Articles Posted in Boston Work Accidents

Four employees suffered work injuries in Middleton that resulted in an inspection from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and roughly 50 safety violations against the company, Bostik Inc. The manufacturer of adhesives now faces more than $900,000 in proposed fines from OSHA.

The work accident happened back in mid-March, in which the company’s Middleton facility experienced a large explosion.

Our Massachusetts workers’ compensation attorneys understand that the Middleton facility returned a number of severe deficiencies in the company’s ability to manage its work site program. This program is a list of procedures and requirements that company members must follow in an attempt to efficiently address dangers that are associated with the company’s processes and equipment. Work in the plant involves a massive amount of hazardous chemicals. An efficient safety routine is a key for safety in this industry.

The March explosion happened when a valve on a line transfer housing acetone was left open. Because the valve was open, acetone vapors that are flammable were released and caught fire. The cause of the flame has been undetermined thus far.

When a company does not eliminate hazards on the job and does not accurately access potential hazards on a work site, injuries can result and lives can be lost. Safety measures can be taken and federal regulations should to considered by when preparing a work area for employees.

OSHA discovered that the Middleton facility officials neglected to take the proper safety precautions to address the dangerous conditions that resulted in injuries to the workers.

Jeffrey A. Erskine, the OSHA area director for Massachusetts says that he is thankful that the accident took place when there were only a few workers in the plant. The outcome could have been much different is the explosion happened during peak work hours and could have potentially killed someone.

Violations that OSHA found during its inspection of Bostik Inc.:

• The procedural safety information was incomplete.
• The company’s analysis of hazards related to the process did not address any previous incidents with a potential for catastrophic results, including incidents where forklifts struck the equipment.
• Safety training was not offered to employees.
• The company did not consider human factors, including operator error, fatigue resulting from overworked employees and lack of communication between shift changes for accident causes.
• Blocking exits.
• A number of electrical hazards.
• Failure to ensure that a forklift and electrical equipment, including light fixture, a motor and switches were approved to be used in Class 1 hazardous locations where flammable gases or vapors are located.

Because of all of these discoveries, the company has received nearly 10 willful citations with proposed fines totaling nearly $650,000. The company received 41 additional serious citations that were accompanied by nearly $290,000 in proposed fines. Illinois National Insurance Co., the workers’ compensation carrier that insured Bostik, should be taking care of the compensation for the injured employee, OSHA reports.
Continue reading

Our Boston workers’ compensation attorneys at Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers have been closely examining the details of the summary provided by Bureau of Labor Statistics on the 2010 Census of Workplace Fatalities. Fatal injuries at work in 2010 occurred at a rate of 3.5 per 100,000 full-time (or equivalent to full-time) workers. On average, 12 workers lose their life every day at American job sites.

Despite being in the midst of an economic recovery where job openings and availability are few and far between, work fatalities are reportedly high. In a preliminary report, last year only recorded 4 less fatalities on the job than in 2009. The most fatal occupational injuries in Massachusetts were related to falls, transportation incidents and homicidal incidents at work.

One thing is certain, no matter who you are or where you work, employees are at risk of serious injury or even a workplace fatality if certain safety precautions are compromised. Workers’ compensation lawyers hope that if you are injured at work, that you will go get medical attention, keep documentation of the injury, and seek the help of a legal profession if injuries persist and legal action needs to be taken.

Who is most at risk? White worker fatalities increased by 2 percent in 2010 where African-American and Latino occupational fatalities decreased. The biggest percent change came from the non-Hispanic black or African-American ethnicity which reported a 9-percent decrease in 2010 from the final recorded total of 2009. This is the second consecutive year for this ethnic group to show a decrease and an overall decrease of 37 percent has been documented since 2007. Latino and Hispanic workers showed a 4 percent decrease in reported deaths at 682, the lowest total for this ethnic group since 1997.

Male fatal work injuries decreased in 2010 compared to an increase for women. The number of females fatally injured at work rose 6 percent; this number boosted due to the fact that female homicides caused by assaults or violent acts at work rose 13 percent. Most age groups reported the same amount or less of occupational fatalities with the exception of the three groups, under age 18, 25 to 34 year olds and 55 year olds all reported a higher number of work fatalities.

Wage and salary workers reported a 2-percent rise in work fatalities congruent with the increased number of hours worked in 2010 when compared to 2009. Self-employed workers reported 2 percent less hours worked than in 2009 and a 6 percent decline in workplace deaths from 2009 to 2010. Additionally, self-employed workers reported the lowest total of deaths on the job since 1992.

