Articles Posted in Workers’ Compensation

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According to a report coauthored by the Western Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health and the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, 66 Massachusetts workers died last year while at work or because of illnesses they sustained while doing their jobs. Last year’s fatality figure is less than for 2008, when 80 Massachusetts workers died. Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health Executive Director Marcy Goldstein-Gelb says many of these fatalities could have been prevented if basic safety measures had been implemented rather than overlooked for profit.

Most Massachusetts worker deaths occurred in the construction industry. The 17 construction accident fatalities were a result of numerous causes, including fall accidents and machinery accidents. However, taxi drivers, firefighters, and fishermen were just some of the Massachusetts workers who died last year in work-related accidents.

Advocates are speaking out against the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for not doing enough to protect workers and inspect work sites. In 2008, OSHA fined Massachusetts companies about $9,939 for safety violations resulting in worker fatalities, which doesn’t give employers a lot of incentive to make sure that workers are kept safe. Work safety advocates also want more to be done to protect immigrant workers, who make up 24% of Massachusetts worker deaths, even though they only make up 17% of the state’s workforce.

Workers Memorial Day
Across the US, today is Workers Memorial Day, which is a day to remember workers that have died because they got injured or sick due to their jobs. Nationally, the AFL-CIO is reporting 5,657 worker fatalities in 2007 and over 4 million injuries or ailments-with 50,000 to 60,000 workers suffering from occupational diseases each year. It is important to note, however, that many work injuries and deaths may go unreported.

HR 2067, which has been introduced by US lawmakers, would implement tougher laws designed to protect workers and give them more rights when it comes to safety.
Also, fortunately, many workers who are injured or get sick on the job can avail of Massachusetts workers’ compensation benefits.

66 died on job in Mass. last year, Boston.com, April 28, 2009
Workers Memorial Day 2009 Materials Ready Now, AFL-CIO
Related Web Resources:
2009 Workers Memorial Day Celebration, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice
Western Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health

Massachusetts AFL-CIO
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An outside inspection of the Boston Fire Department’s 44 fire trucks found that the department practices shoddy fleet maintenance across the board. Some of the deficiencies noted by the report:

• Not enough driver training.
• Vehicle abuse or misuse.
• Weak vehicle specification when determining how to handle and care for specific models and makes.
• Inadequately defined procedures and polices for repairing, maintaining, and procuring Boston fire trucks.
• Failure to complete adequate daily truck inspections.
• Poor maintenance records.
• Poor preventive maintenance.
• Allowing firefighters without the proper training and knowledge to maintain the department’s trucks.

The review comes following a deadly Boston fire truck accident last January that killed one firefighter. The fire truck’s brakes malfunctioned, which caused the truck operator to lose control of the vehicle as it flew down a hill, striking a Mission Hill apartment building. Maintenance records show that the brakes on the vehicle had not undergone an inspection for almost a year, even though the fire truck manufacturer suggests that they are inspected every 90 days.

Boston Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser agreed with the report’s findings and is working to hire a professional fleet manager as well as licensed mechanics. He requested the review following the fatal truck crash. The findings in the 19-page report come from interviews with firefighters, fire department officials, union officials, and a review of documents related to maintenance and costs.

Boston firefighters that are injured on the job are entitled to Massachusetts workers’ compensation benefits.

Boston fire chief: Hire civilian mechanics, Boston Herald, March 11, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Review slams Boston Fire’s ‘loosey-goosey’ approach to firetruck maintenance, Boston Globe, March 11, 2009
Crash survivors fault the brakes, Boston.com, January 11, 2009
Maintenance Practice Assessments for the Boston Fire Department
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In Boston, one worker has died and another suffered serious injuries when a crane fell at Suffolk University on Saturday morning. The crane was being used to inspect the roof of a seven-story dorm building when it tipped over, causing its 110-foot arm to crash into a building and barely miss a number of shoppers who were browsing books at the Brattle Book Shop’s outdoor display.

The two workers who were involved in the deadly Massachusetts work accident were in the crane’s basket when it fell onto a paved lot. They are James Williamson, who died from his work injuries, and Greg Johnson.

Occupational Health and Safety Administration officials, police, and firefighters were at the scene all day to examine the crane and determine determine what caused the accident. According to the Boston Fire Department’s spokesperson, the force of the fall bent the crane and caused it to split apart.

