Articles Posted in Massachusetts Work Accident

A New England worker was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital after an industrial accident severed his fingers. According to the Morning Sentinel, the 23-year-old worker was employed at the Maine Pellet Co. when the accident happened just before 9:00 p.m. Full details of the injury have not yet been released, but the victim released a statement on his Facebook page:

“I cut all my fingers off on my right hand but fortunately I still have my thumb,” it said. “On my left hand, ring and middle finger is missing the tips. They basically cut my right hand all the way back to my knuckles.”

Our Boston workers’ compensation lawyers understand that officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) get about 200,000 reports of work accident-related amputations each year. From 1992 to 1999, there were more than 170 fatal amputations and more than 88,000 amputations that happened in America’s workplaces, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most of these kinds of accidents happen to manual laborers, fabricators, manufacturing, transportation officials, agriculture workers and operators. The truth of the matter is that everyone is at risk for one of these accidents.

Even though these kinds of injuries represent less than 1 percent of all workplace injuries and fatalities, the severity of such injuries oftentimes affect all parties involved more drastically than other kinds of work injuries. Because of the serious consequences of these accidents, they’ve gained more and more attention over the years.

About a third of these injuries require a worker to take at least 31 days off of work. In comparison, less than 20 percent of other injury accidents involve this time away. This should illustrate the serious nature of these injuries and the lengthy rehabilitation often required. In many cases, the victim will live with a disability for the rest of his life.

Amputations may be complete or they can be partial. When you undergo a complete amputation, the entire body part is removed. When there’s a partial amputation, some muscle, tissue or bone keeps the amputated body part connected to the body of the victim. Typically, guillotine amputations are a lot easier than crush amputations. In crush amputation, you’ve got to deal with more tissue, bone and muscle damage.

There’s also an avulsion amputation. This is when a body part is stretched or torn away from the body and the tissue. This kind of amputation involves some serious damage to soft tissue, blood vessels, bones and nerves.

The kind of amputation suffered in these kinds of accidents has a significant impact on the outcome of the injury and the possibility of reattaching the severed body part, as well as the future of your working abilities.
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The Alliance between officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and those with the International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA) aims to continue to reduce the risk of work accidents among window washers.

The renewed Alliance aims to address the dangers of slip, trip and fall accidents (especially from heights) as well as the safe use of common industry equipment, like scaffolds and ladders.

“Falls are among the most common causes of serious work-related injuries and deaths in the window cleaning industry,” said David Michaels, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.

Our Boston workers’ compensation lawyers understand that training and education are two of the most effective ways to help to reduce the risks of on-the-job accidents, injuries and fatalities. It’s important that employers take the proper steps to ensure that employees are educated and properly trained in the work they’re required to complete, and that they’re provided with the proper safety equipment to do so.

The Alliance will continue for another two years. During this time, members of the Alliance will be developing education and training programs for those who clean windows, focusing on limited English-speaking workers and low-literacy workers. Members will be focusing on helping workers to recognize and prevent workplace accidents when cleaning windows and solar panels. Current safety materials and new materials will be translated so that these workers are able to better understand. It’s estimated that these workers account for about 50 percent of the window-cleaning industry.

The International Window Cleaning Association represents more than 600 national and international member companies. These companies employ over 10,000 workers.

Employees in the field are suggested to take a Hands-On Training Course with the IWCA.

Window cleaning safety is primarily focused on fall protection, as most of these workers work from heights. As a matter of fact, fall accidents are the most common cause of injury and death. Companies are required by federal law to make sure that work places are safe and are set up to prevent these kinds of accidents. OSHA requires that fall protection be provided for workers who perform at elevations of 4 feet in general industry workplaces, 5 feet in shipyards, 6 feet in the construction industry and 8 feet in longshoring operations. Window cleaners can oftentimes work at heights much greater than these.

Tips in Protecting Window-Washing Workers:

-Make sure all employees are properly trained and are able to recognize and prevent on-the-job dangers and accident risks.

-Make sure that personal protective equipment is provided to workers at no cost. Work areas should be assessed before a job is started so that employers and workers can be properly protected.

-Keep walkways and platforms clean and dry. Keep these areas clear of obstacles, too!