The Top 5 occupations in 2010 that recorded five times higher injury rates compared to the average when taking into account fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 workers were:

• Fisherman (or any job related to fishing): 116
• Loggers (any worker in the logging industry): 91.9
• Pilots or flight engineers: 70.6
• Farm employees or ranchers: 41.4
• Mining machine employees: 38.7

The Top 5 industry sectors reporting the most fatal occupational injuries for 2010 are:

• Construction: 780 deaths, 17.2 percent of total work fatalities.
• Warehousing and Transportation: 657 deaths, 14.4 percent of total work deaths.
• Forestry, Agriculture, Hunting and Fishing: 600 deaths, 13.2 percent of total work fatalities.
• Business and Professional Services: 373 deaths, 8 percent of total occupational fatalities.
• Manufacturing: 324 deaths, 7.1 percent of total fatalities reported at work.

Continue reading

Stowe Woodward LLC has been cited with nearly 20 violations from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to prevent work injuries in New England at its Concord Plant. The company refurbishes large metal rolls for the paper industry. Safety violations have caused the company to be fined more than $175,000 in proposed penalties.

OSHA inspectors discovers a number of instances in which machinery was being used without the proper guarding to help prevent employees from touching dangerous moving parts. These machines included lathes, extruders and grinders. The machinery also didn’t have any way to safely lock out power sources to help prevent any unintentional start-up. The company received two violations totaling $125,000 for these conditions.

Our Boston workers compensation attorneys understand that some workers are at high risk for serious injury, if not death, if employers fail to take the proper precautionary steps. Because employers are required by law to ensure that all hazards are regulated, lawsuits, fees, fines and possible shutdown can result if hazards are either reported or discovered by OSHA.

“The sizable fines proposed here reflect both the severity of these hazards,” said the New Hampshire director of OSHA, Rosemarie Ohar
The company also received eleven serious violations that totaled nearly $50,000 in proposed fines. These violations were the result of failing to administer frequent inspections of crane equipment, improperly guarding grinders, blocking entrances to electrical disconnection panels, neglecting to inspect forklifts, storing propane cylinders near a building exit and respirator protection deficiencies.

The company also received three violations that totaled about $2,000 in proposed fines. These violations were considered other-than-serious violations as they directly affects employee’s health and safety, but would more than likely would not cause and serious injury or death.

The company has been given 15 business days to contest the Administration’s findings, meet with the area director or comply. This inspection was conducted by OSHA’s Area Office in Concord.

Employers have a responsibility to keep workers safe on all work sites. Companies are held to a federal standard to keep all hazards and dangers at bay. There are a number of work-related laws in which an employer must read and comply with. Failing to abide by all federal laws can result in employee injury in which an employer can be held responsible for paying out all deserved wages, including loss in wages and medical costs.

If you witness a work-related hazard or you feel that your employer is not following the standard laid out by OSHA, you can file a complaint and request that OSHA come and inspect your workplace. When submitting a request or a complaint to OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 ensures that your name is not revealed to your employer.

Remember that you can also voice your concerns to your employer. It is against federal law for an employer to retaliate against your concerns. Retaliation can include a demotion, a transfer, a termination or any other form of discrimination.
Continue reading

Nations Roof LLC and Nations Roof of New England LLC have reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor resolving a number of penalties and citations that were the result of discovered hazards at one of its work sites.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Nations Roof LLC, including all 14 of its affiliated companies, have agreed to ditch the company’s current safety and health program and build a new one from scratch. The new policy must include more employee training, more work site inspections, better safety and health planning and better management of structure and accountability.

Our Boston workers compensation attorneys understand that this settlement goes much farther than fixing and repairing hazards and simply paying a fine. This settlement requires the company to commit itself to creating a new, effective and proactive safety health culture that will focus on better training for employees and raising awareness in everyone to help prevent construction and roofing hazards. This should have been the company’s policy the entire time, however.

Employers are required to provide employees with the proper training for whichever industry they may be working in. Companies are also required to keep workplace hazards at bay to help to ensure the safety of all workers to prevent work-related injuries in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

Nations Roof LLC includes Nations Roof New England, Nations Roof South, Nations Roof National Service Center, Nations Roof East, Nations Roof of California, Nations Roof of Carolinas, Nations Roof South Florida, Nations Roof MidAtlantic, Nations Roof of Ohio, Nations Roof North, Nations Roof West, Nations Roof of Florida, Nations Roof Central, Nations Roof of Illinois and Nations Roof of Ohio.

With the new agreement, each of the company’s supervisors and directors, at all facilities, will be required to complete the OSHA 30-hour construction safety class. Directors will also be required to get certified to be able to teach the 30-hour course to future students. All other employees will be required to complete a 10-hour OSHA safety class and an 8-hour course on fall protection.

