Workplace Injuries

• Hoover Dam bypass clean-up after crane collapse

  Staff Writer | January 30, 2007 11:38 AM | 0 CommentsDenver, CO

  On September 15, 2006, high winds caused two 280-foot-tall steel cranes to collapse in a major construction accident at the site of the $234 million Hoover Dam bypass project. This week, a crew of divers is working to clean up the debris from the Colorado River. A story in Central Utah's Daily Herald details the construction accident that caused $50 million in damages and set back the project's...

• Contractor fined in fatal scaffold accident

  Barry Doyle | January 29, 2007 5:00 PM | 0 CommentsCook County, IL

  OSHA fined a Boston-area masonry contractor $119,000 for safety violations involved in an April accident. The contractor's employees were dismantling the scaffold and in doing so, they removed the braces that anchored the scaffold to the building. Without anything to anchor or stabilize it, the scaffold collapsed, resulting in the deaths of two workers and one passer-by.The fines were based on...

• BP Faces Criminal Probe Over 2005 Explosion

  Christina Cole | January 28, 2007 10:49 AM | 0 CommentsTyler, TX

  BP is facing a federal investigation into potential criminal environmental and safety violations at their Texas refinery, where a 2005 explosion killed 15 workers.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has joined a federal investigation that was started in October by an U.S. attorney in Houston. The EPA, five Washington-based representatives of the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of...

• OSHA fines contractor $40,000

  Barry Doyle | January 26, 2007 6:00 AM | 0 CommentsCook County, IL

  A Massachusetts contractor was fined $40,000 by OSHA after an inspector saw two workers on a steeply-pitched roof without fall protection in place. The amount of the fine was increased due to the company having been fined for similar violations on two other job sites in 2005.In 2004, there were 1,224 fatalities involving construction workers. 36% of those work-related deaths were due to...

• U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Overtime Pay Retaliation Claim

  Aubrey Ford | January 25, 2007 8:00 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  The U.S. Supreme Court this week refused to consider an appeal brought by an IBM employee claiming that he was forced to leave the company in retaliation for his complaint about unpaid overtime. In the case, employee Michael Saville had worked for the company for 32 years before he accepted early retirement in October 1998. Saville filed suit afterwards claiming that he was forced to leave...

• Flagman Flattened By Cement Truck

  Bob Carroll | January 25, 2007 5:45 AM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL

  The flagmen of the world keep us safe. They slow us down and guide us though construction sites. But, who is keeping them safe? Flagman hurt when he's hit by cement truckA flagman at a Fort Lauderdale construction site was rushed to the hospital this morning after being run over by a cement truck, authorities and witnesses said.It happened at the Trump International Hotel and Tower off of...

• OSHA requires employers to post injuries

  Staff Writer | January 24, 2007 3:36 PM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  Each year on Feb. 1, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers to post the total number of work-related injuries and illnesses their employees experienced during the previous year. Employers are required to post OSHA Form 300A from Feb. 1 through April 30, 2007, with a summary of all the worksite injuries and illnesses their exployees had during 2006. A...

• Man suffocated in trench collapse

  Barry Doyle | January 23, 2007 7:30 AM | 0 CommentsCook County, IL

  A Tazewell County man died in a recent trench collapse accident. He was helping a neighbor dig an eight-foot deep trench in his backyard for a septic system at the time of accident.The local coroner determined that the cause of the man's death was asphyxiation brought on by the pressure of the earth from the cave-in.One of the less easily recognized dangers of a trench collapse is suffocation. ...

• Ancient Words About Trench Safety Should Be Mandatory Reading

  Bob Carroll | January 23, 2007 6:10 AM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL

  It seems every year brings its allotment of trench collapses which kill or seriously injure workers in Florida. After watching this tragedy for over 30 years and undertaking representation of a number of victims and their families my partners and I believe the OSHA standard for trenching is simply not on the reading list for some employers. Maybe they would prefer to read what was said about...

• Construction Worker Dies in Fall From Roof

  Shannon Weidemann | January 19, 2007 1:30 PM | 0 CommentsCharlotte, NC

  A man died after falling from a roof and landing on his back in Placida, Florida. The Sarasota County Medical Examiner ruled he died of bleeding from internal injuries.Emilio Diaz, age 31, was originally from Mexico and was living in Arcadia. The owners of ABC Construction, the company that employed Diaz, was unsure why he was on the roof because work had been completed there the day before. ...