Workers' Compensation Benefits

September 30, 2015

Health Risks for Beauty Salon Workers

When we think of workers’ compensation, we are often thinking in terms of an on- the-job injury and benefits to compensate worker or his or her family after he or she has been seriously hurt or even killed. However, workers’ compensation benefits are also available for employees who suffer from a work-related illness. Mesothelioma is one obvious workplace illness that comes to mind, but injury from chemical exposure is much more common than most people might think.

While workplace illness due to chemical exposure can occur in manufacturing plants, and, more obviously, places like research laboratories and chemical plants, there are other industries where workers are particularly at risk for chemical exposure-related illness. According to a recent news article from Safety + Health, beauty salon workers are at high risk for on-the-job illness. Continue reading

September 30, 2015

Chemical Plant Explosion Injures Four Workers

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent report from ABC News, four workers were sent to the hospital after a chemical plant explosion in California. Authorities say the explosion occurred around 8 a.m., and, while the cause of the exposition is not yet known, they do know the chemical involved in the explosion was called silane and should not cause any danger to the general public. However, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), says direct contact with silane can cause nausea, coughing, sore throat, frostbite, and hives.

Witnesses say one 42-year-old male victim was taken by medevac helicopter to level one trauma center with severe burns on his face and chest. The other three workers injured in the accident were taken by ambulance to local hospitals, where they were treated and released. Continue reading

September 5, 2015

Gauthier v. Keurig Green Mountain: Workers’ Compensation Appeals

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Gauthier v. Keurig Green Mountain, an appeal from the Supreme Court of Vermont, involved a claimant who began working for defendant in May 2007. He was working full time as a maintenance technician, and his employment was considered to be at will.

Claimant’s job at the factory was to maintain production equipment and machinery and repair any broken machinery when needed. For some reason, claimant’s supervisor became concerned claimant or his coworkers were using the Internet excessively while they were supposed to be working. The company provides Internet access for its maintenance technicians but expects it to be used for work-related needs. The supervisor asked human resources (HR) to perform what the company calls a “Websence” report of claimant’s login account and the accounts of his ten coworkers. With respect to claimant, the report showed he had nearly 42,000 hits in the month of July alone, which the company considers more than two times the acceptable level of Internet use by an employee. Continue reading

July 7, 2015

Worker Killed in Airbag Accident on Boeing 777 Aircraft

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Most people are probably unaware that new airplanes contain airbags to protect passengers in the event of a crash. Normally, people are told to place their heads forward and brace for impact. These days, airplanes are being equipped with added safety equipment to increase the survival rates in the event of an emergency (crash) landing.

According to a recent news article from KiroTv, the family of a worker is suing the aircraft maker and one its suppliers after their loved one was killed on the job at the airplane factory. Plaintiff’s complaint alleges employee was working for a contractor, which handles seat belt and airbag installment in the aircraft manufactured by Boeing.

As part of a pre-delivery inspection of the 777 with the buyer and manufacturer, the buyer noticed there was some problem with one of the airbag systems in a business class seat. Apparently, the airbag had discharged by itself and needed to be inspected and reset, and reloaded with a new airbag. The employee was called into the factory to work on resetting the airbag when the discharge mechanism caused an explosive inflation of the new airbag, which resulted in a serious head injury to the worker. Following the accident, he was treated by emergency personnel and taken to a local level-one trauma center for emergency surgery, but doctors were unable to save him, and he soon died from his massive head injuries. Continue reading

July 3, 2015

Atlanta Falcons’ Stadium Construction Worker Suffers Head Injury

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Sports fans in Atlanta will soon have two new stadiums to look forward to attending in the near feature. In the case of the Braves, Turner Field, which was built as Centennial Olympic Stadium in 1996 and then converted into a baseball stadium, is in its second to last year of operation. In the 2017 baseball season, the team will be using the new Sun Trust stadium north of Atlanta in Cobb County. The Atlanta Falcons are also getting a new home, as the aging Georgia Dome built in 1992 will no longer be used. The Georgia Dome currently hosts the NFL franchise and the University of Georgia NCAA team, as well as a soccer team.

The New Atlanta Stadium, as it still called, pending the sale of naming rights, is being constructed in an area near the existing Georgia Dome and is expected to be something of a modern marvel when it is complete in 2017, complete with an estimated $1.4 billion price tag. The stadium will host the Atlanta Falcons, an MLS team. Owners hope it will be the sight for a future Super Bowl and possibly a FIFA World Cup. Continue reading

June 24, 2015

Auto Plant Worker Killed by Factory Robot

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

For decades, employees at auto plants have been losing their jobs due to robots replacing human workers on the assembly line. While the biggest fear is that these robots will take over most or all of the automotive industry jobs, it seems these robots can also be dangerous to work around in some cases.

