Alfred Savage v. Kaiser Electric

Employee: Alfred Savage

Dependents: $\quad \mathrm{N} / \mathrm{A}$

Employer: Kaiser Electric

Additional Party: Treasurer of the State of Missouri, Custodian of the Second Injury Fund

Insurer: Cincinnati Casualty Company

Hearing Date: July 16, 2014

Injury No. 12-105486

Before the

DIVISION OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION

Department of Labor and Industrial

Relations of Missouri

Jefferson City, Missouri

Checked by: $\mathrm{HDF} / \mathrm{scb}$

1. Are any benefits awarded herein? No
2. Was the injury or occupational disease compensable under Chapter 287? N/A
3. Was there an accident or incident of occupational disease under the Law? N/A
4. Date of accident or onset of occupational disease: Alleged January 27, 2012
5. State location where accident occurred or occupational disease was contracted: Alleged Tipton, Missouri
6. Was above employee in employ of above employer at time of alleged accident or occupational disease? Yes
7. Did employer receive proper notice? N/A
8. Did accident or occupational disease arise out of and in the course of the employment? N/A
9. Was claim for compensation filed within time required by Law? Yes
10. Was employer insured by above insurer? Yes
11. Describe work employee was doing and how accident occurred or occupational disease contracted: See award
12. Did accident or occupational disease cause death? No Date of death? N/A
13. Part(s) of body injured by accident or occupational disease: Alleged right hand
14. Compensation paid to-date for temporary disability: - 0 -
15. Value necessary medical aid paid to date by employer/insurer? - 0 -
16. Value necessary medical aid not furnished by employer/insurer? - 0 -

Employee: Alfred Savage Injury No. 12-105486

1. Employee's average weekly wages: N/A
2. Weekly compensation rate: N/A
3. Method wages computation: N/A

1. Amount of compensation payable: -0-

Each of said payments to begin immediately and be subject to modification and review as provided by law. This award is only temporary or partial, is subject to further order, and the proceedings are hereby continued and the case kept open until a final award can be made.

IF THIS AWARD IS NOT COPLIED WITH, THE AMOUNT AWARDED HEREIN MAY BE DOUBLED IN THE FINAL AWARD, IF SUCH FINAL AWARD IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS TEMPORARY AWARD.

Employee: Alfred Savage

The above-referenced workers' compensation claim was heard before the undersigned administrative law judge on July 16, 2014. Memoranda were submitted by August 8, 2014. The parties requested a 26 day suspension in the preparation of this award.

The parties stipulated that on or about January 27, 2012, the claimant, Alfred Savage, was in the employment of Kaiser Electric. The employer was operating under the provisions of Missouri's workers' compensation law; workers' compensation liability was insured by Cincinnati Insurance Group. No temporary disability benefits have been provided. No medical aid has been provided.

The issues to be determined by hearing include 1) the occurrence of an accident, 2) whether the alleged accident arose out of and in the course of employment, 3) the medical causation of the injuries alleged, 4) the liability of the employer/insurer for past medical care, 5) the liability of the employer/insurer for additional medical care, and 6) whether appropriate notice was given.

Notice is taken that the alleged injury date of January 27, 2012, was a Friday.

The parties stipulated at the inception of the hearing that medical treatment was requested and denied after the alleged accident.

A temporary award is sought.

The claimant, Alfred Savage, was working for Kaiser Electric as a journeyman electrician at the time of the alleged accident on January 27, 2012. Mr. Savage continued to work for Kaiser Electric through July of 2013. Mr. Savage testified that on January 27, 2012, he was working for Kaiser Electric at the University of Missouri power plant refurbishing the plant when he injured his right hand when a hammer drill bit got caught on a rebar and locked up, twisting his right hand and wrist. Mr. Savage said that he reported the injury to his foreman, John Leslie. Mr. Savage said that his foreman, John Leslie, took him to the Boone convenience clinic where his injury was diagnosed as a strain. Mr. Savage believes that he only went to the Boone clinic once, maybe twice, and that he received no bills for his care there. Mr. Savage saw his own

physician, Dr. Kimlinger, who agreed that Mr. Savage had suffered a sprain of the right wrist and hand. Mr. Savage had pain in his right wrist when using a power drill or saw after this, but had no additional medical attention for the right hand and wrist until he reinjured it on February 28, 2013. Mr. Savage wore a brace thereafter, originally given to him by Boone convenience clinic and replaced by braces Mr. Savage purchased at Walgreens or Wal-Mart.