-Make sure that there is a guard rail and toe-board around every elevated runway, floor, or open-sided platform.
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On-the-job accidents, injuries and fatalities at Logan Airport and other large airports nationwide are most commonly experienced among the ground crews and other support personnel.

Our Boston workers’ compensation attorneys understand that an airport like Logan would simply cease to run without these dedicated and hardworking employees. Still, these workers face some of the highest risks for work accidents, injuries and fatalities. Some of these incidents most commonly include transportation accidents, struck by objects and fall accidents.

The General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, or Logan Airport, covers close to 2,400 acres, has about 10 runways and employs more than 15,000 people. As of 2010, it was the largest airport in the New England area. It’s the 19th busiest airport in the county and completes close to 14 million boardings a year, helping to transport close to 30 million passengers. That’s a lot of luggage!

Recently, officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it would be renewing its Alliance with the Airline Ground Safety Panel. The purpose of this Alliance is to help to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, the number of accidents, injuries and fatalities occurring in these jobs. There are more than 10 airline companies involved in this alliance, too. There are three unions as well, and close to 400,000 workers. These individuals account for about 90 percent of the industry.

“We look forward to working with the panel to educate and train employers and workers on preventing workplace injuries,” said David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.

The Alliance will continue through a 2-year agreement. During this time, officials with the Alliance will be creating fact sheets that will be used to eliminate the risks of slip, trip and fall accidents and other various hazards that are common while operating ground safety equipment. Officials with the Alliance will also be conducting a number of studies to help to improve the safety of these workers and to help to address hazards and dangers.

Labor Organizations with the Alliance:

-Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO
-Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO
-International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Also expressing support for the Alliance was Airlines for America.

If you check the National Transportation Safety Board‘s (NTSB) Aviation Accident Reports, you can see that airport and aviation accidents come with some serious risks.

The truth is that this is a dangerous industry for all involved. It’s important that safety is kept as a number one priority.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a federal program that works alongside state partners to try to make sure that work places are safe for employees of all kinds.

Still, there were more than 4,600 workers killed at work in 2011. This is despite the more than 2,000 OSHA inspectors that are responsible for making sure these areas are safe. They’re supposed to look over the approximate 130 million workers and close to 10 million work sites in the nation. Their inspection and enforcement might not be as effective as it could be because, when you break it down, each health and safety inspector covers close to 60,000 workers.

OSHA has 10 regional offices in addition to nearly 100 local area offices. They have a budget of nearly $585,000,000. Still, thousands are killed and even more are injured each and every year.

Our Boston workers’ compensation attorneys understand that there were close to 41,000 federal inspections conducted in 2011. This in addition to the more than 52,000 state inspections conducted.

The problem is that this organization isn’t big enough to handle the problems of work sites nationwide. For every 100,000 U.S. workers, there were close to 4 who were killed on the job. You might be thinking that 4 isn’t a lot, but when you take into account that there are 130 million workers in the U.S. and you remember that these are human lives that we’re talking about here, you’ll quickly realize that this is a huge problem.

This means that there are close to 15 fatalities a day, or close to 90 a week, throughout America’s work sites.

It’s also important to point out that these newly-released numbers illustrate an increase from the 2009 numbers.

Close to 750 were Latino or Hispanic workers. Close to 15 Latino workers, or 2 a week, were killed on the job.

“Every day in America, 13 people go to work and never come home. Every year in America, nearly 4 million people suffer a workplace injury from which some may never recover,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.

The most alarming thing about these incidents is that many of them are completely preventable. American workers are on the job chasing the American dream. We all want to go to work, make a decent living, work to provide for our families and make it home safe at the end of the day. .

The truth of the matter is that employers have to do their job, too. Employers are required to make sure that working conditions are healthy and safe for all workers. American workers rely on it. And the safety of you and I depends on it.
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A New England brewery has been cited by officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, (OSHA) which alleges close to 15 seriously violations of its workplace health and safety standards.
The investigation leading to these citations was the result of the late-April death of a worker at the company’s location in Portsmouth. The accident happened when he was using a compressed air line to get rid of the liquid that was inside of the plastic keg. It exploded and hit him — killing him.

