Articles Posted in Boston Work Accidents

In the Massachusetts, the workers’ compensation system is a no-fault system.  This means it is not necessary to prove any negligence or fault in connection with a workplace injury or work related illness. This system is designed to benefit both the employer and the employee.

The way in which it benefits the employee is that there is no need to prove fault.  This means that if a worker was actually an employee within the statutory requirements, and the employer was injured at work or suffered from a work-related illness, he or she should be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits.  It doesn’t matter if the employer or even another employee was negligently responsible for the accident. Continue reading

In what many are calling an attack on American workers, some of the nation’s leading big box retailers are leading and effort to make it legal across the country for employers to opt out of the workers’ compensation system.  Instead of being part of the traditional workers’ compensation system, these companies want to be able to decide for themselves what treatment, if any, their inured workers will receive, because they believe this plan will save them a lot of money.

The problem for workers is that the way they will save money is by choosing to deny their workers’ valid claims for medical treatment and benefits. According to a recent news feature from NPR, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the version of this law in their state was unconstitutional. Continue reading

In Nichols v. Fairway Bldg. Prods., LP, a case from the Nebraska Supreme Court, claimant was injured while working as a forklift operator.  At the time of the accident, the forklift was on a raised hydraulic lift.  The lift collapsed while he was on it in the forklift, and the very heavy piece of equipment dropped about eight inches and landed with jarring force.

As a result of the forklift dropping, claimant said he had what he described as piercing back pain in his middle and lower back.  He said the pain had gotten worse over the course of a few hours, and he sought medical treatment that same day.  When he went for an examination, he was given an x-ray, but the x-ray came back negative. Continue reading

According to a recent news feature from the Cambridge Patch, a construction worker was injured when he was approximately 30 feet at the bottom of an underground trench in Cambridge.  Authorities say the man was lowered to the bottom of this deep trench in the ground and was there to help guide workers as they were using a crane to lower a large beam into the trench.

For reasons that are not entirely clear at this time, the workers lost control of this beam as it was being lowered, and it cut the man’s leg.  As a result of the cut he was bleeding profusely and was unable to climb out of the trench on the ladder that had been lowered for him.  Had this accident not occurred, he was expected to use the same ladder to get out of the trench once the beam was secured. Continue reading

In a follow-up to the recent news about a crane operator who suffered severe injuries in a Boston on-the-job accident, it has now been reported by the Boston Herald that this worker has died from his injuries.

The investigation has revealed that workers were attempting to disable the crane when the victim was still on it.  There is still an ongoing investigation into the cause of this Boston workplace accident, and there are a great number of questions about what actually happened in that Boston construction accident. Continue reading

In Black v Dixie Consumer Products, an accident occurred that seriously injured a claimant.  The accident involved a large truck containing over 40,000 pounds of pulpboard.  Pulp and pulpboard are using in the making of paper and paper products.  The pulpboard was loaded onto the truck in huge rolls, and these rolls were separated by rubber mats that weigh ten pounds each.

Once he parked at the factory, driver was told by the forklift operated to enter the loading area by a way of a locked cage around the loading dock.  The reason there was a cage was to keep any pedestrians off the loading dock, because it was dangerous. Continue reading

In Smith v. Delaware North Cos., claimant was injured on the job when she slipped on the floor while she was working as a cook at Orioles Park at Camden Yards, which is the home of the Baltimore Orioles.  When she slipped and fell, she landed on her knee.  Her knee was hurting for a few weeks following her workplace slip-and-fall and was referred to a doctor to have an MRI performed.

When doctors took the MRI, they diagnosed her with a tear in the posterior horn of her medical meniscus.  This is one of the more common knee injuries and is often suffered by athletes in addition to tearing of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).  They also determined that she had arthritis in her knee.  Arthritis is very common following injuries to the knee, because the lack of cartilage can result in bone-to-bone contact, which causes calcification and bone spurs to form, which causes bone pain. Continue reading