At Confined Space, an example of the media's approach to workplace injures and deaths is posted.Is It Possible To Provide Less Information?Need I say any more about the problems with media reports of workplace injury and death?Tyson worker dies at Emporia plantThe Capital-JournalPublished Saturday, January 06, 2007EMPORIA -- A male employee at the Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Emporia died after he...
A post at Confined Space about so-called Worker Error sums up my opinion after years of investigating and litigating claims arising from the workplace in Florida. Surprise: Employer Finds "Worker Error" To Blame For FatalityWhy is this not surprising? Employer investigates employee's death. And the cause is? Worker error, of course.Bottom Line: Blaming workers (even foremen) for accidents is...
The New York Times reports on a decision by the Ohio Supreme Court that makes no sense under the no-fault-based workers' compensation system in that state and in Florida. Ohio Ruling Denying Pay in Job Injury Draws Debate The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld a KFC franchise's petition to deny workers' compensation payments to a teenage boy who was severely burned while cleaning a pressure cooker,...
Here is a pop quiz from Confined Spaces. It reminds us it is not only accidents which are killing and injuring workers in America today.Violence Continues To Injure And Kill WorkersAlthough workplace violence has fallen from the second leading cause of death in the workplace to fourth, it remains a major source of injuries and fatalities in the workplace.A couple of good new studies on workplace...
For too many years I have confronted judges and juries who appear to believe that a worker should simply have refused to perform a particular work assignment because he or she could plainly see it was unsafe. Confined Space posts an article that expresses my frustration with the so-called voluntary assumption of the risk by employees."Do what you're told, or take the chance of being fired." If...
As the number of high rise buildings throughout Tampa Bay increase each year we may see more construction workers falling to their deaths. New York City, where every new building is likely to be a high rise, may be the national leader in these tragic accidents.Construction Worker Falling Deaths RiseA construction contractor in Union Square yesterday became the latest casualty of the city's...
Over at Insurance Journal we are told Florida is providing a significant boost to Florida businesses in the form of a 15.7% reduction in the workers' compensation insurance rates. The reduction is supposed to produce a savings of $400 Million for Florida employers. I would join the cheering and applause if the entire savings had not been built on the backs of injured workers whose benefits and...
I have investigated an "accident" at a large industrial facility in Florida that happened because the company had intentionally by-passed the safety interlock system on six giant machines. Why had the safety systems been by-passed? To increase the production of the machines and avoid shutdowns.In my mind, the terrible injury sustained by my client was no "accident" - it was an inevitable...
My Workplace Safety headlines the serious injuries and deaths which are related to forklifts on work sites. Forklifts and Warehouses: a dangerous combination in the WorkplaceEach year in the United States, nearly 100 workers are killed and another 20,000 are seriously injured in forklift-related incidents.Most forklift related fatalities occur when a worker is crushed by a forklift that has...
I am an attorney old enough to know that for more than 30 years the rights and benefits of workers under workers' compensation in the State of Florida have steadily declined. The question is, how long can we continue to call the system fair? Now we have a report brought to our attention by Confined Space which details the failure of workers' compensation throughout the entire country.Workers...
