Crane Accident Kills Two Workers

On the afternoon of May 4, 2013, a crane collapsed killing two workers in Stark County, Ohio. The accident occurred at the Timken Company’s Faircrest Steel Plant around 12:45 PM. The workers were employees of Beaver Excavating and were rigging a load of wood onto a crane. Something within the crane snapped and the two workers were killed instantly.  The ages of the victims have not yet been released.

The plant is undergoing a multi-million dollar expansion so Beaver excavating is on site helping the project. Several cranes must be used during the project. Out of respect for those involved, the plant has halted all operations until Monday 8 AM.

Prevalence of Deadly Crane Accidents

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, there are approximately 125,000 cranes operating today in the construction industry. This number does not include the cranes used in general and maritime industries. Unfortunately, these cranes can lead to severe accidents and injuries when not maintained properly. According to OSHA, the major causes of all accidents involving cranes include:

•         Contact with power lines
•          Overturns
•          Falls
•          Mechanical failures

These accidents are so prevalent that crane accidents accounted for 8 percent of all fatal construction events from 1991 to 2002.

Reducing Crane Accidents

For construction workers, read the following tips in order to prevent crane accidents from happening:

·         Assess all construction sites in case a crane incident does occur. Be sure that the site is adequately prepared for lifting operations and any hazards that can result from a crane falling

·         Establish a crane safety plan for every lift. Be sure that the crane is strong enough to carry the weight. Every crane should also be inspected and maintained by the manufacturers’ specifications

·         Train all employers in safe crane operations. Everyone should receive the necessary training in order to operate cranes in a safe manner.

Workers’ Compensation Attorney

For those who have been injured on the job due to a crane accident, you should contact a workers’ compensation attorney to ensure your rightful compensation. A workers’ compensation attorney will work to maximize your compensation potential and benefits. Contact us today in order to protect your workers’ rights. 

Abused Disabled Workers Win $240 Million in Court

On April 1, 2013, a jury in Iowa City, Iowa awarded $420 million to 32 mentally disabled employees who suffered years of abuse and discrimination. The group of employees worked for Henry’s Turkey Service in Atalissa – each man is being awarded $2 million in compensatory damages and %5.5 million in punitive damages.

The company is guilty of sending hundreds of disabled men to work in a meat-processing plant for 41 cents an hour. This ill treatment had been done for over 40 years. The company sent men from Texas to Iowa to live in a century old school building transformed into a bunkhouse. The company’s procedures were eradicated when state officials were made aware of the conditions inside the bunkhouse along with the fact that the company did not carry a license to care for disabled individuals.

In addition, the company failed to provide their employees with disability services, health insurance, or Iowa Medicaid. As a result, many of the men did not receive medical or dental care for years. Furthermore, the bunkhouse did not provide central heat and violated fire safety. One social worker testified that some men were punished by being taken to a garage where they were physically abused by caretakers.

Employer Discrimination

The story above is extremely tragic, but truly significant to illustrate that all employees, disabled or not, deserve fair treatment and workers’ rights. By California law, all employers should harbor a safe work environment where employees feel protected and unharmed. In the described incident, the employers were taken advantage of and mistreated the employees because they were disabled. Employers are not allowed to discriminate for reasons including, but not limited to:

•          Age
•          Disability
•          Pregnancy
•          Religion
•          National origin
•          Gender

Workers Compensation Attorney

If you feel that you were discriminated against by your employer and mistreated, you should contact one of our workers’ compensation attorneys at the Rawa Law Group. With the legal assistance of our workers’ compensation attorneys, you may be able to earn monetary compensation for your pain and suffering. Contact us today in order to protect your worker’s rights. 

Fired for a Work Injury- Know Your Right to Workers Compensation

Often, many employees who work as assistants, housekeepers, and maids fear that they have no recourse if they are injured on the job.  Recently, the actress Sharon Stone was sued because she fired her housekeeper after she suffered a work injury.  The housekeeper requested a medical leave or modified duties based on her doctor's advice and was instead fired by the popular actress for this work injury.  

In this case, California and federal laws offer employees the rights to workers compensation benefits.  They also guarantee that as an employee, the housekeeper should have received modified duties due to the back injury she suffered on the job.  However, the housekeeper was fired instead. 

The Right to Workers Compensation

Employees in California, including those employees who work in nontraditional home situations such as housekeepers, are entitled to Workers' Compensation.  The state maintains a fund of benefits available to injured workers and mandates that employers obtain insurance that pays into this fund.  In return, the state's fund pays these injured workers so the business does not have to.  