According to a recent news feature from Fortune, a robot at a Volkswagen factory killed a worker. Authorities say a technician was working with another employee to install a production robot when the robot struck him in the chest and pushed him against a metal plate, where he suffered significant injuries and later died.

The company said it normally places a safety cage around the robots, so human workers cannot be injured in accidents like this one, but since the workers were servicing the robot itself, the worker was standing on the inside of the cage at the time of the fatal on-the-job accident. There are, however, robots which work alongside human employees on the assembly line, but these are lightweight robots the company claims are not likely to cause this type of injury to an employee. While this particular accident occurred at a German factory, the company said it plans to use more of these robots in all production centers across the world and plans to replace many of the retiring Baby Boomer employees with robots, because they are much more cost effective than human workers. Continue reading

June 18, 2015

Zookeeper Seriously Injured by Lizard Bite

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Each year in Boston and across the United States, many workers are injured at work. While some fatal accidents make the local or even national news, far more go unnoticed by media. It’s only occasionally that some on-the-job accidents involve unique circumstances that capture the public’s attention.

According to a news report from KETV 7, a zookeeper injury was one of those cases. A zoo employee in Omaha was reportedly seriously injured after being bitten by a lizard.

The female zookeeper was performing routine care on a Komodo dragon when it bit her on the hand. After the worker was bit on the hand, first responders were called to zoo and transported the zookeeper to a local hospital.

While this might not seem like it would cause a severe on-the-job injury, the problem has to do with fact the animal is venomous and typically has serious bacteria on the its teeth and in its mouth which can cause serious infections. Doctors first cleaned and closed the wound with stitches and then put her on a course of antibiotics and anti-venom. Due to the lizard’s venom and amount of type of bacteria and the potentially deadly infection it could cause she was initially listed in critical condition and admitted to the hospital to undergo additional to control and prevent infection.
Continue reading

June 15, 2015

Construction Worker Falls 24 Stories to His Death in NYC

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Around the time the Empire State Building was constructed, construction companies did not make workers’ safety a large concern. It was an accepted risk some of the workers would die during the construction of the building, and in fact, there were several deaths before the project was completed in 1931.

However, in today’s world, worker safety is far more of a concern, and it is expected each and every worker employed on a major construction project will make it safely home at the end of the day. If there is a serious construction accident, especially one involving a fatality, there will be an investigation, and if there were any safety violations, fines may be issued to the construction company responsible for the accident.

According to a recent article in the Real Deal, a worker was killed while working on the construction of a major hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Authorities say worker fell 24 floors down an open elevator shaft in the unfinished building and was killed in fall, though he was rushed to Belleview Hospital where he was officially pronounced dead. Victim was 25-years-old at the time of the fatal workplace accident.
Continue reading

June 10, 2015

Cirque du Soleil and Workers’ Compensation

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Even if someone has never actually seen a Cirque du Soleil performance in person, pretty much everyone is familiar with what the performance involves. Essentially, it is a circus with only human performers, meaning no animal acts, and it showcases the talent and artistry of the performers.

There are a variety of different acts, and many of them involve a significant risk to the performers’ safety. While the performers use safety devices when appropriate, some do become seriously injured on the job and may be left without pay and must apply for workers’ compensation benefits, according to a recent article from the Wall Street Journal.

The article focuses on the story of one performer who had been with the show for a long time and played an important role in of the circus’s productions in Orlando, Florida. She was performing a flying stunt and had inadvertently forgotten to double loop her safety harness. Her co-performer did not notice the problem either, and she fell four stories from the high wire act to the stage below.
Continue reading

June 6, 2015

On-Demand Employment and Workers’ Compensation

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent article from the Insurance Journal, the workers’ compensation industry is facing a very different challenge in adjusting to what amounts to an entirely new form of employment for many Americans. With the economy getting back on track and employments higher than they have been in many years, one would assume workers’ compensation insurance carriers couldn’t be happier with the new policies they must be underwriting. However, as it turns out, this might not be the case.

Many in the nation’s growing workforce are not working in traditional jobs where they punch a clock and have a boss. Through the use of advanced communications technology and mobile computing, many workers go online to find a temporary position for a job that needs to be completed and submit a bid for the job. If they are selected, they perform the required tasks from home or a local coffee shop with free WIFI and get paid electronically.

There are a large variety of job opportunities in this new and growing on-demand economy, as it often called. There are people who write content for publications, work-from-home paralegals for law offices, mobile app designers, web designers, and just about every other job that does not involve physically constructing anything.
Continue reading