Illinois: Welder’s Injury in Swivel Chair Accident Arose From Employment

An Illinois appellate court reversed a Commission’s order denying workers’ compensation benefits to a welder who sustained a left knee injury while sitting in a swivel chair at his workplace. The worker, a welder who had previously sustained an injury to his right knee, had been allowed to perform his welding duties from a seated position and had done so without incident for some three years. The Commission determined that the act of turning in a chair was an activity of normal life and that the worker’s injuries did not, therefore, arise from the employment. The appellate court disagreed. The court said that the worker typically welded some 70 lock mechanisms each day and that during the process, he was required to make repeated twists and turns in his chair. While turning in a chair was a risk inherent in daily activity, the court found that the worker was exposed to the risk of twisting his knee to a greater degree than the general public by virtue of his employment.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Adcock v. Illinois Workers’ Comp. Comm’n, 2015 Ill. App. LEXIS 628 (Aug. 14, 2015) [2015 Ill. App. LEXIS 628 (Aug. 14, 2015)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 43.02 [43.02]

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see http://www.workcompwriter.com/illinois-welders-knee-injury-while-swiveling-in-chair-found-compensable/

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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