Worker’s Second Ankle Injury Wasn’t Related to Prior Compensable Injury

At the end of a shift on Nov. 5, a worker slipped exiting a bus and injured his neck, back, knee and ankle. These injuries were covered by workers’ comp. On Dec. 23, the worker was at the airport to compare ticket prices for his return to the worksite when he injured his ankle again. He claimed the ankle had been weakened by the prior injury and so the re-injury should be covered by workers’ comp. The Appeals Commission disagreed, ruling that the Dec. 23 injury was unrelated to the compensable Nov. 5 injury. There was no evidence the ankle had been weakened in the prior incident. And the worker wasn’t injured in the course of his employment on Dec. 23 [2015-0203 (Re), [2015] CanLII 25580 (AB WCAC), May 13, 2015].