Canadian Safety Reporter

5 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2017 News | February 2017 | CSR Worker wins appeal for chronic pain benefits Workplace injury initially believed healed but worker developed headaches and chronic neck pain from the trauma BY JEFFREY R. SMITH AN ONTARIO worker has won his appeal for workers' com- pensation benefits for chronic neck pain and headaches that he claimed developed from injuries suffered in a workplace accident years earlier. The 61-year-old worker was an underground miner. He started working for the accident employer in September 2009 af- ter jobs with several other min- ing companies. Five months after he was hired, on Jan. 21, 2010, the work- er was working underground in- stalling a timber in a mine shaft when a four-foot-long ladder fell between 30 and 40 feet from above him. The ladder struck the worker on the head and right arm, breaking his hardhat, frac- turing a bone in his forearm and causing him to fall down. The worker was immediately sent to the hospital, where his broken bone was set and his arm placed in a cast. The worker was also di- agnosed with a neck strain. The employer arranged for the worker to perform modified work in its office so he wouldn't have to lose any time from work. The accident was reported to the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in early March and the worker re- ceived an entitlement for health care benefits for his neck and arm injury. Since he didn't have to take any time off work due to the injury, he didn't receive any benefits to cover lost income and the entitlement for his neck injury stopped one year after the accident, which was the maxi- mum medical recovery date es- tablished by the WSIB. A few months later, in May, an examination of the worker's arm revealed mild carpal tun- nel syndrome and the doctor determined that stiffness in the worker's shoulder was mechani- cal in nature. The worker underwent phys- iotherapy treatment from April to August, during which time he left the accident employer and started working as a supervisor in another underground mine. An orthopaedic surgeon identi- fied a malunion in the fracture but didn't think it needed to be surgically repaired. The worker also had minor issues with both shoulders and a slight loss of ex- tension in his right elbow and wrist related to the fracture, but the worker didn't want to have more surgery to address the problem as it wouldn't affect his job duties as a supervisor or his everyday life. It would only affect him if he had to return to the duties of an underground miner. Chronic pain related to earlier injuries: worker In February 2012, the worker stopped working and told the WSIB that he didn't think he could return to work, as he was experiencing headaches and a sore neck that he believed were related to his January 2010 inju- ry. He reported suffering head- aches since that accident. The worker had an MRI in March 2012 and an orthopaedic surgeon found a degeneration in the worker's lumbar spine that he attributed to a 1996 ac- cident — where the worker was hit in the head by a piece of rock in a mine but didn't re- ceive medical treatment at the time — but noted bulging in the cervical spine was related to the 2010 accident. The worker ap- plied for workers' compensa- tion benefits for the neck and back pain but the WSIB denied the claim, finding the worker's neck strain suffered in the 2010 accident had resolved and his current pain was unrelated to the accident. The worker appealed to the Credit: Shutterstock/Przemek Tokar Headaches > pg. 8

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