Articles Posted in Work Injury

The widow of a Massachusetts police officer says the stress of the job led her husband to take his own life in 2006. The police officer had been injured during an overtime shift in 1993 and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder the following year. Despite signs that the officer was crumbling under the stress, he was cleared for duty after a psychiatric evaluation.

His widow took her case to the state retirement board, which ruled that her husband’s death was “accidental,” meaning she would get 72% of his pension. Had he been killed in the line of duty, she would have gotten 100% of his pension, plus a one-time payment of almost $100,000. While the ruling does create a connection between the officer’s on-the-job injuries and his eventual suicide, his widow wants her husband’s death to be ruled “line of duty.” She would also like his name to be added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

Suicide among police officers is a major issue that results in more deaths than homicides or accidents at work.

Source: The police suicide problem, Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, January 24, 2010 Continue reading

On Monday morning, a work-related accident at a Taunton warehouse killed a worker. The 51-year-old Stoughton resident was operating a stand-up forklift when it slammed into one of the building supporting beams and threw him to the concrete floor. The impact of the fall accident caused massive bleeding after the worker’s temple hit the floor.

Taunton police arrived at the scene of the accident at 10:30am. The worker was pronounced dead an hour after the workplace accident after being transported to Morton Hospital and Medical Center.

The workplace fatality is under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but a statement from the Taunton Police Department reports that the incident has already been deemed an accident.

Worker dies after fall in Taunton warehouse, Taunton Daily Gazette, August 31, 2009 Continue reading

Following an investigation into a fatal fall accident in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued two serious citations to a Kansas construction firm. The alleged violations come with $13,300 in proposed penalties.

When OSHA inspectors visited the construction work site, they discovered that employer had altered equipment to accommodate personnel lifting, but it had not evaluated the equipment’s ability to support the alteration. A worker died after falling from an elevated platform that was attached to a skid steer loader to the concrete below. One of the serious citations was for altering the equipment and the other was for a lack of employee safety training.

OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious injury is likely to result from a hazard that an employer know or should have known about. The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with their OSHA area director, or contest the findings.

Kansas Construction Firm Fined $13,300 Following Fatality, OHSonline.com, August 3, 2009 Continue reading

A Summerhill couple is seeking more than $150,000 from Siemans AG, because they say the German conglomerate is liable for the husband’s catastrophic brain injuries, which were sustained in an industrial accident.

According to the suit, Morgan Construction Co. of Massachusetts (part of Siemans) sold Bethlehem Steel a wire drawing machine it made. Joseph Jarvie was working for Johnstown Wire Technologies (which took over the Bethlehem operation) when a wire recoiled and allegedly penetrated Jarvie’s brain. The suit also says that Jarvie suffered gait dysfunction, balance disorder, depression, and nervous system damage as a result of the brain injuries sustained during the accident.

The couple is suing Siemans for failure to provide a mechanical clamping device and to provide breaking device for the die to spool to keep restraint wire under tension after it had been cut, as well as designing a machine was in an unsafe and dangerous condition.

Worker’s injury prompts lawsuit, The Tribune-Democrat, June 19, 2009 Continue reading

Last Monday, a 42-year-old technician was airlifted to the intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston following a wave soldering machine accident.

The machine reportedly caught fire and burned the worker from the chest up when he opened a service door on the machine to add an alcohol-based chemical, according to the fire marshal. A sprinkler above the machine put out the fire before the fire department arrived at the scene of the accident.

The worker, who was identified only by the first name of Scott, was conscious and alert when emergency responders arrived. Officials said his injuries are not life-threatening. Representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are planning an accident investigation to determine if any safety standards were violated. The company released other workers early on the day of the accident.

Man burned in accident on the job in Salem, Eagle-Tribune, June 9, 2009
NH EMS Worker Burned in Wave Accident, CircuitAssembly.com, June 12, 2009 Continue reading