Too many outside risk factors and not enough proof condition was job-related, tribunal says
A firefighter’s appeal to get workers’ compensation for coronary artery disease he claimed he developed from his job has been denied by the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal for failing to prove a causal connection.
He began working as a part-time firefighter in 1971 for a municipal corporation and moved to full-time in 1972. He said it was common for him to report to the scene of a fire or emergency situation by himself and other firefighters would be called if necessary. He said being the only one there at times and deciding what needed to be done was very stressful.
The firefighter, now 70, also claimed on many occasions he had to work without a proper breathing apparatus because there weren’t enough for all the firefighters on the scene. A few times, he claimed, he was given oxygen because he inhaled smoke and he was also exposed to chemicals while fighting fires.
In the early 1980s, the firefighter, who smoked from the age of 15 until he quit at 52, began experiencing symptoms associated with coronary artery disease, sometimes soon after completing a shift at work. In April 1989, he underwent bypass surgery. He returned to work but in 1994 tests indicated he had more problems that were exacerbated during periods of stress he experienced on the job. He was declared unfit to continue work and he retired with a disability pension.
A medical report indicated the man’s parents both died of heart disease and his brother had suffered a heart attack. He had also been diagnosed with high triglycerides.
The tribunal agreed the firefighter’s exposure to smoke and fumes was increased on the occasions he was unable to use breathing equipment and he was given oxygen on a few of those occasions. However, it said there was no medical evidence he required treatment after these incidents nor did it have a cumulative effect that made a significant contribution to his condition.
The tribunal also agreed his job as a firefighter was stressful, but compensation for a medical condition caused by stress had to be related to “acute emotional stress” from a specific incident, according to the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s Operational Policy Manual. The firefighter didn’t claim he suffered any specific episode of acute emotional stress.
The tribunal found it was more likely the firefighter’s condition was related to “non-compensable risk factors,” such as his family’s history of heart disease, decades of smoking and his high levels of triglycerides. As a result, he was not entitled to compensation for coronary artery disease as a result of his work. See Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal Decision No. 182/07, 2007 CarswellOnt 9603 (Ont. W.S.I.A.T.).
