Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released statistics from workplace fatalities in 2009. According to the report, fatal occupational injuries fell from 5,314 to 4,340 in 2009. This is the lowest number of workplace fatalities since the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries program began in 1992.

The decline was even more dramatic in the construction industry, where deaths fell by 16% in 2009. However, other industries reported a rise in fatal injuries, including a 3% increase in the wholesale trade industry and a 6% increase in building and grounds cleaning and maintenance.

Authorities said the overall decrease may be due to economy, which caused total work hours to fall by 6% and slowed down the construction industry, which has usually accounted for many of the fatal accidents or illnesses included in the statistics.

Here in Massachusetts, cases of wrongful death may entitle the immediate family members to compensation for the loss of the reasonably expected net income, companionship, and other losses.

Source: Experts cautiously optimistic about latest workplace fatalities report, Risk & Insurance, October 7, 2010 Continue reading

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In response to a February job-site explosion that killed six workers and injured dozens more, Connecticut’s governor has issued an executive order banning the use of flammable gas to clean pipelines at power plants in the state. The accident occurred on Super Bowl Sunday at an electric plan construction site.

The governor moved to prohibit the ‘gas blow’ procedure after she says it became clear that no one at the state, local, or federal level had control of pipe-cleaning operations. Her hope is that the executive ban will minimize the chances of similar workplace accidents in the future.

The ban has already caught the attention of the chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, who applauds the legislation and says provides a model for other state and the federal government to emulate.

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This Friday, an 18-year-old golf course employee drowned while cutting grass at a Massachusetts golf course.

The victim, a college student, was operating a ride-on lawn mower at a Lakeville golf course when he drove into a manmade water hazard.

The worker was pinned by his ride-on lawn mower under approximately five feet of water. The young man was discovered about twenty minutes after being submerged. He was given CPR at the scene of the work accident and was rushed to Morton Hospital and Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
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Last week, an 18-year-old male who was about to start college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst drowned while working as a groundskeeper at the Back Nine Club in Lakeville, Massachusetts. Officials say the incident appeared to be a tragic accident.

The teen was reportedly riding a lawnmower on the course when he accidentally drove into a man-made water hazard, becoming trapped under the lawn mower in roughly five feet of water. Rescue workers performed CPR and the injured worker was transported to Morton Hospital and Medical Center in Taunton, where he was pronounced dead.

A spokesperson for the Plymouth district attorney’s office said the office of the chief medical examiner would perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death, though it appears to be an accidental drowning. The district attorney’s office is investigating the case.

Source: Groundskeeper drowns at Lakeville golf course, Boston Globe, September 4, 2010 Continue reading

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The head flight instructor for the Beverly Flight Center was killed this past week after being struck by a moving propeller. The victim, a Weymouth resident, had been an instructor for the past ten years at the Beverly Airport.

The Essex District Attorney’s Office stated that the pilot’s death appears to be accidental. The accident occurred at approximately 12:15 p.m. on August 27th. The DA’s office further stated that the victim exited his plane on the runway in order to assist another instructor that was in the process of helping a student with a canopy. It was the propeller on his own plane which struck him.

The victim was pronounced dead upon the arrival of rescue workers at the scene of the accident. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Boston will be conducting an autopsy.
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A 24-year-old worker at the Yankee Candle Co. warehouse in Deerfield died after falling from a forklift. The man started his employment at the warehouse only a few months before the accident. He obtained the position through a local temp agency.

The man fell approximately 30 feet from the forklift. The police have stated that the worker may have been standing on a forklift extension at the time of the accident.

According to the local district attorney’s office, following the fall, the employee was taken by ambulance to Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield where he was pronounced dead.
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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 Women’s Hospital where he was subsequently pronounced dead. The explosion also injured four other construction workers, two firefighters and a resident who lives in an adjoining unit.

The blast occurred around 12:30 pm as a construction crew was working on the heating and air conditioning system in the unfinished section of a Duplex at the Village at River’s Edge in Norfolk. The explosion caused the ceiling of the home to collapse which trapped Nichols in the basement for over 90 minutes before rescue workers were able to remove him from the rubble.
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Following the April 20 explosion off the coast of Louisiana that killed several oil rig workers, families of the deceased and some of the workers who survived the accident have filed wrongful death or personal injury lawsuits against companies involved in the offshore drilling operation. An electronics technician who was seriously injured is seeking $6 million in damages. He filed a lawsuit in Louisiana federal court.

On Tuesday, three workers who escaped the explosion on lifeboats have filed a suit claiming they were kept floating at sea for hours as they watched the rig burn, knowing their friends were inside. That lawsuit was filed in county court in Galveston, Texas, and seeks unspecified damages on behalf of the three workers and the family of a worker who is missing and presumed dead.

Working on an oil rig is among the most dangerous jobs in the world, so this incident may lead to new legislation regarding safety standards for offshore drilling operations.

Source: Suit: Workers kept at sea hours after explosion, Associated Press, May 4, 2010
Lawsuit filed in Gulf oil rig blast, The Galveston County Daily News, May 5, 2010 Continue reading

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Our Massachusetts workplace injury lawyers recently read an editorial written by The Enterprise about the need for greater workplace safety precautions. The article calls for stiffer penalties against employers who violate safety guidelines, because in some cases it’s cheaper for employers to simply pay the fines than actually fix the problem.

While the average OSHA fine in Massachusetts is $13,300, more than half the employers who were fined last year settled their cases for less than $10,000. A third paid only $5,000.

Many of the companies with workplace deaths last year had already received citations for safety violations. For instance, a 51-year-old Stoughton man died in a forklift accident at a Taunton warehouse last August, and OSHA records show that the company was cited for three forklift violations the previous year. These incidents underscore the sad economics involved with many fatal workplace accidents.

Source: OPINION: Accidents shine light on workplace safety, The Enterprise, May 5, 2010 Continue reading

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The Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health and the Massachusetts AFL-CIO recently released work-related death statistics for last year. According to the report, Massachusetts had 62 work-related deaths last year, among them car crashes, industrial accidents, and workplace falls. The average age of death was 46.

The statistics have decreased since 2004, when Massachusetts had 81 work-related deaths, but safety advocates worry that some employers are not taking workplace hazards seriously enough. In a few cases, the employer involved in the workplace accident had already been cited by OSHA for safety violations.

Advocates say that many of these deaths could have been prevented by following safety precautions, but some of these employers find it less expensive to pay the fines than to actually correct the safety issues.

Source: Study finds 62 work-related deaths last year in Massachusetts, EnterpriseNews.com, April 28, 2010 Continue reading

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