Articles Posted in Fatal Work Injuries

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Sixty-nine workers were killed on the job in Massachusetts last year, according to the Boston Real Estate Times. It is the third year in a row Massachusetts has reported a near-record number of serious and fatal injuries to employees in the workplace.construction falls

A total of 59 Massachusetts employees died on the job, as well as 10 firefighters who died from work-related disease, according to the report “Dying for Work in Massachusetts: The Loss of Life and Limb in Massachusetts Workplaces” by the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health.

While causation can be more difficult to prove in work-related disease claims, the fact is such claims, as well as those involving repetitive movement and degenerative conditions that grow worse over time, account for a substantial number of Massachusetts workers’ compensation claims each year. The report notes occupational diseases claim an estimated 50,000 lives a year– many more lives than those that are documented.

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In cases where an employee is killed while on the job, the family will still have to file a workers’ compensation claim, just as the injured employee would have to do in a non-fatal on-the-job accident case. These cases can result in the payment of past medical expenses, reasonable burial and funeral expenses, and the payment of lost-wage benefits in cases where decedent had minor children living at home, or a spouse who survived the worker who was killed on the job, and was dependent on decedent’s income for support.

Workplace Accidents Boston According to a recent new article from CBS Local Boston, a worker was killed in Sharron when he became trapped in a machine. Authorities have said they were called to the scene of the fatal accident, which occurred at a metal fabrication plant located in the Greater Boston area.  When they arrived there around 9:30 a.m., they found the employee had become trapped in a large metal-cutting machine he was operating. Continue reading

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According to a recent news article from WCVB 5 News Boston, fatal Boston work accidents are at the highest levels they have been since 2000, and this is justifiably causing serious concern. This not only includes the City of Boston, but also fatal work accidents in the Greater Boston metro area, including cities such as Cambridge, Newton, Natick, and the north and south shores.

Number of Work-Related Deaths in Boston Metro Area at Near Record Highs

Boston Workplace AccidentsAs discussed in this news article, 75 lives have been lost by workers in the Boston metropolitan area in 2016 alone. In actual numbers, this was an increase in 27 worker fatalities, but in terms of percentages, we are looking at an approximately 56 percent increase from the previous year. Continue reading

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In most serious Boston workers’ compensation cases, we have an injured worker who needs to undergo medical treatment, and will also miss considerable time away from work.  These are exactly the type of cases for which the workers’ compensation system in the Commonwealth was established. However, there are also cases in which a worker is killed on the job, and these are also situations where a workers’ compensation claim may be the only appropriate remedy.

Workers’ Compensation as an Exclusive Remedy in Boston Workplace Accident Cases

The workers’ compensation system in Boston, which is codified in Section 152 of the Massachusetts General Laws (M.G.L.) is designed tworkers' compensationo be an exclusive remedy.  This means if a worker is injured on the job in Boston, or elsewhere in Massachusetts, he or she must file a claim with his or her employer in order to have medical bills and the cost of rehabilitation compensation paid, and to receive any money for lost wages during the time of recovery. In terms of a permanent personal injury, there may be permanent benefits paid as well, but these are the only two types of compensation in most workers’ compensation cases.  There is no recovery for pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and other types of special damages typically seen in Boston personal injury cases. Continue reading

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Falls on-the-job are among the most common type of injury on construction sites in Boston. They are also often quite serious and sometimes deadly. construction falls

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), keeps detailed records and  statistics of work-related fall injuries.  According to OSHA, the top four most common workplace accidents on construction sites includes falls, which account for 40 percent of all deadly construction accidents. Other top injury causes were workers’ being stuck by objects, workers electrocuted, and workers being caught in between objects vehicles or equipment.  OSHA has dubbed these the “Fatal Four” in terms of all construction accidents resulting in worker deaths in Boston and across the country.

Falls from great heights are more likely than other types of construction accidents to result in death or serious injury. They tend to involve higher medical bills and more time in lost wages. Because the stakes are higher, working with an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer in Boston is imperative.  Continue reading

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When we think of workplace injury and workers’ compensation cases in Boston, we typically think of someone being injured at the physical location in which they are employed. This could involve a retail worker who is injured by falling stock, or a hospital worker who is injured while trying to administer aid to patients, but the actual definition of a workplace injury involves an employee being injured while working in furtherance of his employer’s interests.  This is pursuant to Section 1 of Chapter 152 of the Massachusetts General Laws (M.G.L.), which is our state’s workers’ compensation act.