Often, employees injured on the job have suffered a work injury that could be long lasting or life altering.  In these instances, where extended medical care is required and the employee cannot return to work, long term benefits are also available.  

In the case of housekeepers and other workers in nontraditional home settings, at issue is whether a person was hired on as an employee or as a contractor.  This distinction becomes important not only for tax information but also for workers' compensation benefits.  To determine whether you are eligible for workers compensation, you should call a skilled work injury attorney today. 

Get Help for Your Injuries

If you have been injured on the job, you could be suffering and in pain.  Depending upon the circumstances and the nature of your work, employees could suffer a number of debilitating injuries, including:

• back injuries
• neck and spinal cord injuries
• brain injuries
• internal bleeding
• difficulty breathing due to toxic substances
• amputation
• paralysis
• death

It is important to obtain the medical help you need and to call a skilled work injury attorney to secure the compensation you need to move on with your life.  Call a work injury attorney today.  Don't suffer in silence. 

Protect Yourself from Work Injuries on Construction Sites

When it comes to obtaining a job, often construction sites offer diligent workers good pay for a hard day's work.  But these sites can be extremely hazardous.  The US Dept. of Labor estimates that on any given day, approximately 6.5 million people will go to work today on over 250,000 construction sites.  And according to accident statistics, many of these workers will suffer from a work injury.  In order to prevent those injuries from becoming fatal, the Labor Department suggests an active safety program.

Common Work Injuries on Construction Sites

Depending upon the construction site, conditions can vary from job to job.  But each and every construction site can be dangerous in multiple ways.  Many workers will experience a work injury from these common accidents, while others will experience work injuries from more exotic methods:

• falls from great heights
• slips and falls
• scaffolding accidents, collapses
• trench accidents, collapses
• electric shock
• falls down the stairs
• heart attacks, strokes due to overexertion
• crane accidents
• chemical burns
• forklift accidents
• blows to the head
• back and neck injuries

Serious and even fatal work injuries can result from any of these accidents. It is up to the employer to provide as safe a work environment as they possibly can and to provide safety training, material data sheets on hazardous materials, and to provide workers with adequate safety equipment.  Even when all of these requirements are met, often, workers are injured on the job because accidents happen.  And when you're working with heavy machinery, those accidents can be severe. 

Steps to Preventing Work Injuries on a Construction Site

Work injuries on construction sites are often preventable.  Often, these accidents are the result of either a lack of preparation, ignorance of safety procedures, or employees just not paying attention on the job.  To avoid these potentially serious work injuries, workers should take a moment to consider the following in order to protect themselves from injury:

• review safety programs prior to beginning at a job site
• inspect their safety equipment to ensure that it's adequate
• know where the material data sheets are kept
• pay close attention to what you're doing, don't allow yourself to become unnecessarily distracted
• take a moment to familiarize yourself with your surroundings
• obtain help if you can't see over a load you're carrying
• obtain help moving items 
• go slowly on heavy machinery
• don't overload machinery
• ground yourself prior to working with electricity

Safety is a huge concern on construction sites as they are often responsible for a variety of potentially severe and painful work injuries.  If you have been injured due to the negligence or carelessness of another, you could be entitled to compensation. You should seek immediate medical attention and contact a skilled work injury attorney to obtain the best possible results for you. 

New Regulations for Tattoo Shops Seek to Prevent Injury

New state laws have come into effect in California to regulate the potentially risky industry of tattoo artistry and piercings.  In an effort to control the potential for diseases, state regulators have passed new safety guidelines for a variety of industries, including tattooing and piercing.  These guidelines propose new rules for safe handling of needles to avoid potentially injuring employees and to avoid the possibility of spreading diseases to customers.  Particularly at issue is the spread of Hepatitis B.  The legislation passed by Jerry Brown in 2012 now demands a higher standard of cleanliness and care. 

New Employment Safety Guidelines

Under the new tattoo/ piercing workplace safety guidelines, tattoo shops and piercing shops need to have medical waste personnel come pick up used needles.  This makes sense since hospitals and doctors' offices dispose of their used needles in medical waste receptacles.  Using these medical waste professionals to handle used needles can ensure that tattoo artists aren't injured on the job and don't contract diseases from customers. 

Another highlight of the new laws is that these shops need to have hand washing stations to ensure that employees don't pass diseases and viruses to their customers.  Additionally, there are new sterilization rules and mandatory health permits and safety inspections. 

