Workplace Safety

February 12, 2015

Massachusetts Nursing Assistants Sustain Back Injuries, Repetitive Trauma, Other Work Injuries

NPR reports that according to statistics from the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor, nursing employees sustain over 35,000 back and other injuries each year. These injuries are serious enough that they warrant taking time off from work.

Nursing employees are also three times more likely than construction laborers to suffer musculoskeletal injuries. Registered nurses aren’t far behind after warehouse workers, truck drivers, and store clerks.

The main causes of these injuries are the duties of lifting and moving patients, which nursing employees do every day. During a typical day, a worker might lift a patient weighing much more than the employee at least a dozen times a day. This may lead to back pain, sprains, strains, and shoulder injuries.

February 7, 2015

OSHA Orders Ashley Furniture to Pay $1.7M After More Than 1,000 Workers Injured

by Altman & Altman

Ashley Furniture Industry Inc. has been fined $1.76M because its workers have gotten hurt in over 1,000 work-related injuries in the last three-and-a-half years. Following an incident last summer when one worker lost three fingers while operating a woodworking machine, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducted a probe of the facility and found numerous willful, repeated, and serious safety violations.

The furniture company has also been put on the Severe Violator Enforcement Program for not addressing certain safety hazards. OSHA contends that Ashley Furniture purposely ignored the agency’s standards, as well as the company’s own safety manuals, to increase worker productivity levels. The company is accused of blaming workers for their injuries, which were actually caused by the unsafe working conditions created at Ashley Furniture.

OSHA said that the furniture maker did not act to protect workers from getting hurt by moving machine parts or prevent machines from unintentionally activating when machineries were being serviced. These kinds of violations can lead to permanent disability and death.

January 23, 2015

MA Contractors Exposed Workers to Fatal Falls During Renovation Project

by Altman & Altman

Four contractors were exposed to potentially fatal falls of up to 40 feet at an Easthampton jobsite, due to a lack of protective measures/equipment, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found.

According to reports, OSHA inspectors had visited the Easthampton renovation worksite in July 2014 after receiving complaints about fall hazards there. OSHA determined that four contractors working on that jobsite had violated safety measures and found several fall hazards including no fall protection for employees working on the roof; unguarded floor holes; insufficient anchorage for fall protection; and employees untrained to recognize fall hazards. All four contractors were cited and fined $110, 670 by OSHA; the projects general contractor, James J. Welch & Co, Inc., of Salem, MA, was fined $93,170 for one willful, one repeat and three serious violations of workplace safety standards.

“Falls are the number one killer in construction work. When fall protection is absent or deficient, as it was here, employees may be only moments away from a deadly or disabling plunge that could kill them or end their careers,” Mary Hoye, OSHA’s area director in Springfield, said in a statement.

She continued saying, “the sizable penalties reflect not only the danger of the fall hazards involved, but also the employer’s knowledge of the hazards and its deliberate failure to safeguard its employees.”
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January 9, 2015

Tougher OSHA Reporting Rules for On-the-Job Injuries Are Now in Place

by Altman & Altman

Under Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s rules, private-sector employers must fulfill tougher reporting requirements for injuries on the job. Now, employers have to report all work-related deaths within eight hours and give notification of any eye losses, amputations, and inpatient hospitalizations within 24 hours of discovery.

The new requirements went into effect on January 1. Employers can report an incident either by calling the closest OSHA area office, contacting the OSHA hotline, or submitting a report online.

Previous to that, employees had to notify the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration of all workplace deaths or when at least three workers injured in the same incident were hospitalized.

December 12, 2014

Fall River Construction Worker Dies While Working On Natural Gas Lines in Road Project

by Altman & Altman

A Fall River worker was recently killed when he was struck by a piece of construction equipment in the head. The “fusing machine” swung toward 45-year-old Paulo Matos, fatally injuring him after workers lost control of the device. At the time, the construction worker was working on natural gas lines in a road project.

Matos worked for AGI Construction, a contracting company. The state’s Department of Transportation and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the work accident.

Please contact our Massachusetts worker’s compensation lawyers today if you or your loved one were seriously injured in an accident on the job. You typically cannot sue your employer but you should be entitled to work injury benefits. Also, other parties who were involved in the job but are not your employer could potentially be held liable if their negligence contributed to the construction accident injury or death.

August 13, 2014

Why returning to work after an injury may be a hassle, according to GENEX study

by Altman & Altman

Last year more than three million American employees experience a work-related injury. For employers this represented around $1 billion per week, in addition to the employees’ social costs. Aside from the financial loses, employees may also be face other disadvantages because of their injuries: if employees are off work for more than six months, they have less than a 50% chance of returning to the workforce. It is an imperative then to establish effective measures to aid employees return to work.

