42 A.2d 320 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1945
Argued March 13, 1945. This is a workmen's compensation case in which the claimant suffered almost complete blindness. The referee found that the injury was caused by an accident, classified the claimant as a "nondescript on the labor market," and awarded compensation for total disability. Both the board and the court below affirmed. The employer-defendant and its insurance carrier bring this appeal.
Claimant, Charles Barkus, was employed by defendant, Thornton-Fuller Co., as a motor tester. There was no useful vision in his right eye, because of glaucoma, but there was normal vision and tension in his left eye. He worked on Army trucks which were parked side by side about six feet apart in an assembly line. Occasionally it was necessary to do welding on these trucks, and this was done with a portable welding machine, around which a heavy cloth screen was sometimes placed as a guard or shield. Claimant was on the night shift and about two o'clock in the morning, the time of the incident, he was working in the cab of one of the trucks. Someone shouted his name and he looked out the side window. Then, as claimant testified he later told an investigator for his employer, "I got a flash from the welder." Someone was in between the trucks with a portable welding machine, not more than three feet away. The brilliant light from the unshielded welding machine caused his eyes to smart, his vision was so impaired that he could not continue to work, and he was taken home by a fellow employee. Claimant now has 76.5% visual acuity of his left eye and 25% visual efficiency of that eye.
The first question raised by appellants is whether *241
the facts constitute an "accident." Although the act defines the terms "injury" and "personal injury,"1 it does not define the term "accident." "The word `accident' — as used in the act — must be interpreted in its usual, ordinary, popular sense.":Lacey v. Washburn Williams Co.,
Appellants' next contention is that the claimant failed to give notice of the injury within the time prescribed in the act. There is ample evidence to show that notice was given. The injury was immediately reported to claimant's foreman and to the nurse in charge of the defendant's infirmary and two days following the accident when an investigator employed by defendant called on claimant at his home to ascertain why he had not reported to work, he was told that the claimant had had an injury to his eye caused by the flash and that the eye was to be operated on. There is testimony to the contrary, but since the issue is solely one of credibility, it is not the province of this court to inquire into it. It is the prerogative of the compensation authorities to give the testimony such consideration as it may deserve, and to accept or reject it in whole or in part accordingly. Zbirowski v. John T. Lewis Bros.Co.,
Appellants contend that the causal connection between the accident and the injury has not been sufficiently *243
established by competent evidence. The standard of proof required is medical testimony to the effect that the accident "caused" the injury, not that it "could have" or "probably did." Diehl v.General Baking Co.,
The remaining question raised by appellants concerns the award of total disability. Appellants contend that the award was not justified because the claimant has *244 not lost more than the useful vision of the left eye. While the claimant is not totally blind, his vision in the left eye is such as he would have looking through a long tube. The claimant was a skilled technician and his work required close coordination between eyes and hands. For this type of work he is no longer fitted, nor has it been shown that he is able to perform any other type of work. We think the award of total disability was justified.
The judgment is affirmed.