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A teenager from New York is being treated at a Boston hospital after severing his arm in a pasta machine at the Italian restaurant he worked at.

Restaurant manager Mia Violi of Violi’s Restaurant in Massena, NY said that the teenager had been cleaning the pasta machine when his right arm got caught and severed at the elbow. Employees are still trying to discern how the machine was activated while it was being cleaned. The 17 year-old was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital last Thursday and was listed in serious condition. According to WCVB, it has not been determine whether OSHA will be investigating the incident.

WORKPLACE AMPUTATIONS

Amputations are some of the most debilitating types of injuries that can occur in a workplace, and can involve a variety of types of machinery and occur during various types of activities. Often, according to OSHA, amputations are the result of employees operating unguarded or inadequately safeguarded machinery such as:

• Mechanical power presses • Powered and non-powered conveyor belts • Printing presses • Roll-forming/bending machines • Sheering machines • Food slicers • Meat-cutting saws • Drill presses • Milling machines
• Grinding machines • Slitters
These injuries may also occur during material-handling activities such as when using forklifts, trash compactors, and powered and non-powered tools. In addition to normal operations, preparation activities also expose employees to potential hazards; setting up, threading, preparing, adjusting, cleaning, lubricating and maintaining, and clearing jams.

Preventing Amputation

Before operating any type of machinery, employees should conduct a hazard analysis; a technique that focuses on the relationship between the machine, the employee, the type of work being done, and the risk for potential injury. Additionally, employees should regularly inspect and service machinery to ensure it is running properly and does not pose hazards to operators.

The following types of mechanical hazards include:

• Pinch points; where two points move together with one operating in a circle; commonly found on belt drives, chain drives, gear drives, or feeder rolls.

• Wrap points; occurs when there is an exposed piece of rotating machinery, like a rotating shaft. These points can easily catch clothing or fingers.

• Shear points; where two moving parts move across one another or a single sharp edge moves with enough speed or force to cut; commonly found on conveyers, trimmers, and forklifts.

• Crush points; occurs when two objects are moving toward one another with enough force to crush an object that is caught in between. Gears on conveyer belts or other machinery, as well as pressing machines pose this hazard.

• Pull-in points; points where objects outside of machine are at risk of being pulled into equipment. Feeder rolls and grinders have pull-in points.

• Thrown objects; objects that are flung by machinery or moving parts; wood chippers are a common source of thrown objects.
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Two Massachusetts utility workers were the victims of a tragic fatal crane accident this weekend in Bourne, Massachusetts.

The men, who were contracted by NStar, were working 150 feet in the air on electricity lines near the Scenic Highway when their boom truck collapsed. The men were killed on impact.

Officials are still unsure how and why this could have happened, and the incident is now under investigation by OSHA.

AERIAL LIFT ACCIDENTS

An aerial lift is any vehicle-mounted device that is used to elevate personnel, including:

• Aerial ladders • Extendable boom platforms • Articulating boom platforms • Vertical towers
Due to their mobility and flexibility, aerial lifts often replace scaffolding and ladders on certain job sites. They may be made of metal, fiberglass, plastic, or a combination of materials, and can be powered or manually operated. As exemplified by this unfortunate instance, aerial lift and crane workers risk sustaining serious and life-threatening injuries because of the substantial heights at which they are working.

The most common types of work accidents associated with aerial lifts include:

• Falls from an elevated level • Objects falling from lifts • Ejections from lift platform • Tip-overs • Structural failure • Electrocutions/electrical shocks • Entanglement hazards • Contact with objects • Contact with ceiling or overhead object Continue reading

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A Cleveland, Ohio jury has awarded a $39 million verdict against a paving company that sacrificed worker safety to save a few dollars, resulting in the death of a member of the construction crew. The Shelly Company of Thornville, Ohio was found to be negligent and at fault for the death of Randy Roginski, who leaves behind a wife and three children.