Instituting official return-to-work programs has proven a successful strategy in many private organizations. Firms with RTW programs are 1.4 times faster than those without one in returning the employee to work. That translates into about 3-4 weeks of a time difference. However, in spite of the advantages, not all firms –especially small ones –possess an established RTW program.

Even with an official RTW program in place, employers often face barriers to provide effective, immediate care. According to GEXEX Services, LLC, one of the nation’s largest providers of managed care services, these are the top five barriers return-to-work programs face:
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March 31, 2014

OSHA Announces National Events for Fall Prevention in Construction

by Altman & Altman

The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced it will host national safety events between June 2 and 6 in an effort to raise awareness among employers and workers about the hazards of falls on construction and industrial worksites. Falls are currently the leading cause of death among workers in the United States construction industry; accounting for more than one-third of all types of worker fatalities.

OSHA plans to organize events geared at raising awareness for the prevalence of these types of accidents, in addition to focusing on prevention and hazard recognition. During the stand-down, employers and workers will pause their workday to discuss fall prevention in construction, highlighting topics like ladder safety, scaffolding safety and roofing work safety. OSHA has also launched an official national safety stand-down website with information for employers and management officials on how to conduct a successful stand-down. Afterwards, employers will be able to provide feedback and receive a personalized certificate of participation.

This five-day event is part of an ongoing Fall Prevention Campaign, which OSHA started in 2012 and was developed in partnership with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and NIOSH’s National Occupational Research Agenda program. The campaign provides employers with lifesaving information and educational materials on how to plan ahead to prevent falls, provide the right equipment for their workers and train all employees in the proper use of that equipment.
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March 30, 2014

Nail Gun Accident Leaves Contractor With One Eye

by Altman & Altman

A contractor recently lost his eye after the nail gun he was using accidentally discharged. He was working outside a home when the work accident happened. A local fire official said that it is not known at this time how the gun went off, but that it did cause a nail to strike the worker’s eye.

Unfortunately, nail gun accidents are not that uncommon, especially because they are frequently used on construction jobs. While they are faster and more efficient than the manual insertion of nails, nail guns are linked to tens of thousands of work injuries yearly. Please contact our Boston workers’ compensation lawyers today if you have been injured by a nail gun or some other tool while on the job.

According to OSHA, one study found that over four years, 2 out of 5 residential carpenter apprentices will suffer a nail gun injury. Seeing as many construction workers needed their hands to do their job, sustaining even a puncture wound can make it hard for him/her to go back to work right away. There may be needed recovery time and even physical therapy. An injury may be so severe that the Boston construction worker may not be able to work in the industry again or perhaps only in a lesser capacity. This can severely impact a person’s ability to make a living and sustain a career.

March 28, 2014

Boston Man Dies After Back Bay Elevator Shaft Fall

by Altman & Altman

Tragedy struck in a landmark Back Bay building last Friday. First responders were called to 31 Saint James Avenue after reports of a man falling to his death in an elevator shaft. According to Boston Fire spokesman Steve MacDonald, the man was an elevator operator in the building and was found unresponsive at the bottom of the shaft.

Though the police report indicates they do not believe that foul play was involved, OSHA and Boston Police investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the deadly accident. Some are speculating a safety mechanism that could have failed as the elevator was stuck between the first floor and the basement, and the man is believed to have attempted to jump to the first floor. Several local voices piped up on social media to express their concern over the freight elevator. Those who worked in the building often avoided it out of fear that something like this could happen.

Though the risk of dying in an elevator is small, the possibility of getting injured or killed on the job is not. According to the United States Department of Labor, there were 3 million work-related injuries or illnesses in 2012. Victims who are injured on the job and their families face emotional and physical pain, and well as a steep financial burden from mounting medical bills, ongoing treatment, and lost future wages.
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March 20, 2014

Two Injured in Chinatown Construction Accident

by Altman & Altman

Emergency crews were called to the scene of a partial building collapse at 45 Stuart Street this morning. Boston Fire Department reports that two victims were treated at the scene of an accident at a high rise construction site. One of the victims had minor injuries while the other was taken to Tufts Medical Center with serious head injuries, according to the Boston Globe.

The accident occurred when the twelfth floor of a partially constructed building collapsed down to the fifth floor when 120 workers were on the site. “A dead load on the 12th floor collapsed, pancaked down to the fifth floor,” Deputy Fire Chief Robert Calobrisi told CBS Boston. The cause of the collapse was not immediately known, but construction workers are not permitted to resume work until the structural integrity of the building is evaluated by an engineer.
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