Are You at Risk for these Injuries

These safety regulations are intended to prevent work injuries and injuries of customers.  This could include:

• potentially deadly and infectious diseases such as hepatitis B, HIV
• tetanus 
• tuberculosis
• allergic reaction
• granuloma
• tissue damage, necrosis
• excess bleeding
• death

If you suffer a work injury at a tattoo shop or piercing shop, you should obtain medical attention. And then you should call a skilled work injury attorney to handle your claims.  Get the compensation you deserve today.

Understand Workers Compensation Rights and Duties

Workers' Compensation is a difficult area of law.  Often, despite their best efforts, business owners don't necessarily understand it or their duty to protect their employees. When there is a misunderstanding of the employers' duty to carry insurance, or misunderstandings of safety guidelines, safety requirements, and employee responsibilities, injuries could happen and employers could find themselves in potentially difficult situations.  We all want to be able to work in safe conditions and are entitled to by law. 

Employers' Legal Obligations

If you are a business owner, you are required to carry workers' compensation in your state.  You are also required to carry workers' compensation insurance in other states if you enter into contracts there.  And in the case of some fields of work, whether you employ "employees" or "contractors" you are required to carry workers' compensation insurance as a matter of law.  This system can be confusing for business owners who may otherwise want to do right.

Typically, workers' compensation insurance is obtained from licensed insurers.  They will explain to employers that should workers become injured on the job, the state's workers compensation fund provides funds for these workers to pay their medical bills and ease their transition as they heal before they get back to work.  However, the critical components are that a work site need to establish and maintain an active safety program and they need to communicate this program and the consequences of work injuries to their employees.

Employees' Rights to Workers Compensation

Employees injured on the job may be entitled to collect workers' compensation for their injuries.  This is to allow an employee to heal properly and to pay their medical bills as they remain out of work. This is not intended to be permanent, though.  However, long term disability benefits do exist for seriously injured employees.  The state's workers' compensation system is set up to aid employees to pay their bills while they focus on healing to get back to work.  

When employees are injured on the job, typically, they alert their supervisor or human resources department to the injury.  Then, they are advised to do the following:

• seek immediate medical care
• obtain witness information
• obtain pics on your smart phone of the dangerous work condition
• call a skilled work injury attorney

When workers are injured, it can be difficult to obtain the necessary compensation for their work injury.  This is why they are advised to hire a work injury attorney.  A work injury attorney can help employees to navigate the insurance system and to face the workers' compensation board.  When injured employees try this on their own, they risk not being able to collect the benefits they are due for their injuries.

If you have suffered a work injury, you should contact a skilled work injury attorney to obtain the relief you need.  You should also collect information to assist the work injury attorney in your case.  Increase your chances of a favorable settlement and obtain the relief you need. 

EPA Fines AZ Schools for Asbestos that Could Risk Injury

As an employee, one of the absolute guarantees is that you are entitled to a safe work environment.  Often, when a work environment is found to be unsafe, it is due to newly discovered chemical hazards or to faulty safety programs or precautions. In one such case, Arizona teachers have discovered their schools are riddled with asbestos.  

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cited Arizona school districts Apache Junction, St. John's, Florence, Vernon, McNary and Round Valley for asbestos products which contributed to a potentially harmful and toxic work environment for both teachers and students. After such a citation, all of the school districts have taken measures to bring their schools under compliance with existing asbestos management programs to minimize work injury. 

Asbestos Could Cause Work Injuries

Asbestos used to be a popular component of building materials prior to the 70's and was included in nearly every wall and ceiling of structures built at the time. However, over time, we found out that asbestos could be extremely dangerous after inhaling it over an extended period of time.  The following work injuries could result in asbestos exposure:

• blood in the lungs
• shortness of breath
• anemia
• blood clots that could lead to heart attack or stroke
• asbestosis, marked by scarring of the lungs
• lung cancer
• esophagial cancer
• mesothelioma cancer
• death

Prolonged exposure to asbestos can produce work injuries that are extremely severe, requiring extended medical care.  For this reason, when asbestos is discovered in a work environment, employers take it seriously.  Generally, employers take great pains to clean up the environment of all asbestos products in order to prevent work injuries that could lead to cancer and death.

If you have been exposed to asbestos at work and developed a work injury, you could be entitled to compensation for your work injury.  You should alert your work to your injury as well as call a skilled work injury attorney.  Don't go up against the workers' compensation insurance boards alone.  Contact a skilled work injury attorney in order to get the compensation you need to repair your health.