Massachusetts Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog

On Monday evening, a three-alarm fire at an Everett triple-decker home injured two firefighters and left a dozen people homeless. An estimated 70 firefighters were called the scene of the fire, and fire authorities originally closed off a section of Route 99 in Everett. They later reopened that stretch of road.

Firefighters saved four residents, among them a 10-year-old fire victim, from a third floor apartment. The left side of the building later collapsed. All 12 people who were living there had been accounted for, but they are now homeless.

Two injured firefighters were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Source: 2 firefighters hurt while battling blaze at Everett home, WHDH.com, May 25, 2010

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According to MassCOSH (the Massachusetts Coalition of Occupational Safety and Health), eight Massachsuetts teens have been killed at work since 2000. Many of them were performing jobs that were in violation of Child Labor Laws. On top of that, an estimated one thousand minors are treated for work-related injuries in Massachusetts emergency rooms each year.

Just in time for young people beginning summer jobs, Governor Deval Patrick has dubbed May “Safe Jobs for Youth Month” to raise awareness about the increased risk of workplace accidents among young workers who may not be aware of their rights or may be asked perform tasks which they lack the strength or experience to perform safely.

Governor Patrick’s proclamation was announced recently at a three-day youth leadership conference. Students from across Massachusetts gathered to discuss ways of decreasing Child Labor Law violations, workplace deaths, and injuries.

Source: "Safe Jobs for Youth" month, Boston.com, May 13, 2010

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Following the April 20 explosion off the coast of Louisiana that killed several oil rig workers, families of the deceased and some of the workers who survived the accident have filed wrongful death or personal injury lawsuits against companies involved in the offshore drilling operation. An electronics technician who was seriously injured is seeking $6 million in damages. He filed a lawsuit in Louisiana federal court.

On Tuesday, three workers who escaped the explosion on lifeboats have filed a suit claiming they were kept floating at sea for hours as they watched the rig burn, knowing their friends were inside. That lawsuit was filed in county court in Galveston, Texas, and seeks unspecified damages on behalf of the three workers and the family of a worker who is missing and presumed dead.

Working on an oil rig is among the most dangerous jobs in the world, so this incident may lead to new legislation regarding safety standards for offshore drilling operations.

Source: Suit: Workers kept at sea hours after explosion, Associated Press, May 4, 2010

Lawsuit filed in Gulf oil rig blast, The Galveston County Daily News, May 5, 2010

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Our Massachusetts work injury attorneys have learned that a construction worker was injured when the ceiling of a church collapsed in Rockland, Massachusetts. According to fire officials, the ceiling collapse occurred in the lower level of the Holy Family Church last Thursday morning while workers were performing demolition work on the plaster ceiling of the church's lower sanctuary. A 20-by-30 foot section of the ceiling reportedly collapsed.

The unidentified worker was flown by medical helicopter to Boston's Beth Israel Hospital. The injured worker's condition is unknown. A second person suffered minor injuries but did not require hospitalization, according to officials.

The demolition accident is still being investigated to determine the cause.

Source: Worker Hurt in Ceiling Collapse at Massachusetts Church, ClaimsJournal.com, March 16, 2010

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The widow of a Massachusetts police officer says the stress of the job led her husband to take his own life in 2006. The police officer had been injured during an overtime shift in 1993 and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder the following year. Despite signs that the officer was crumbling under the stress, he was cleared for duty after a psychiatric evaluation.

His widow took her case to the state retirement board, which ruled that her husband's death was "accidental," meaning she would get 72% of his pension. Had he been killed in the line of duty, she would have gotten 100% of his pension, plus a one-time payment of almost $100,000. While the ruling does create a connection between the officer's on-the-job injuries and his eventual suicide, his widow wants her husband's death to be ruled "line of duty." She would also like his name to be added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

Suicide among police officers is a major issue that results in more deaths than homicides or accidents at work.

Source: The police suicide problem, Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, January 24, 2010

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Earlier this year, a worker died after he became caught in the moving parts of an industrial ice-making machine. The machine activated as the worker performed maintenance work inside it. When officials from Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the New Bedford company, a seafood processor, they discovered 23 alleged safety violations.

Following the fatal machinery accident, the company received 19 serious citations and four other-than-serious hazards. OSHA found that the company's seafood processing plant did not have specific steps and procedures to power down and lock out the ice machine's power source before workers entered it.

Investigators also found that employees were not trained to deal with the hazard of the machine's operating without warning. The plant was also missing a program to train employees to work in confined spaces such as the ice machine. OSHA regulations aimed at preventing serious injuries require that machinery be powered down and power sources locked out before employees enter the machine to perform maintenance.

The combined proposed penalties total $66,800.

Source: Seafood Processor Cited for Worker's Death in Ice Machine, OHSonline.com, November 9, 2009

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On Monday morning, a work-related accident at a Taunton warehouse killed a worker. The 51-year-old Stoughton resident was operating a stand-up forklift when it slammed into one of the building supporting beams and threw him to the concrete floor. The impact of the fall accident caused massive bleeding after the worker's temple hit the floor.