Acting in Furtherance of Employer’s Interest Means On the Job in Boston Workers’ Compensation Cases

Boston Workers' CompensationIn some cases, an employee who works at a fixed location will be asked to drive somewhere by his or her supervisor or employer. For example, even though a restaurant typically gets food from local or national suppliers via delivery, sometimes the kitchen will run out of a certain item and need it replaced that night.  The kitchen manager or general manager may ask and employee to drive to a local supermarket and pick up a temporary replacement to hold them over until the next scheduled delivery.  While this might seem strange, it actually happens all the time.  If the employee is driving his or her personal vehicle and is injured while making that grocery run, this is considered being on the job for the purpose of a Boston workers’ compensation case. Continue reading

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In a Boston workplace accident, which results in death, an employee’s family will not only be dealing with the loss of a loved one, they will also be dealing with loss of much needed income for many years to come, and this is and important aspect of a workers’ compensation claim. In addition to payment for medical expenses associated with the fatal injury, and reasonable funeral or burial expenses pursuant to Section 33 of Chapter 152 of the Massachusetts General Laws (M.G.L.), claimants will need to know how the code treats lost wages in a fatal workers’ compensation matter.

Death Benefits in Boston Workers’ Compensation Cases

Boston Workplace Accidents A case in which a worker is killed on the job in Boston is called a death benefits case pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 152, Section 31.  Under Section 31, benefits are to be paid to a worker who has surviving dependents. Surviving dependents are typically a spouse or children of a deceased worker.  In the event of workers’ death, M.G.L. provides payment to surviving dependents if they are “wholly dependent” on support from the deceased worker at the time of his or her death. Continue reading

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Workers’ compensation is designed as no-fault system within which it should be fairly easy for an injured worker to obtain benefits for lost wages and medical expenses. In practice, however, things are not always so easy since we are not only dealing with employers, but with workers’ compensation insurance companies. Like many insurers, workers’ compensation insurers have a habit of minimizing payouts by denying and delaying claims to the fullest extent possible.

This issue was recently weighed by journalists for the Civil Beat Honolulu. Writers describe a workers’ compensation system that is in many ways broken.

Boston Workers' CompAccording to the report, an injured worker who has been trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare that is the workers’ compensation system there since he was injured on-the-job. He was working on a construction project in which he was required to handle wet concrete. He was on a raised platform with a concrete pouring hose when the weather turned bad. Due to wet conditions, he fell to the ground and severely damaged his knee. He was in incredible pain. This on the job accident occurred 10 years ago, and he’s still fighting with the workers’ compensation insurer. Continue reading

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Working in a factory can be a dangerous job.  There are a lot of ways to get injured including slip and fall accidents, machine guarding accidents, heavy equipment accidents and falling inventory.  In some cases, there is a catastrophic failure at the factory such as one recently reported by Fox News where a cosmetics factory exploded resulting in one death and over 125 workers injured.

Boston workers' compAuthorities have said there were actually two separate explosions that occurred before cosmetics factory went up in flames.  Some of the injured were firefighters that were responding to the massive blaze. Once the injured had been triaged on the scene and taken to local hospitals, a count was taken and one worker was reported missing.  As investigators and first responders were combing through the wreckage, they discovered the remains of the missing worker.  He was 57-years-old at the time of his death. Continue reading

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Black men and Hispanic immigrants have the highest rate of workplace injury in the nation, according to a new study on work injuries and disabilities.hard work

Researchers with the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center of Health Policy and Economics and the Keck School of Medicine and Boston University published the study in last month’s edition of the journal Health Affairs. They opined the findings should prompt policy makers to consider whether bias is a factor in disparities of workplace injury and disability.

The study authors said the risk was even higher when they factored in workers’ education and other demographic characteristics. Essentially, unequal opportunities in the workplace for minorities results in them taking on more dangerous jobs out of necessity. That in turn increase their risk of disabling injuries.  Continue reading

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