To help keep work sites even safer, the agreement requires that every work site be reviewed once a day by employees and once by a foreman. The sites will be reviewed once a week by a project manager. These reviews are to ensure that everything is working normal and safely and that all hazards are eliminated. The owning company will then select four random work sites of each of the affiliates to examine each year. The records for these inspections must then be submitted to OSHA.

Lastly, the company will pay out nearly $35,000 to OSHA in fines and must verify the corrections of all of the hazards that were previous cited by the Administration.

Companies can avoid all of the costly and time consuming correctional processes if the proper safety measures are taken in the first place to keep employees safe on the job.
Continue reading

Workplace violence ranks as the second most common cause of work-related injury and death in the United States after automobile accidents. Massachusetts workplace violence was the third most common cause of death and injury in 2010. About a dozen workers were either assaulted or the victim of a violent attack on the job in our state in 2010. An employer is required to provide safe working conditions for all employees. These measures include protection from violent employees.

There is a new system to look into the causes and results of workplace violence. A new directive has been added to the Enforcement Procedures for Investigating or Inspecting Incidents of Workplace Violence by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The new directive now provides a new list of procedures for OSHA field staff who are responding to complaints and incidents of violent acts that have been committed in the workplace. They now have a new way of conducting critical inspections in industries that have been deemed as high risk for workplace violence. These risky industries include social service settings, heathcare and late-night retail establishments.

Our Boston workers’ compensation attorneys understand that violence in the workplace has been ranked as one of the top four cases of on-the-job-related injury and death repeatedly for the last 15 years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there have been more than 3,000 work-related fatalities as a direct result of workplace homicide that happened from 2006 to 2010. Workplace violence has also resulted in approximately 15,000 injuries during the same time.

One example of this cause of workplace injury and death was discovered repeatedly at a Maine psychiatric hospital. More than 90 incidents were cited from 2008 to 2010 to be exact. The hospital has been cited to not offering its employees critical safeguards against violence in the workplace. The hospital has also received a proposed fine of approximately $6,000. Facilities in Massachusetts and in New York have also been cited as a result reported workplace assaults.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and a number of other organizations have conducted studies that conclude that employers who enact effective safety measures can in fact reduce the number of incidents of violence in the workplace. These safety measures should include encouraging working to report mere threats or actual assaults, employees should be provided with workplace violence training and an employer should conduct an analysis of workplace violence at the specific work site. Some other safety measures can include front door buzzers and detector systems in high-risk retail establishments and offering employees a “safe room” that they can use during risky situations.

You can check out OSHA website for more information on how to prevent violence in the workplace in late-night retail establishments and in healthcare and social service settings.
Continue reading

A Hazard Alert was recently issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The work-safety watchdog released a wallet-sized informational card that is being used to warn employees who work inside grain bins about the risks of work-related accidents in Massachusetts and elsewhere as harvest season approaches.

Workers who handle grain are at a high risk for injuries including entrapment, fires and explosions resulting from grain dust accumulations, crushing and suffocation from engulfment, amputations and falls from heights.

Our Boston workers’ compensation attorneys understand the dangers that these workers face on a daily basis. A recent report issued by Purdue University reports that more than 50 workers were engulfed by grain in storage bins in 2010. More than 35 of these workers died. This is the highest number of fatalities resulting from these types of accidents that has ever been recorded.

“Suffocation from engulfment is the leading cause of death in grain bins and the number of tragedies continues to climb,” said Dr. David Michaels who is the Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA.

These accidents, injuries and deaths can be avoided if everyone partakes in just a few preventative measures.

These grain bins are used by companies to store a number of agricultural commodities. These bins oftentimes store, wheat, corn and oats. Workers that are required to enter these bins can easily suffocate from engulfment if they stand on the grain because it is not unlikely for the product to act as a quicksand and pull the worker under. Back in June, three workers died in just one week after experiencing this type of accident.

Employees are also at risk for suffocation if they enter a bin that doesn’t have enough oxygen. They’re also at risk if the bin contains hazardous chemicals. Oftentimes more than one worker is killed during these accidents because employees rush to help a fellow coworker who has been trapped in the bin.

If you have to go into a grain bin, you must take the following safety precautions to ensure your own safety:

-Make sure that you turn of and disconnect, block-off and lock out all of your powered equipment. This is especially important for grain-moving equipment.

-Make sure that you use a body harness that is anchored to something sturdy.

-Before entering, make sure that you test the grain bin’s air supply. This should be done to make sure that you’ve got enough oxygen to enter and that there are no toxic or flammable gasses present.

-You should never walk down the grain to help it flow.

-Never enter a grain bin without having rescue equipment on standby. You should also never enter without a rescue-trained person outside supervising.

