Philadelphia Workers' Compensation Law Blog

A construction worker was hard at work when his mechanical boom lift tipped over, leading to multiple injuries. Work was being done on a Philadelphia cathedral when the man fell 50 feet from the top of the boom lift. The Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is conducting an investigation into this construction worker's accident in order to determine if the worksite was unsafe for the injured man.

Immediately after the lift fell over, the man's co-worker rushed to his aid. The man was unconscious immediately after the fall. Eventually, the co-worker was able to rouse the man from his unconscious state and the man immediately began to scream with pain. When paramedics arrived, they sent him to a local hospital to receive treatment for a broken leg and other head and neck injuries.

A Pennsylvania manufacturer that produced truck bodies for a variety of large companies has been cited for two dozen health and safety violations by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

While it is every employer's responsibility to provide a safe workplace for their employees free from unreasonable risks and hazards, OSHA acts as a watchdog, enforcing workplace safety violations. The agency both investigates workplace accidents after they occur as well as performing inspections to ensure compliance in attempt to prevent serious workplace injuries before they occur.

Losing a limb is one of the most traumatic injuries that a worker can face. The loss of a limb has longstanding consequences for a worker and typically requires a worker to constantly adjust their daily routines to accommodate their disability. Fortunately, workers who suffer the loss of a limb do not have to face their medical expenses alone. A workers' compensation attorney can help individuals obtain the compensation that they deserve, which can help pay for the medical care associated with recovering after an amputation.

Amputations most commonly occur in industrial or agricultural workplaces such as grain processing facilities. Workers in grain handling facilities often face severe personal injuries and amputations in grain bins equipped with sweep augers, which are large drills that move the grain to the center of a grain bin.

There are many jobs which come to mind immediately when we think of dangerous workplaces. Construction sites are often the location of serious injuries from falls or incidents involving heavy equipment. Factory workers are at risk of becoming entangled in powerful machinery. But some professions conceal less obvious dangers.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently released a statement concerning the dangers posed to salon workers by formaldehyde used in certain hair straightening products. OSHA has cited salons in Pennsylvania, as well as other states for the employers' failure to take the proper precautions to prevent an overexposure to the dangerous chemical.

There does not seem to be any disagreement about the fact that it was a work related injury when a priest working for the Diocese of Allentown fell on icy sidewalk. But there is a dispute about the treatment he received after he was injured in the fall. The employer refused to pay much of the cost, arguing that some of the care the priest received was not necessary.

The fall on the icy sidewalk led to potentially life-threatening injuries. The priest suffered two spinal fractures and also struck his head during the fall. He was on the icy sidewalk for several minutes before he was discovered and rescue crews could be summoned.

One of the tasks that many employees of bars and restaurants are ordinarily required to perform is moving and switching out heavy kegs of beer. Anyone who has had to do this can attest to the fact that it is a strenuous job. At the end of a busy night an employee may have to move around numerous full kegs of beer, sometimes in cramped quarters.

Recently a Pennsylvania appellate court ruled that a man who worked as a chef and restaurant manager was entitled to workers compensation benefits because the heavy lifting required to move the beer kegs likely contributed to the man's heart attack, that later necessitated a quintuple bypass surgery. The claim had originally been denied by a workers' compensation judge.

Readers in Philadelphia know the severity of workplace accidents may differ sharply. Workers who are injured during the course of employment are nearly always entitled to receive workers' compensation benefits, regardless of fault. In the case of fatal accidents, the family of the deceased worker may be able to collect those benefits in order to cover any funeral and medical expenses, as well as make up for lost wages.

Recently, a 45-year-old woman was working as a flagger at a construction site. But tragedy struck when she was putting items into the back of pickup truck and a coworker failed to notice her. The 36-year-old coworker fatally backed the vehicle over the woman.

As Pennsylvania readers know, construction workers' accidents are a serious concern in our own state and throughout the country. Recently, in Georgia, two men were killed when the mobile lift that was carrying them fell in downtown Atlanta. Both men were working in a bucket attached to a mobile lift that was 40 feet off of the ground at the time of the accident. When the lift became stuck, workers tried to adjust it, and the faulty equipment toppled over and crashed to the ground.

Both men, who were said to have fallen out of the bucket, were taken to a local hospital, where they were pronounced deceased. Officials with the United States Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) are investigating the accident. Pennsylvania residents already know that serious injuries can result from these types of accidents, which occur too often as a result of defective machinery.