chairs collapsing under normal operation, and nothing could be done to mitigate that risk.

He also dismissed arguments by the shire that replacing all of the suspect chairs would have been beyond its financial capability, and said the cost of doing so was "insignificant when one thinks of the harm that could have been foreseen".

He ruled the injuries suffered by Ms Pisan would not have occurred had the shire discharged its duty of care in removing or replacing the chairs, and its failure to do so caused her injuries.

As such he ruled in favour of the Minister, and ordered the Shire of Northam to pay the Education Department the total cost of Ms Pisan's workers' compensation award.