-Make sure that your employer has a permit stating that all safety precautions have been executed on the machinery and in the bins.
Continue reading

Residents of Puerto Rico are working on recovering from some of the damage that was recently caused by Hurricane Irene. Areas of Massachusetts also experienced flooding or other damage.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is taking time to ask that all workers and residents be safe when they’re cleaning up the mess left behind by the storm. Storm clean up efforts can potentially result in personal injury in Boston and other areas that were affected by Irene.

“Recovery work should not put you in the hospital,” said José A. Carpena, federal OSHA’s Puerto Rico area director.

Our Massachusetts workers’ compensation attorneys understand that storm recovery efforts involve a number dangers and hazards. These conditions can be minimized with the proper safety knowledge, a safe plan and adequate personal protection. Everyone is urged to be safe when picking up the pieces after Irene has come and gone to avoid any injuries.

Hurricane cleanup efforts can involve:

-Restoring electricity.

-Demolition projects.

-Accessing flooded areas.

-Aerial lifts.

-Water and sewer services,

-Removing floodwater from various area.

-Trimming trees.

-Repair efforts of roads, buildings, bridges, levees and dams.

-Crane operations.

-Emergency response assistance.

-Hazardous waste operations.

Residents and workers can be injured a number of ways through cleanup efforts. Some of the possible risks include:

-Exposure to contaminated food or water.

-Heat stress.

-Carbon monoxide exposure.

-Contact with falling tree limbs around tree trimming efforts.

-Electrical-related injuries from generators and other electric items.

-Entrapment in unprotected excavations or small, confined areas.

-Being caught in fast moving water.

-Downed electrical wires.

Environmental Health and Safety offers these safety tips for residents and workers who will be working together to clean our area up after Hurricane Irene:

-Make sure that all workers have proper protective gear, such as safety glasses, steel-toed boots, hard hats and work gloves.

-All cleanup efforts should be planned with the community and thoroughly shared with all participating parties.

-Keep an eye out for snakes and other reptiles that may linger in flood waters.

-Make sure that all electrical and gas utilities are shut off by emergency service personnel. before you begin repair work.

-Make sure that all workers have clean and portable water.

-Beware of standing water. This storm flood water can contain animal and human waste. It can also be contaminated with petroleum products and various agricultural and industrial chemicals.

-Encourage that all workers practice good hygiene. Workers should be asked to wash thoroughly before handling food and at the end of their work shift. Workers should be offered disinfectant for personal cleaning purposes.

-Require that all workers operating chain saws and other loud equipment wear hearing protection.

-Be careful when walking into or standing in flood waters. Traveling water can be dangerous, even for experienced swimmers. Standing water is dangerous as workers traveling through it may not be able to see holes or other tripping hazards.
Continue reading

Union Pacific Railroad Company has recently been ordered by the Department of Labor to pay out more than $615,000 to three of its employees. The payout is a result of an investigation that determined that the company neglected to abide by the wistleblowers protection provisions that have been set forth through the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA).

Investigations revealed that the company let go of two of its employees and suspended a third in an effort to retaliate against them for reporting work conditions that the employees felt were dangerous. One of the employees also attempted to report an injury that had occurred on the job, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

As we recently reported on our Massachusetts Workers Compensation Lawyers Blog, another railroad was recently ordered to pay out approximately $125,000 to an employee after denying his a promotion in the wake of a reported a work injury. The company denied the employee’s claim and proceeded to retaliate.

Our Boston Railroad Safety Act Attorneys understand that the Federal Employer’s Liability Act (FELA) allows workers to sue railroad companies for injuries that occurred on the job and are not being covered by workers’ compensation benefits. FELA allows an employee to gain additional compensation above and beyond what is typically rewarded through workers’ compensation claims. This act was passed as Congress witnessed an alarmingly high number of worker fatalities that had occurred within the railroad industry.

“Workers have the right to report work-related injuries and safety concerns without fear of retaliation,” said Assistant Secretary for OSHA Dr. David Michaels.

The Union Pacific Railroad Company case began when the company decided to release an employee back in late 2010 after the worker had complained repeatedly to the company about various work-related safety concerns. He reported a number of right-of-way issues, obstructed road signs and trip hazards. He also turned in a supervisor that had reportedly failed to uphold a number or safety precautions. The company included the fact that the employee had a tattoo, saying that the ink on his skin was creating a hostile work environment for everyone. His tattoo recognizes his time spent in the military and was on his skin years before he started working with the company.

The second employee from that company that’s receiving some of the compensation was suspended after he made a number of complaints about bumpy spots on the railroad track.

The third employee, of the same company, was let go after he reported an injury that had occurred on the job. All of the workers are being awarded compensation for a number of damages and reimbursement fees for legal representation.

All three of these incidents occurred in 2010 and 2011. Railroad companies are required to abide by the regulations laid out by the Federal Railroad Safety Act.
Continue reading