The inspection was conducted by the Area OSHA Office. It concluded that the explosion was a result of excess air pressure that came from the cleanout line of the keg. The line didn’t have the proper air regulator that would have cut off the air pressure to keep it under 60 PSI. This is the highest amount of air pressure that should be used and is recommended by product manufacturers. As a result of the recent inspection, officials discovered that workers who were designated to clean the lines were exposed to the exact same kinds of dangers while cleaning out the steel kegs.

Our Boston workers’ compensation attorneys understand that it is critically important that all machinery is used properly on the job. An employer is required to make sure that they know the limitations of all devices and machinery on the job and that employees are properly trained to know this kind of information as well. Because this didn’t happen, the New England brewery was cited for exposing workers to struck-by dangers and also for exceeding the limitation set forth by the manufacturers of the machinery.

“The inability to regulate air pressure when cleaning out kegs exposed employees to a recognized hazard of being struck by debris should the kegs explode due to being overpressurized,” OSHA’s Area Director Rosemarie Ohar said.

Also discovered in the inspection were a number of dangers that were related to confined work spaces, procedures that were incomplete for making sure that machine’s power sources were properly locked out before starting maintenance work on them, for not properly guarding machinery, for not properly storing acetylene and oxygen tanks and for not letting its workers know of specific chromium hazards. Altogether, there were 13 serious violations cited for these various dangers.

With these citations come fines that total close to $65,000. The company has been allotted 15 business days to either pay the penalties, to contest, to comply with the findings and/or meet with a local area director with OSHA.

It’s important that employees take the proper safety precautions when using heavy machinery. Proper safety equipment should be used by all workers in the area. Machinery needs to also be protected. Never should a worker run the risk of injuring themselves when working on heavy machinery properly.
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Students, developers and anyone else who can work a computer is invited to participate in a U.S. Department of Labor challenge.

Officials are conducting a Workplace Safety and Health Challenge. What they’re asking for is a tool that helps to convey the importance or taking the proper precautions to prevent accidents in the workplace and to help employees to understand their rights on the job. There are many ways that you can enter this competition. You can make an app for a smartphone, for internet browsers and even for social networks. It’s all up to you. All you have to do is make sure that it’s submitted by the 30th of November.

“New technologies have the promise of making our safety and health resources even more accessible for workers and employers,” said Dr. David Michaels with OSH.

Our Boston workers’ compensation attorneys understand that recognizing work dangers and recognizing your rights in the workplace are effective ways in preventing accidents in the workplace. While it’s the employer’s job to make sure that each workplace is safe for everyone involved, it’s also important that you’re doing whatever possible to stay safe on the job.

Each Entry Should:

-Make sure that workers understand the importance of knowing exactly what their specific industry’s work hazards and dangers are.

-Make sure that workers of all ages, especially young workers, understand the dangers of their job and understand the serious consequences that stem from on-the-job injuries.

-Provide information regarding safety and health from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Provide information including standards and regulations for each workplace and for each industry.

-Provide work accident statistics and work-related risks from the U.S. Department of Labor. You can include some of the most commonly experienced work accidents and which industries these accidents occur in. Which people are at the highest risks?

-Help workers to understand their state’s workers’ compensation programs and other government resources for dealing with work accidents. What are you to do in the event of a workplace accident? What are you entitled to under state and federal law? What compensation do you deserve for your injuries?

-How management should address work hazards, including personal protection equipment as well as various engineering controls.

-Help employees to understand the rights that they have in the workplace. You have rights on the job that must be respected by employers and coworkers. What are these rights?

-Help workers to understand their employer’s responsibility toward their safety on the job.

-Include a feature that allows this information to be shared with different parties.

There will be a panel of judges looking through the submissions looking for the most creative and the most defective one. Included in this panel is Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage from “Myth Busters,” Hilda L. Solis, the Secretary of Labor and Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education. The first prize winner will get $15,000. Second place will get $6,000 and third place will get a $3,000 prize.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced their preliminary picks for the Top 10 most commonly cited workplace safety and health violations for this year.

“While great progress has been made in safety over the past 100 years, today’s presentation reminds us there is more to be done to make our workplaces safer,” said Janet Froetscher, CEO and President of the National Safety Council (NSC).

