Workplace Safety

Getting up and going to work for someone else is a reality for most people in America. Our employers help us put food on the table and clothes on our backs. Unfortunately, these employers can also cause us injury. When that happens, you need to be able to protect your rights when it comes to building a workers’ compensation case.

If you are ever injured while working, taking the following steps can help you recover the compensation that you are entitled to when it comes to work-place injuries.

What are the common injuries associated with office work?

Some workplaces in Pennsylvania are known to be risky for workers such as coal mines, construction sites, manufacturing plants, refineries and factories. Many workers in these industries suffer injuries from falls, falling objects, equipment failures, explosions and exposure to hazardous substances. When it comes to office work, however, many people think the greatest risk is aggravation from coworkers and superiors. But work related injuries also frequently occur in offices. That's the bad news.

Paralysis is one of the most severe workplace injuries an employee can endure, and is likewise compensated as such. In most cases, a paralyzed worker will be unable to ever return to the jobsite, a condition referred to as the “permanent loss of function.” In the event a workplace injury causes the permanent loss of a body part or extremity – either due to paralysis or dismemberment – the worker will likely receive total disability payments, equaling two-thirds of the worker’s average weekly wage at the time of the incident. If, after 104 consecutive weeks of benefits, the worker is still unable to return to the job, he or she will need to obtain a medical evaluation which must reflect a “profound” disabling condition.

In a truly horrific set of circumstances, a West Chester man was recently paralyzed from the waist down after falling 40 feet from a makeshift platform. Unbelievably, the man’s supervisor ordered another worker to lift him nearly three stories – using a rough-terrain front-loader, which ultimately toppled and caused the resulting 40-foot fall.

Following the incident, the employer was subjected to an immediate inspection by OSHA, which revealed widespread instances of negligent, dangerous workplace protocol. First, the company was cited for routinely misusing front-end loaders for unapproved uses – including, apparently, moving employees from one area to another. Further, the company was cited for failing to provide fall protection, and failing to properly train workers to recognize the instance of fall hazards. Likewise, the employer was penalized for haphazardly using unneeded equipment to weigh down scaffolding bases, a maneuver further solidifying the obvious patterns of carelessness and recklessness within the management of construction projects.

In a statement by the Philadelphia OSHA office, "[t]his tragedy could have been averted if these two companies had not been so careless about worker safety….A young man is now confined to a wheelchair because of the disregard of the employers at this site for the safety and well-being of their workers. Their actions are inexcusable and will not be tolerated.."

How Common are Workplace Injuries Among Hospital Staff?

In Pennsylvania, hospital workers are injured on the job every day. In fact, nursing employees seem to suffer more back injuries than construction workers. The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reports more than 35,000 back and other injuries each year, severe enough for nursing employees to miss work.

One nurse at Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Chester became one of these statistics when performing her job. Tove Schuster was working the night shift and heard a co-worker call for help because a patient had fallen to the floor. The patient was more than 300 pounds, and a group of nurses lifted the patient as a team.

Schuster did as she was trained, but while getting the patient back into bed, she felt something pop. She finished her shift in pain and drove home. When Schuster awoke the next day, she was unable to walk. Surgery was required to repair a damaged disk in her spine. The hospital acknowledged that Schuster injured her back while lifting that patient. Schuster's career as a floor nurse is over, but she is able to walk and sit without excruciating pain.

The high rate of nursing staff injuries and what hospitals do about it is an ongoing issue. Federal studies have documented how other occupations, such as auto factory workers, have limits as to how much can be lifted. For nursing employees, lifting is part of their everyday duties, with virtually no protections in place.

The law firm of Louis P. Lombardi II & Associates has decades of experience with workers' compensation and personal injury cases. Our Montgomery and Bucks County attorneys are available for free consultations. Contact us today at (888)818-4343 or (610)239-7600.

Federal safety regulations are in place for a reason: to keep people safe from workplace injury. When a worker notices unsafe conditions on the job, he or she has the right to see to it that changes are made so that the employer is brought into compliance with federal safety regulations.

Companies, for obvious reasons, don't always appreciate employees trying to get them up to speed, though, particularly when federal safety officials are notified about the problems. In some cases, employers lash out at such employees either by firing them, demoting them, or some other form of ill or unfair treatment.