On February 28, 2013, Mr. Savage was working at the CoMo Electric jobsite refurbishing a warehouse and remodeling an office. Mr. Savage's workday was to begin at 7 am. Mr. Savage said that the ground was snow covered and that he went into the trailer in which he and his co-workers started the day by receiving assignments and work instructions. Mr. Savage had no trouble climbing the snow covered steps to get into the trailer. Mr. Savage said that the instructions for the day included a general admonition to be careful. After the meeting, according to Mr. Savage, he took the other set of steps to the trailer to exit the trailer and fell, reinjuring his right hand. Mr. Savage described the door to these steps to be in close proximity to where his foreman, Mike Gerling, was sitting when he exited the trailer. Mr. Savage said that someone helped him up and that his right wrist began hurting a lot more in the early afternoon after which he reported the injury. Mr. Savage testified that he went to Capital Region West at Mr. Gerling's direction the following day. Mr. Savage has received the bills for treatment at Capital Region west and has paid some of them. Mr. Savage had an MRI of the wrist and saw Dr. Cameron and Dr. Wilson. Dr. Wilson gave Mr. Savage an injection into the right wrist and prescribed hydrocodone for him. Mr. Savage also saw Dr. Schlafly on his own twice, once for a second opinion after the 2013 accident and then again as an evaluating physician.

Mr. Savage said that he cannot bend his right wrist without pain and that he wakes up at night with right wrist pain; the pain feels like a nail is being driven through the wrist. Mr. Savage cannot use vibratory tools or till his garden as the result of his right wrist injury. Mr. Savage wishes to have the recommended surgery to diminish his right wrist pain.

During cross examination Mr. Savage said that John Leslie was his supervisor at Kaiser Electric and that Ricky Clark was above Mr. Leslie.

John James testified by deposition that he was also an electrician with Kaiser Electric on February 28, 2013, and that after meeting in the trailer at the beginning of the work day they "were all going to get up and go out there, and there was --- being there was snow on the side we typically go in and out of, Al [Savage] had walked out first, [Mr. James] was directly behind him and I think Brandon was behind me." (James depo p9) Mr. James said that Mike Gerling had said that he was going to get some salt and warned people to stay off of the ice.

Brandon Peiter testified by deposition that he was at the February 28, 2013 meeting in the trailer at the start of the work day and that Mike Gerling had said to wait in the trailer until he put salt down. Mr. Peiter said that Mr. Gerling was going to get salt and that Mr. Savage walked out the door. According to Mr. Peiter, Mr. James walked out the door next when he heard Mr. Savage yell; Mr. Peiter was the next person to go out.

Dennis Palmer, owner of Coastal Electric, testified by deposition that Mr. Savage worked for him on the St. Mary's Hospital construction site in Jefferson City, from September 26, 2013, through

the May 8, 2014 deposition. Mr. Savage worked a 40-hour week installing conduit and branch circuit wiring and installing light fixture hookups. Mr. Palmer described the gauge of the wire which Mr. Savage pulled as smaller branch circuit wiring. Mr. Palmer said that Mr. Savage's assignment to a crew doing rough in wiring rather than working with heavier wires was arbitrary.

Medical records of Dr. William Kimlinger reflect treatment of Mr. Savage on February 21, 2012, for right wrist pain beginning about a week and a half previously when he was using a hammer drill and "twisted his hands around." (clmt exh 2) Dr. Kimlinger recommended continued use of a splint as well as naprosyn. Dr. Kimlinger indicated that should Mr. Savage fail to improve, he would recommend further evaluation and a possible MRI. The next medical record for Dr. Kimlinger's treatment of Mr. Savage is dated March 18, 2013, and is for an unrelated condition, followed by a medical record of Dr. Wilson referring to Mr. Savage's right wrist dated May 12, 2013; this record refers to Mr. Savage's slip on the ice on March 7, 2013.

Dr. Bruce Schlafly, MD, testified by deposition that he saw Mr. Savage on April 29, 2013, and June 18, 2013, with regard to his right wrist complaints. Dr. Schlafly diagnosed a scapholunate ligament injury, possibly associated with a small fracture fragment, as well as arthritis, preexisting January of 2012. Dr. Schlafly opined that Mr. Savage is in need of surgery to excise the scaphoid and fuse the capitates, lunate, triquetrum and hamate bones to obtain pain relief. Dr. Schlafly admitted that in paperwork dated April 29, 2013, submitted to Mr. Savage's health insurance carrier, he stated t