Our Quincy workers’ compensation attorneys understand that there are close to 15 people a day, or about 90 people a week, who never get to come home from work. As a matter of fact, there were more than 4,000 workers who were killed on the job in 2011. That means that close to 4 people were killed for every 100,000 full-time equivalent employees. That may not seem like a lot to you, but when you think about how many millions of employees we have here in the United States, those 4 workers per group must be better protected. This most recent statistic shows a slight increase in the number of work fatalities from the previous year.

“Every year in America, nearly 4 million people suffer a workplace injury from which some may never recover. These are preventable tragedies that disable our workers, devastate our families, and damage our economy,” said Hilda Solis, the Secretary of Labor.

Top Safety and Health Violations for 2012:

-Fall Protection: Close to 7,500 violations.

-Hazard Communication: Close to 5,000 violations.

-Scaffolding: Close to 4,000 violations.

-Respiratory Protection: Close to 2,500 violations.

-Ladder: More than 2,300 violations.

-Machine Guarding: More than 2,000 violations.

-Powered Industrial Trucks: Close to 2,000 violations.

-Electrical (Wiring Methods): Close to 1,750 violations.

-Tagout/Logout: More than 1,500 violations.

-Electrical (General Requirements) More than 1,330 violations.

The final report on these violations and the top violations for the year will be published later in December in the Council’s Safety+Health magazine.

Out of the workplace fatalities that occurred in 2011, more than 17 percent of them happened in the construction industry. Out of these accidents, falls, electrocutions, struck by object and being caught in or between were considered as the “Fatal Four.”

In 2011, there were more than 40,500 safety and health inspections made at workplaces across the country. Still, we saw thousands of workplace fatalities.

American workers aren’t here to play games and they’re not waiting around for a free lunch. Employees throughout the country are spending their days and nights working hard to make a real difference. They’re working hard to provide for their families. And they’re working hard to make sure they’re not injured or killed on the job. We hope that employers across the country are doing the same. It’s their job — by law.
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When it’s cold outside, you want to be aware and be prepared. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some of the dangers that accompany cold weather are serious and dangerous, but there are some that you might not be able to spot as easily.

Workers who do their jobs outside are at some serious risks for weather-related work injuries and accidents, especially with the winter season. As the temps continue to drop, we’re asking all workers and employers to be ready, to be prepared and to be safe.

Our Boston workers’ compensation lawyers are reminding workers who complete their job outside to dress in warm clothes. You should always wear multiple layers of loose clothing. Layers not only provides you with better insulation, they also will help you to cool off if need be, by removing layers as you warm up. You should also always wear gloves to protect your hands and a hat to protect your head. You might think that your Northeast blood is conditioned to handle rigid winters, but did you know that you can suffer from weather-related injuries when the temps only drop to 60 degrees?

Potential Injuries from Cold Weather:

-Frostbite: Most of your body parts are prone to frostbite, including your nose, toes, fingers and even ears. This happens when parts of your body freeze. What can happen is that some of the tissue can be damaged — permanently. If you can’t save the tissue after one of these accidents that body part will need to be amputated. One of the best ways to prevent these kinds of injuries is to wear that protective clothing we were talking about. The colder it is outside, the faster frostbite can take hold. Be more cautious outside as the temps drop.

-Hypothermia: This is one of the most serious dangers of working outside in the cold. It’s also one of the toughest conditions to detect. This happens when your body temp drops below 95 degrees. When you start to suffer from this condition, you may start to feel confused and most times people don’t think there’s anything wrong until it’s too late. You’ll usually know when your pulse and your breathing slow, when you stop shivering, when your skin turns a shade of blue and your pupils may expand.

-Trench Foot: This is when your feet are too wet and too cold for too long. The wetness causes your feet to lose out on precious heat. The blood flow can slow and tissue can be irreversibly damaged.

-Chilblains: This can cause your skin to swell, blister, get too red, start itching and even break.

As the temps drop, we’re urging workers to start bundling up. Stay safe and stay warm out there to help to reduce your risks of any cold related work injuries.
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A worker at a Bumble Bee Tuna plant was cooked to death inside of an industrial oven, referred to as a steamer machine. The worker, according to The Examiner, was 62-years-old.