Taunton police arrived at the scene of the accident at 10:30am. The worker was pronounced dead an hour after the workplace accident after being transported to Morton Hospital and Medical Center.

The workplace fatality is under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but a statement from the Taunton Police Department reports that the incident has already been deemed an accident.

Worker dies after fall in Taunton warehouse, Taunton Daily Gazette, August 31, 2009

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Following an investigation into a fatal fall accident in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued two serious citations to a Kansas construction firm. The alleged violations come with $13,300 in proposed penalties.

When OSHA inspectors visited the construction work site, they discovered that employer had altered equipment to accommodate personnel lifting, but it had not evaluated the equipment's ability to support the alteration. A worker died after falling from an elevated platform that was attached to a skid steer loader to the concrete below. One of the serious citations was for altering the equipment and the other was for a lack of employee safety training.

OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious injury is likely to result from a hazard that an employer know or should have known about. The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with their OSHA area director, or contest the findings.

Kansas Construction Firm Fined $13,300 Following Fatality, OHSonline.com, August 3, 2009

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Earlier today, a construction accident in Kansas City's West Bottoms killed a worker. The crew was trying to adjust scaffolding when one of the metal attachment used to hold the scaffolding together reportedly came apart and fell five stories, striking the worker in the head. The fatal accident occurred around 10am.

According to a police report, the workers yelled to the men on the ground to get out of the way and one man was not able to move in time. Police said the scaffolding accident victim was not wearing a hard hat when he hit in the head.

The accident is being investigated by police and officials from OSHA.

Worker Killed In Construction Accident, KCTV5.com, July 8, 2009

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A Summerhill couple is seeking more than $150,000 from Siemans AG, because they say the German conglomerate is liable for the husband's catastrophic brain injuries, which were sustained in an industrial accident.

According to the suit, Morgan Construction Co. of Massachusetts (part of Siemans) sold Bethlehem Steel a wire drawing machine it made. Joseph Jarvie was working for Johnstown Wire Technologies (which took over the Bethlehem operation) when a wire recoiled and allegedly penetrated Jarvie's brain. The suit also says that Jarvie suffered gait dysfunction, balance disorder, depression, and nervous system damage as a result of the brain injuries sustained during the accident.

The couple is suing Siemans for failure to provide a mechanical clamping device and to provide breaking device for the die to spool to keep restraint wire under tension after it had been cut, as well as designing a machine was in an unsafe and dangerous condition.

Worker’s injury prompts lawsuit, The Tribune-Democrat, June 19, 2009

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Earlier this week, we blogged about a near collision between a truck and aircraft at Boston's Logan Airport. On Tuesday morning, a serious accident at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas injured five construction workers. The workplace accident occurred when a rebar cage collapsed as they were building it, trapping the workers insider.

Another worker reportedly sprang into action, preventing a 30,000-pound rebar cage from crushing the five injured workers. All five workers were removed from the rebar cage and taken to the hospital. Two of the workers have already been released from the hospital, and the other three are listed in stable condition. In February, a paving company employee died, casting shadows over the $2.4 billion terminal project.

Construction resumed following the accident, and the incident remains under investigation by the Department of Aviation and OSHA.

5 hurt in Las Vegas airport construction accident, Associated Press, June 23, 2009

Unknown Man Saves 5 McCarran Airport Workers, Fox5Vegas.com, June 23, 2009

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Last Monday, a 42-year-old technician was airlifted to the intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston following a wave soldering machine accident.

The machine reportedly caught fire and burned the worker from the chest up when he opened a service door on the machine to add an alcohol-based chemical, according to the fire marshal. A sprinkler above the machine put out the fire before the fire department arrived at the scene of the accident.

The worker, who was identified only by the first name of Scott, was conscious and alert when emergency responders arrived. Officials said his injuries are not life-threatening. Representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are planning an accident investigation to determine if any safety standards were violated. The company released other workers early on the day of the accident.

Man burned in accident on the job in Salem, Eagle-Tribune, June 9, 2009

NH EMS Worker Burned in Wave Accident, CircuitAssembly.com, June 12, 2009

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In Peabody, Massachusetts, a transfer machine crushed the legs of a worker who was part of a highway repaving project on Route 128 south. According to Phil Jodoin, the resident engineer for MassHighway who was on the scene to oversee the project, the construction accident occurred at 10:30 on Monday evening when the worker was run over by a machine that transfers asphalt dumped by trucks into a paving machine that puts it on the road.

Work stopped temporarily while the work crew waited for a safety officer from the Dracut-based heavy construction company to arrive at the scene of the machinery accident, along with a representative from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The injured worker was not identified, but the Peabody Deputy fire Chief told the media he was taken by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Machine crushes worker's legs, Salem News, May 27, 2009

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