Workers Comp Covers Injury Suffered By Employee While Horsing Around

The Workers’ Comp Board denied the claim of an employee who broke his leg at work after its investigation found that the injury occurred as a result of a game of “chicken” the employee was playing with a truck driver. But the Appeals Commission reversed, noting that workers’ comp may cover an injury suffered during horseplay if certain criteria are met. In this case, the victim’s actions didn’t interrupt production and he didn’t escalate the horseplay into a dangerous activity (the truck driver did). So the Commission said the injury was work-related [Decision No. 2012-111, [2012] CanLII 5914 (AB WCAC), Feb. 3, 2012].