This past week, two construction workers were working below street level in Bellingham Square in Chelsea when their equipment contacted an electrical line, causing an explosion. The explosion, which is currently under investigation by the Federal Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), injured two workers. One of the injured workers,…
Our Boston workers’ compensation attorneys have learned that a workplace accident injured a Massachusetts man earlier this week. The accident occurred at a gas pipeline work site when the man lost control of the bulldozer he was operating and it went down a steep embankment with a grade of about…
William Nichols, a 58 year old electrician, passed away Friday night as a result of injuries he sustained from a Norfolk home explosion. William Nichols was working in his capacity as an electrician when the Norfolk home suddenly exploded, injuring Nichols and seven others. Nichols was airlifted to Brigham and…
Our Massachusetts workplace accident attorneys have learned that the Department Industrial Accidents has changed its policy on missed appointments for impartial workers’ compensation medical examinations. Now when an administrative judge or the judge’s administrative assistant receives notice of a cancelation at least 48 hours in advance, the department shall reschedule…
Earlier this month, a hearing for a 44-year-old Hingham Sewer Department staffer brought up issues of workplace safety. The worker is accused of insubordination and stood before a three-person elected board as they considered whether to fire him. He argued that that town is trying to get rid of him…
Heightened stress from the recession and the tight job market have led to several workplace shootings in recent years. While most people don’t think of shootings as a common cause of work-related deaths, statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that assaults and violence is actually the third most-common…
Following a serious construction accident in Salem, Massachusetts, the Commonwealth has ordered the exterior walls to be removed from the new state courthouse. The $106 million courthouse construction project was to include 576 outside wall panels, but after a 500-pound limestone wall panel fell and seriously injured a worker, the…
Our workers’ compensation attorneys have learned that FedEx Ground has agreed to pay the Commonwealth of Massachusetts several million dollars to settle allegations that they misclassified drivers as independent contractors. According to the attorney general, FedEx’s classification of drivers denied the state workers’ compensation, payroll taxes, and unemployment assistance contributions,…
Here in Massachusetts, we’ve had several notable subway and construction accidents in recent years. Workers in China face many of these same hazards; in fact, two workers were killed in a Beijing construction accident earlier this week. On Wednesday, emergency response crews retrieved the bodies of the two workers whose…
Despite a request from the Worker’s Compensation Rating Inspection Bureau of Massachusetts to raise rates by 4.5 percent, Attorney General Martha Coakley has reviewed the industry’s proposed rates and determined that current rates will need to be reduced by 2.4 percent. Coakley says the proposed rate hikes would have cost…