MINER’S INJURY

Evening Star, Issue 22379, 1 July 1936, Page 6

MINER’S INJURY

CQHTRIBUTGRY EFFECT OF SHOCK CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION SUCCEEDS The judgment of the Arbitration Court has been given in the case in which Horace James Joseph Burrell, a miner, of Ohai, claimed from the Birchwood Coal Company Ltd. compensation for loss of work resulting from an accident which had occurred while he was in the employ of the company. The judgment, delivered by His Honour Mr Justice Page (president of the court), stated that the plaintiff, a miner, was on July, 2, 1935, employed as trucker in the coal mine of the defendant situate near Nightcaps. He was working on the back shift which commences at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. One of his duties was to attend to the running of the “ cuddy box,” a small truck, partly filled with stone and running on a short length of tram line. This truck was connected by cable through a pulley to the truck being filled at the coal face, and when the coal truck was full it descended an incline and as it did so its weight drew the truck of stone uphill on the adjacent line, the truck of stone thus acting as a counter weight. When the coal truck, having reached the bottom of the grade, was unhooked and an empty truck hooked on in its place, the truck of stone in turn descended and drew the empty truck up to the coal face.

At about 10.30 p.m. the trqck of »tone, when descending, knocked the stop-block from the end of the tram rails, and the foremost wheels ran over the end of the rails, and the buffer dropped on to the sleeper, a drop of about 12in.

Several mishaps had occurred several times previously that evening, and the plaintiff had, on those occasions, got the assistance of the man working on the coal face to get the truck back on # to the rails. On this occasion—which was to be the last on that shift —he essayed to get the truck back on to the rails single-handed. He placed his feet on the loose sleeper that had acted as a stop-block, put his hands and chest against the truck, and made his effort. When he got the truck half up, his feet slipped, the weight of the truck caused his arms and spine to be extended backwards, and he was in some danger of the truck coming on to him. He managed, however, to turn his left shoulder towards it, and, with considerable strain, succeeded in screwing it slightly so that the buffer jammed on a sleeper and he was released. He states that if he had failed to hold the .weight, the truck must have come on to his head or shoulders. He then called his mate, and the two of them got it back on to the line, and the last truck of coal was despatched. Thereafter the plaintiff felt sick and dizzy, and he complained to his mate that he felt sick. He walked home three-quarters of a mile, had some tea, found that he could not then raise his hands to his neck, and went to bed. Next morning he was unable to move his shoulders or arms. He lay in bed for two days, and on the third day sent for his doctor, who, after examining him, concluded that he had strained the muscles of bis chest and shoulders, and thought that he would take from two to four weeks to recover. He told him to remain in bed for a while.

After detailing the condition of the plaintiff for some months after the occurrence, the judgment went on to say; “ We think that the evidence establishes that since some date antecedent to the accident the plaintiff had had an enlargement of both lobes and the isthmus of the thyroid gland, and that following the accident a toxic condition

had appeared, in such gland, the effect of which has been to render the plaintiff unfit for work down to the present date. The substantial question involved in the case is whether the physical and mental effects of the accident and the injury, and the consequent inability to work, played a part in bringing about the toxic condition that supervened. While the exciting causes of toxicity in the thyroid gland are said to be to some extent obscure, all the medical witnesses, both for the plaintiff and for the defendant, agree that mental stress is regarded as an exciting cause. All the medical works to which the attention of the court has been called express the same view.” After quoting a number of medical authorities, the judgment 'proceeded: “It is WO th''d-*. Possible c-tvw. mild degree of toxicity—though not sufficient co j11 1-..-11.i. ... 0,-

—may have existed in the enlarged thyroid gland prior to the accident.

The physical injury that he suffered in his accident with the truck was more than a slight one ; for it left acute pain and tenderness m the region of his chest for several months. The physical injury alone, apart from the effects of the whole episode upon his nervous system, was sufficient to cause him an enforced period of idleness and inactivity of some weeks. The sequence of events and the early appearance of toxic symptoms following closely after the accident are, we think, not without significance. It has been suggested that the toxic condition was or may have been brought on by plaintiff’s worry and anxiety due to his being told by his doctor that his heart was affected, but the evidence shows that the unfavourable toxic symptoms had manifested themselves before he was told this. It was the high pulse rate of 120 and other symptoms present on the second visit to his doctor (on July 25) that induced the latter to examine the heart and to

form and express the opinion that it was affected, ■, We think that the fair and proper inference to be drawn is that the stress and possible danger of the accident, the physical injury received, the pain suffered, and the period of enforced idleness, acting on a nervous system which appears to have been somewhat played a part either in producing toxicity in the enlarged gland or in fighting up and aggravating any latent or incipient toxic condition that may have been then existent. The plaintiff, is, in either event, entitled, in our opinion, to judgment. He has been totally disabled from the date of the accident to the present date, and it is estimated that he will be able to resume work by July 21. His average weekly earnings were £3 8s 7d, and he has been paid compensation down to September 10, 1935, a period of 10 weeks. We allow compensation from that date down to July 21, 1936, a period of 45 weeks, at £2 5s 9d, amounting to £lO2 18s 9d, _ plus £1 medical fee, if not already paid; costs, £8 Bs, four medical witnesses at £2 2s, and one lay witness, 18s.”