Crane Accidents
Hundreds of thousands of workers suffer serious, if not fatal injuries in crane accidents each year. OSHA cites causes of crane accidents to include:

• Improper assembly • Improper disassembly • Boom buckling • Failed rigging • Falls • Outrigger use • Improperly trained workers • Inadequate safety gear
• Improper safety procedures
Suffolk University says it contracted Tremco Inc to inspect several of its buildings’ roofs. Sheet Metal of Framingham and Reliable Roofing were subcontracted to do the work, and the latter had rented the crane equipment from Height 4 Hire. Last March, OSHA slapped Reliable Roofing with a $4,500 fine because the company neglected to provide workers with safety net systems, guardrail systems, and personal fall arrest systems at a Newburyport job site.

Workers injured at job sites do not have to prove that another party was at fault in order to receive Massachusetts workers’ compensation benefits, which they are owed under state law. They do, however, have to prove liability by a third party in order to receive personal injury compensation. While workers’ compensation benefits do provide some relief, the injuries and losses sustained in a construction accident may incur expenses that far surpass the financial compensation your employer is required to provide. This is why it is important that you consider all of your legal options.

Crane accident in Downtown Crossing leaves two injured, Boston Herald, February 9, 2009
Crane falls down, killing worker, Boston.com, February 8, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Crane Accidents

Occupational Safety and Health Administration
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In Salem Superior Court, a jury awarded the family of Priscilla Jardine $2 million for her wrongful death. Jardine died on February 26, 2004 soon after giving birth to a baby girl during an emergency cesarean section. The jury issued its Massachusetts wrongful death verdict after finding that Jardine’s obstetrician, Dr. Debra Gail Knee, acted negligently when she recommended that the 32-year-old then pregnant mother take the drug labetalol.

As a result of taking the drug, Jardine’s blood pressure fell to dangerous levels and decreased her unborn baby’s fetal heart rate so that it became undetectable. Soon after delivering her daughter, Jardine went to cardiac arrest and died. Knee’s lawyer says that his client did not issue the directive for Jardine to take the medication and that another doctor who made the call has acknowledged that it was exclusively on his order.

According to the wrongful death lawsuit, hospital staffers told Jardine’s family that labetalol was “safe.” Information from the drug’s manufacturer, however, warns that patients suffering from congestive heart failure should not take the medication. A nurse at Caritas Family Hospital followed orders and administered labetalol to Jardine even though the pregnant woman was exhibiting symptoms that her heart was failing.

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Investigators looking into the deadly accident involving a Boston Fire Department ladder truck driving through an intersection and ramming into a high-rise apartment building are examining the vehicle’s brakes. The focus on catastrophic brake failure as a possible cause for the fatal crash comes after reports from survivors that the fire truck’s driver frantically pumped on the brakes in an effort to stop Ladder 26 from flying down Parker Hill Avenue and crashing into the building that housed a computer learning center.

Four children that were working in the center at the time of the Boston truck accident suffered minor injuries and were taken to local hospitals. Fire Lieutenant Kevin M Kelley, who was riding in the fire truck’s front passenger seat, died immediately on impact. Two other firefighters in the backseat of the truck sustained minor injuries. Fire truck driver Robert Bernard O’Neill was released from Brigham & Women’s Hospital on Saturday.

Boston Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser has ordered an outside inspection of the brake systems on 44 Boston fire trucks, which were made by the same manufacturer. While officials are careful to caution that nothing has been found yet to indicate that brake failure was the cause of the crash, the fire truck’s maintenance records indicate that the vehicle has had brake problems in the past.

In 2006, the truck crashed into another building. Fortunately, no one was injured. Also, following a routine inspection in October, a faulty brake hose was replaced.

Video footage from security cameras at different apartment buildings on Parker Hill Avenue showed that the truck driver could have slowed the truck down by purposely driving into other motor vehicles that were parked on the street. However, this could have caused injuries to others.

Fire union officials have complained in the past about poor fire equipment maintenance, including inadequate truck maintenance. The Fire Department board of inquiry is also expected to conduct its own probe into the fire truck accident.
Crash survivors fault the brakes, Boston.com, January 11, 2009
Boston fire truck smashes into building; 1 dead, Associated Post, January 10, 2009

Related Web Resources:

Fire Department – City of Boston

Labor and Workforce Development, Massachusetts.gov Continue reading

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The widow of a worker who died after he was crushed by 2,500 pounds of granite has settled her Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuit with a company for $1.2 million. As part of the agreement, the name of the company that settled the lawsuit will remain confidential.

Valdecir Rodrigues died after a number of granite slabs fell on him, crushing his chest and suffocating him during a work accident on October 3, 2005.The 38-year-old died from his injuries.