The fatal accident occurred on July 27, 2010. Randy Roginski, a 41-year-old Ohio native, was working as a paving inspector on an active construction site for Solar Testing Labs, Inc. According to the National Trial Lawyers, “Roginski [who was wearing reflective clothing] was standing on the berm on the right side of the highway when he was struck by a passing motorist.” When first responders arrived, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The speed limit on that heavily traveled area of highway is 65 miles per hour. Drivers were expected to slow down to approximately 25 miles per hour when travelling past the active construction zone, which proved to be extremely difficult at the time of the accident-around midnight. According to Christian Patno, one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, “the Shelly Company was supposed to have hired at least two highway patrol officers to provide protection that night, with one cruiser stationed at the start of the construction zone, and another four miles into the zone. But only one patrolman was working that night, stationed about halfway into the zone.”
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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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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.

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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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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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An office setting can be rife with potential safety hazards. Yes, sitting behind a desk is definitely safer than hauling lumber at a construction site, but don’t think Boston injury accidents still don’t happen. If you were injured at the office, please contact our Massachusetts workers’ compensation law firm today. You may want to explore your options.

Common Office Accidents:

• Fall accidents are the most common kind of office accident (includes slip and fall accidents, trip and fall accidents, step and fall accidents, and other falls.) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, office workers are at least two times likely to sustain a disabling injury in this type of incident. Common causes include wet floors, poor lighting, bending or reaching for an object while in an unsteady chair, electrical cords on the ground, an open drawer, uneven flooring, objects left on the floor, or standing on a chair instead of a ladder, and dark hallways and stairwells.

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A Logan Airport construction worker was awarded $3 million in a settlement with his employer and the general contractor for the airport, after he suffered debilitating injuries from an incident in 2008.

The 37-year-old man had fallen nearly 35 feet through an unprotected opening on the arrival/departure ramp at Logan International Airport in Boston, landing on a roadway beneath the ramp and suffering multiple traumas including a traumatic brain injury. The victim’s lawyer had filed a lawsuit against the general contractor, who then filed a third-party claim against the worker’s employer. All of the parties involved agreed to partake in a mediation, which included four loss-of-consortium claims for the worker’s wife and three children.

The lawyer who undertook this case hired numerous experts including a behavioral neurologist-to demonstrate the long-lasting health effects of the victim’s brain injury, as well as cinematographers to produce video of witness interviews. Orthopedic surgeons, a neuropsychologist, a life-care planner, and physical and speech therapists were also interviewed during the mediation to further back up the victim’s claim against the plaintiffs. In a court-approved settlement, the worker was granted 58% of the monetary verdict, while his wife and children were awarded 42%. The court also granted a workers’ compensation lien reduction of $378,000. Since the initial settlement, this workers’ compensation case has been settled for an additional $1.5 million.

When a worker is injured in the state of Massachusetts, often it is through workers’ compensation that a person will collect payment to cover injury-related medical costs and lost wages. The purpose of workers’ compensation is to ensure that workers, should they be injured on the job, will be taken care of in exchange for not filing a lawsuit against their employer. Achieving all of these workers’ compensation benefits can sometimes be challenging and what people do not often realize is that workers’ compensation does not cover personal injury in the future, and that their benefits are only limited. What many people fail to know is that they can be eligible to file a secondary claim against a third responsible party to receive additional compensation for their injuries.
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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is collaborating with the National Association of Tower Erectors and other industry stakeholders to ensure that communication tower employers understand their responsibility to protect workers in high-hazard work environments.

This comes in response to a series of tragic fatalities last month in Texas and West Virginia involving several cell tower works who had fallen during routine working operations at their cell tower stations.

“Tower worker deaths cannot be the price we pay for increased wireless communication,” said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. “Employers and cell tower owners and operators must do everything possible to stop these senseless, preventable tragedies.”

The agency has expressed concern over the alarming increase in preventable injuries and worker fatalities at communication tower jobsites. Last year, there were 13 fatalities that occurred in this industry-more than in the two previous years combined. The majority of these fatalities were the result of serious falls. The trend appears to be continuing with the four worker deaths occurring in the first five weeks of 2014. OSHA has now focused its attention on tower safety, and last week, sent out a letter to communication tower employers urging compliance and strict adherence to safety standards and common sense practices.

By law, OSHA requires employers to provide adequate fall protection equipment, train employees how to use the safety equipment and ensure that they use it properly and consistently. In addition to falls, tower workers have also been injured or killed by falling objects, the structural collapse of towers and equipment failures. For example, OSHA issued citations in December 2013 to Custom Tower LLC of Scott, LA for one willful violation following the death of a worker who fell approximately 125 feet.
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