When emergency response teams arrived on scene, the man was pronounced dead. The accident forced the plant to shut down through late last week and over the weekend. The accident is now being investigated by state workplace health and safety officials. They’re looking into how exactly the accident happened. The man had been employed with the company for close to 10 years.

Once the investigation is complete and officials determine the cause of the accident, it will be decided if the plant violated any of the state or federal safety and health regulations.

Our Boston workers’ compensation attorneys understand that factory settings come with a whole heap of dangers and accident risks. It’s the responsibility of the employers and the companies to make sure that all machinery is properly safeguarded. There are federal and state safety and health standards which must be achieved at all work sites. Your safety and your well-being relies on it!

Not only can people be burned to death, but bones can be crushed, sight can be lost and an employee can suffer other lifelong debilitating injuries. The truth of the matter is that the list of possible machinery-related injuries is as long as it is horrifying. This is why it is essential to make sure that all machinery is safeguarded. Moving machine parts can easily injure or kill a person. Luckily, these kinds of accidents are preventable with the proper safety measures.

If you want to stay safe, there’s one thing you’re going to want to remember. If a machine has moving parts that could potentially cause injury, then you’re going to want to guard it. Regardless of how skilled you are the the job that you do, the truth of the matter is that accidents happen and that’s why we safeguard machinery.

What does a safeguard do?

-It must prevent contact between the worker and the dangerous machinery.

-It has to be secure. You don’t want it to be easily tampered with or removed. You want it there, you want it to work and you want it to be sturdy.

-It has to protect the machinery from falling object. You never want foreign objects to get into machinery. Not only could these falling parts become an easy projectile, but they can cause the machine to break, too.

-It shouldn’t create any hazards. A safeguard is supposed to make things safer, not to create more problems. There should be no sharp edges or protruding bolts or anything of the sort on or around your safe guard.

-It shouldn’t interfere. Safeguards should never make your job more difficult or more time consuming.
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It’s almost flu season and there’s a good chance you’re going to get it from work. An inconvenience for some, older workers and those with pre-exisiting conditions may be particularly vulnerable.

That’s why officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are helping employers to reduce the risks of flu on the job, especially in healthcare settings.

Our Boston workers’ compensation attorneys understand that there are employees who perform specific kinds of healthcare duties with patients who might already have the flu. This means that they’re at higher risks for getting the flu. There are a number of safety precautions that need to be taken in the healthcare setting to make sure that the flu virus is contained. Cleanliness might be one of the best ways to help to keep the flu virus under control.

Safety Precautions to Take in the Healthcare Field:

-Make sure that you’re vaccinated.

-Make sure that everyone on the job is practicing good hygiene etiquette; cover your mouth when you cough, make sure everyone is washing their hands and keep work areas tidy.

-If you’re sick, you should stay home. Don’t bring the flu in with you.

-Encourage workers who are feeling ill to go home and rest.

-Make sure that everyone is using gowns, gloves, surgical masks, etc. and are using them correctly.

Pandemic flu continues to be a top concern for employees and employers. This is especially a big concern for healthcare workers. At any time, a pandemic can happen. Back in 2009, there was a pandemic that was considered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be mild, but was still causing some serious challenges for employers and illustrated just how unprepared they were for an event like this. An emergency plan for this kind of pandemic should be a “worst-case” scenario plan, meaning you should be ready to handle anything and everything.

A flu pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus emerges for people having little or no immunity at all and when there is no vaccine. This is a very real threat and officials aren’t able to predict when the next influenza pandemic will happen of how bad it will be.

The healthcare industry has a lot of workers and a broad range of risks. There are emergency responders, pharmacists, physicians, nurses, administrative personnel, mortuary workers, food service individuals, security professionals, aides, technicians, etc. These workers are in a variety of workplace settings too, including outpatient clinics, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, occupational health clinics, surgical facilities and other emergency response settings. This means that the flu virus can spread to a lot of people very quickly. This makes prevention and emergency response much more difficult.

Make sure that there’s a prevention plan and an emergency plan at your job. It’s important that we take care of ourselves to ensure that we can keep working. Keep the workplace clean, make sure everyone is practicing good hygiene habits and that sick workers are staying away.
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