Valdecir had been employed at ASI Industries, LLC when the accident occurred. Another company, Atlantic Stone Industries LLC, had retained a safety expert to train and oversee ASI’s workers but did not pay him. The two companies are no longer in business, but Elisabete Rodrigues received $675,000 in workers’ compensation benefits for her husband’s death.

The wrongful death settlement report says that ASI did not have any training manuals and failed to conduct safety meetings. The company also is accused of failing to put in place the proper safety mechanisms. Meantime, employees, who were not trained, were expected to show new workers how to do their jobs.

Prior to Valdecir’s death, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had cited ASI for numerous health violations. Following his death, a federal investigation discovered 15 serious safety and health violations at ASI, including the improper training for how to work with granite slabs and the improper storage of the slabs.

Elisabete’s Massachusetts wrongful death lawyers say Valdecir’s death could have been prevented if proper regulations had been implemented. They say that unfortunately, many immigrants who are unfamiliar with their rights as workers are hired to do dangerous jobs.

Storing, Unloading, Handling, and Transporting Stone, Marble, and Granite Slabs
Working with granite, stone, or marble slabs can result in serious injuries or death, which is why it is important that the proper safety precautions are in place to minimize any dangers. Workers must also be trained on how to work with the heavy slabs.

Widow of worker killed by granite slab settles for $1.2 million, Metrowest Daily News, November 23, 2008
Hazards of Transporting, Unloading, Storing and Handling Granite,
Marble and Stone Slabs, OSHA
Related Web Resources:

Department of Industrial Accidents, Massachusetts.gov
Workers’ Compensation, Justia Continue reading

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The attorney for the family of Jdimytai Damour, a seasonal Wal-Mart maintenance employee who died after being trampled by shoppers that were scrambling to enter the store during last week’s Black Friday sale, says that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. could have done more to prevent the 34-year-old’s death. Damour died of positional asphyxia, which means the position that his body was in prevented him from breathing.

The catastrophic work accident happened at about 5am, as some 2,000 shoppers broke the glass door and stampeded into the Wal-Mart store so they could avail of huge (but limited) discounts on computers, electronics, and other items. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500 is calling for a full investigation into the incident. It also wants Wal-Mart to take action so that such a deadly accident never happens in one of its stores again. Already, Fritz and Jonathan Mesadieu are suing Wal-Mart for injuries they sustained during the shopping frenzy at the same store where Damour was trampled.

The Mesadieus’ lawsuit is not the first time the retail chain has been sued for personal injury. In 2003, a female shopper filed a lawsuit after she was injured at a Wal-Mart when two other shoppers grabbed her neck and pushed her after she tried cutting in line. In 1999, five customers sued Wal-Mart because they claim that other shoppers who were scrambling for Furby dolls had injured them.

Wal-Mart insists that it put in place numerous safety precautions at the store where Damou died during last week’s post-Thanksgiving sale, including setting up barricades and making sure there were internal and external security teams present. The wrongful death lawyer for Damou’s three sisters, however, disputes these claims and says the Wal-Mart store did not have enough security personnel onsite who were properly trained.

Whether or not Damou’s family will qualify for death benefits under workers’ compensation law or are able to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Wal-Mart will depend on whether or not Damou, hired from a temporary work agency, is considered a company employee. The family is also considering whether to file third party lawsuits. Some people are critcizing local police for their failure to prevent the deadly work accident. Nassau County police, however, say that providing security at the Wal-Mart store was not their responsibility.

Wal-Mart Assailed on Death, The Wall Street Journal, December 2, 2008
Wal-Mart death preventable, union says, CNN, November 30, 2008
Related Web Resources:

Workers’ Compensation, Justia Continue reading

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In Massachusetts, a construction accident on the AstraZeneca campus in Waltham on Sunday has left one worker, 40, dead and another, age 30, with serious injuries. According to Waltham Police, the work accident occurred at around 11 in the morning while the men were installing aluminum panels to the side of the lab that is under construction.

The two workers plunged to the ground some 25 feet when the hydraulic lift that the two men were on tipped over. While the older man died at the accident site, the younger worker was admitted to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Police, who are investigating the crash, say that the lift, which was on an incline, became unstable. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is also investigating the fall accident.

The two construction workers worked for Lymo Construction. An earlier accident at the Lymo site resulted in one worker hurting his knee. The company, however, says that it has an “excellent” safety record on the project. Lymo was cited three years ago for not having enough fall protection at a construction site in Pembroke.

