Record No. 2467-94-4Court of Appeals of Virginia. Alexandria.
Decided: January 11, 1996
FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COMMISSION.
Edward H. Grove, III (Brault, Palmer, Grove, Zimmerman, White Mims, on brief), for appellants.
Peter M. Sweeny (Peter M. Sweeny Associates, on brief), for appellee.
Present: Judges Baker, Annunziata, and Overton.
MEMORANDUM OPINION[*]
JUDGE NELSON T. OVERTON.
Advanced Lock and Safe, employer, and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, insurer, appeal the decision of the commission to award Robert Heidorn benefits for a work-related injury by accident. Employer contends that the injury did not arise out of Heidorn’s employment. We affirm the commission’s award.
Robert Heidorn was employed as a locksmith, replacing the locks on interior office doors. Because of his height, he “got down on his knees” on the floor beside each door instead of bending over to work on it. On the sixth or seventh door, Heidorn “bent down [and] had a pressure on my right knee and turned just a little bit.” He felt a pain shoot through it just before his knees touched the ground. His treating physician later opined that the cartilage in his knee had been torn.
An accident arises out of the employment when a causal connection exists between the injury and the conditions under which the employer requires the work to be performed County of Chesterfield v. Johnson, 237 Va. 180, 183, 376 S.E.2d 73, 75 (1989). An employee’s need to work in a bent over position and to extract himself from that position presents a hazard to which the employee would not otherwise be exposed Richard E. Brown, Inc. v. Caporaletti, 12 Va. App. 242, 245, 402 S.E.2d 709, 711 (1991). A contortion of the body necessitated by the employee’s work is risk created by the workplace. First Fed. Sav. Loan v. Gryder, 9 Va. App. 60, 65, 383 S.E.2d 755, 759 (1989). The injury need not be caused by an extraordinary occurrence in or about the work performed, nor must the precipitating movement be unusual or require exertion Grove v. Allied Signal, Inc., 15 Va. App. 17, 22, 421 S.E.2d 32, 35 (1992).
The commission found that Heidorn’s injury was caused by kneeling down. It further found that his job required him to make that specific movement. We find credible evidence in the record to support this finding, and affirm the award of the commission.
Affirmed.