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Gaddy v. Anson Wood Products12/30/1988
In this workers' compensation case, defendant appeals from an order of the Industrial Commission finding that plaintiff's injury was not proximately caused by his intoxication and awarding plaintiff 20 weeks of permanent partial disability benefits for the loss of a finger. We affirm.
On 17 June 1985, the date of his injury, plaintiff had been employed by defendant Anson Wood Products for approximately one year. Plaintiff's job was to pull and stack lumber by grade and width. Other employees were responsible for putting lumber onto a vibrating conveyor (the vibrator) that shook the lumber into a chipper, a machine that grinds lumber into chips. The chips were then transported by rail to a paper company.
On the date in question, the vibrator had stopped running due to a buildup of sawdust and debris. One of plaintiff's co-workers, whose job it was to keep the vibrator unjammed, was trying to unjam the vibrator when plaintiff left his position and attempted to assist him. As plaintiff placed his hand on or near the vibrator's belt, or drive mechanism, the vibrator suddenly
"caught up" and began running, amputating the distal phalange of plaintiff's fourth, or little, finger and lacerating other fingers on his right hand.
Plaintiff was treated at the emergency room of Anson County Hospital, where his lacerations were sutured. The treating physician also excised part of the bone of the middle phalange of plaintiff's fourth finger in order to pull tissue over the amputated area for suturing. An entry on plaintiff's medical records indicates that plaintiff's blood alcohol level was 387 milligrams per liter, or .387.
At the hearing before Chief Deputy Commissioner Dianne C. Sellers, the parties stipulated to the employer -employee relationship, applicability of the Workers' Compensation Act, plaintiff's average weekly wage, defendant's self-insured status, and the date of plaintiff's injury. In an Opinion and Award filed 13 March 1987, the Deputy Commissioner made the following additional findings of fact:
1. Plaintiff had worked for the defendant employer approximately one year as a lumber puller and separator of the lumber by grade and width.
2. On or about 17 June 1985 plaintiff was working in such capacity when a co-worker began having trouble on a vibrating conveyor which shakes slabs of wood into the chipper. This conveyor was approximately 15 feet from where the plaintiff worked. Since the workers had been instructed to assist co-workers, plaintiff offered his assistance to the operator of the conveyor. As he placed his hand in the mechanical parts of the conveyor, it suddenly and abruptly started working, causing a traumatic amputation of a portion of his fifth finger on his right hand.
3. Plaintiff was taken to the emergency room where he was treated by Gultekin Ertugrul, M.D., who excised a portion of the bony middle phalange and brought soft tissue over the bone to cover the amputated area. In addition, plaintiff received sutures for lacerations to his second, third and fourth fingers on the dorsal side of his right hand.
4. On or about 17 June 1985 plaintiff sustained an interruption of his work routine when he experienced a traumatic
partial amputation of his right fifth finger which was not a proximate result of his intoxication.
5. As a result of said injury plaintiff was unable to earn the wages which he was earning at the time of his injury in the same or any other employment from 18 June 1985 to 16 August 1985 when he was able to return to work and at which time he sustained by virtue of the traumatic amputation and the surgical excision, the los
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