Fall Accidents
Due to the nature of construction work, workers do risk getting hurt in fall accidents. This is why it is so important that construction companies implement and enforce the proper safety precautions and that workers use the correct protection gear.

Examples of Construction Falls:

Falls from roofs: Examples of this leading cause of death at construction sites include falls through skylights and openings in roofs, as well as falls from communication towers and rooftops.

Falls from cranes: Workers have been known to fall from great heights when a crane falls over. A series of crane collapse accidents in the US have led critics to question whether the proper safety precautions are being taken to prevent crane accidents.

Falls from elevator shafts: A worker doesn’t have to fall from a great height through an elevator shaft in order to sustain serious injuries or die.

Scaffolding falls: A common cause of scaffolding fall accidents is faulty construction.

Falls through Holes in Construction Site Floors: Weak floors or holes in flooring can lead to serious injuries for workers.

1 killed, 1 hurt in accident at job site, Boston.com, October 11, 2008
Man dead, another critical after lift collapse in Waltham, The MetroWest Daily News, October 10, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Lymo Construction

Occupational Safety and Health Administration
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The Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration says that the owners of the Salem Harbor Power Station failed to protect three workers that died when a faulty boiler ruptured at the plant on November 6, 2007. Following its investigation into the deadly work accident, OSHA says that it found 10 serious safety violations at the plant, owned by Dominion Energy New England, including a failure to enter or inspect the area where the blast occurred for the past several years.

Engineer Phillip Robinson, rookie Mathew Indeglia, and mechanic Mark Mansfield were killed when the Unit 3 boiler tubes broke-enveloping them in steam with a temperature that was close to 600 degrees.

Dominion Energy New England officials say they will dispute the claim that they failed to protect the company’s employees from getting hurt or killed on the job. A Dominion official says that an inspection found that the cause of the boiler explosion was an undetectable defect in an old weld that joined two pipe pieces.

OSHA has ordered Dominion to pay $46,800 in safety violations, and more fines may be pending. The company says that the majority of the violations have been remedied.

OSHA says that is essential that Dominion identify and eliminate any dangers to workers and take the necessary steps (including conduct proper maintenance and inspections), to prevent future leaks.

Other fines that may be pending include $4,500 for improperly storing compressed gases in cylinders and $6,300 for failing to inspect the “dead air space” area of the coal-fired boiler that ruptured.

The surviving family members of the victims are considering filing a Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuit against Dominion.

OSHA finds Salem plant failed to protect men who died, Boston.com, May 15, 2008
Salem Harbor Resumes Operation After 2007 Plant Catastrophe, an Industrial Info News Alert, Marketwire.com, April 25, 2008
Workers In Salem Plant Explosion Die From Injuries, WBZTV.com, November 7, 2007
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
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A report coauthored by the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health and the Massachusetts AFL-CIO found that 80 Massachusetts workers died in 2007 because of injuries sustained while at work or because of work-related illnesses. The report is called “Dying for Work in Massachusetts.”

The most dangerous industry for Massachusetts workers continues to be construction and firefighting. 20 construction workers died while on the job last year, while 9 Massachusetts firefighters died, most of them due to work-related illnesses. Other industries in Massachusetts with a high number of worker fatalities in 2007 are transportation, fishing, utility work, and motor vehicle repair.

Stress on the job reportedly led to six deadly heart attacks. Three of these fatalities were 38-year-old firefighters. 19 worker deaths were caused by fall accidents.

Two 17-year-old construction workers were among 2007’s worker fatalities. A 71-year old mechanic was recorded as the oldest person to die last year due to a worker injury. One telecommunications worker with Verizon was electrocuted and died in Plymouth when his bucket struck high voltage wires.

Some people have expressed worries that certain companies are prioritizing productivity over worker safety. For example, the bucket used by the telecommunication worker that died was not insulated.

Work safety advocates believe that many of last year’s deaths could have been avoided if workers had been given the proper gear, equipment, and training. For instance, the 17-year-old construction worker that died in a fall accident was not using a safety harness when he fell from a Salem church roof last year.

Although Massachusetts workers’ compensation law provides injured workers and their families with financial compensation, the recovery may not cover all expenses and losses.

80 people in Massachusetts died of workplace injury in 2007, Associated Press/Boston Herald, April 29, 2008
80 work fatalities in state last year, Boston.com, April 29, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health

Read the Report “Dying for Work in Massachusetts” (PDF)

Massachusetts AFL-CIOhttps://www.altmanllp.com/lawyer-attorney-1226007.html
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