Winning an appeal with the WCB after 16 Years
VICTORY!
w
using a visual supports Dan Darnell was able to win his 16 year fight with
the Workers Compensation Board Alberta!
The situation was complicated by the location of the accident and the inability of the WCB Workers and their Managers to understand or even rake the time to research the unique situation which caused Dan a sever and life altering injury.
Reading through the negative conclusions the WCB had issued in his case it became obvious that the WCB appeared to have reached it's conclusions through a total misunderstanding of the situation and from the tone of their letters it was apparent that the Staff members and Managers at the WCB had no intention of trying to understand the situation to justify denying compensation.
I worked with Dan to develop a picture of the accident and after several drafts we arrived at the image below.
This image was developed to show a work-site cross-section, The left side illustrating the 'normal' set-up of a Flex-tubing rig on a gas well, below ground on the Armed Forces Base. The right side illustrates the actions that happened to injure Dan. There is plenty of information available to the public about ALL Oil and Gas wells being underground on the Base!
We confirmed the accuracy of the illustration with all the witnesses.
Although these pictures were originally submitted to the WCB, the managers and workers again chose to ignore the facts.
At the end of September 2016 Dan made an appeal to the WCB Appeal Board and using three large posters of the drawings and the rig picture, Dan told his story to the Appeal Board Members referencing the drawings. Remembering of course that the Visuals were only part of an excellent presentation to the Appeal Board which included hours of legal background by the legal team and years and years of persistence by Dan and his family.
Just before Christmas he received notice his appeal had been successful
Appeal Commission final decision: http://www.canlii.org/…/2016canlii89994/2016canlii89994.html
Dan Darnell "this picture was so helpful explaining how my injury happened so they understood what was being said to them I believe this is one of the main reasons I won my case thank you so much rob@ positive culture for the graphic work."