Industrial Accident Lawyer Blog

The death of a teenage worker in Colorado has led to a massive $1.6M OSHA fine against Tempel Grain Elevators in Wiley, Colorado. The worker death occurred after 17 year old Cody Rigsby fell into a grain elevator, and was engulfed by grain, ultimately suffocating to death. OSHA ultimately fined Tempel Grain for a host of violations, including employing child labor, unguarded conveyors, fall hazards, and improper electrical wiring.

Jonah Flynn is an Atlanta Workers' Compensation attorney and an attorney representing injured workers in third-party tort lawsuits across the country. Willfull OSHA violations, such as those which occurred at Temple Grain, often lead to worker injury and death.

A federal judge has ruled that a work injury lawsuit should be allowed to proceed against Cintas. In March of 2007, Eleazar Torres-Gomez, climbed into a conveyor to clear wet laundry, falling into a large dryer. Twenty minutes later, a co-worker heard his burned body banging around the dryer, and opened up the dryer to find the worker's remains.

Typically, Atlanta workers' comp lawyers would not be allowed to bring a case like this, because of Georgia's workers compensation laws which do not allow for bringing a tort action against an employer. However, many jurisdictions have exceptions to the law, because of the harsh result which often occurs when an injured worker is not allowed to sue his employer as a result of a Georgia work injury.

A Georgia mesothelioma lawsuit can take months, or years, of hard work and effort to resolve, and when it does, the mesothelioma victim often has very little time to live. A chemical worker and electricain diagnosed with mesothelioma in West Virginia was awarded a substantial sum and now the company administering the settlement refuses to pay a lump sum, despite the fact that the worker is terminally ill and 85 years old. He will likely collect only a small portion of his award.

An experienced Georgia mesothelioma lawyer understands that, for victims of mesothelioma cancer and asbestosis, time is of the essence, and proper financial planning of an asbestos settlement is necessary for not only the claimant but also his family.

Mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs and chest lining, has killed thousands of industrial workers and construction workers who worked with asbestos during their careers. Recently, the family of one such worker was awarded $2.25 Million in a mesothelioma lawsut in New York. Asbestos lawsuits, including mesothelioma lawsuits, have been filed for the last 30 years on behalf of refinery workers, paper machine operators, and those in industry who worked with asbestos.

Ronald Drabczyk was a repairman in an industrial plant, and repaired asbestos containing valves made by Fisher Controls. The jury found that Fisher had acted with reckless disregard with respect to Mr. Drabczyk's safety, and was 100% liable for his death and punitive damages.

Continue reading "Family of Mesothelioma Victim Wins Trial" »

Recently, the Chemical Safety Board released its Investigation Report related to the refinery explosion and Georgia workplace injuries which occurred as the Savannah Foods refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia on February 7, 2008. The report is 84 pages long, and outlines, in detail, the problems with the Imperial refinery which led to the blast.

The Chemical Safety Board report not only discuss the vast safety problems caused by the Imperial entities, but also discusses, and blames, other companies for contributing to the conditions which caused explosion. The American Institute of Baking provides audits and training on both food safety and occupational safety. According to the CSB, the AIB would assess the operations and practices of the Port Wentworth refinery and issue a participation certificate when the Imperial entities passed the audit. In May of 2007, the AIB issued a "superior" rating. AIB was well positioned, according to the CSB, to help the Imperial entities, its member companies, become informed about the hazards of combustible dust and could revise its training materials to include more information about the dangers of combustible dust.

The Flynn Law Firm is one of the Georgia worker injury attorneys currently representing workers injured in the Imperial disaster, and has learned about the details of the refinery explosion during the last year of litigation with certain Imperial entities.

As a Georgia Workers' Comp lawyer and Atlanta injury attorney representing workers in refinery explosions, boiler explosions, and other workplace accidents, I often see tragic accidents occur when a plant, or large piece of equipment at an industrial facility, is brought online or shutdown. Recently, a large work accident occurred at a refinery in Utah while the refinery's crude unit was being restarted. Officials from the Tesoro refinery said liquid hydrocarbons were released from a flare stack during the restart effort after a power outage.

Oil companies, paper companies, and other industrial employers and premises owners have detailed checklists and procedures for firing equipment and boilers after a shutdown. Dangerous vapors and chemicals, like liquid hydrocarbons, should be evacuated from something like a crude unit, and the managers onsite should verify, and re-verify, that the unit is safe to fire prior to actually bringing it back online. Often, accidents like the Tesoro facility are brought about by management's rush to get the refinery back in operation and a willful ignorance of internal safety procedures or OSHA guidelines regarding facility re-start after an outage.

OSHA has cited British Petroleum an additional $87 Million for failing to complete safety upgrades mandated under a previous settlement between OSHA and BP related to the massive 2005 refinery explosion at the BP Texas City refinery. OSHA also filed an additional 439 new safety violations which it alleges are "willful." The willful violations are primarily related to pressure release mechanisms and safety systems at the Texas City refinery.

In keeping with its general litigious course of conduct, BP is challenging the additional OSHA citations and is also claiming that the work to be performed under the previous settlement agreement did not have to be performed until September of this year.

The 2005 explosion killed 15 workers and caused hundreds of workplace injuries and burn injuries. Given the safety problems at the BP refinery, some people, including industrial injury lawyers and public servants, believe the closing of the BP refinery remains a possibility.

Confined space entry is an underappreciated risk in both general industry and in construction. Confined space entries cause thousands of workplace injuries every year. While this may keep Atlanta workers' compensation lawyers busy, these injuries are unnecessary and can be avoided if employers follow basic workplace safety rules. Under the OSHA rules and basic workplace safety protocols, any entry into a confined space of 4 or more feet should generally be accompanied by a pre-entry oxygen check. Additionally, the worker entering the space should wear a harness and have a spotter with him at the entry.

In August, a steel worker was killed after being overcome by nitrogen while working in a confined space. According to the safety inspector, the worker's death was caused by a "terrible design" which required the worker to open and enter a furnace to install parts. The employer was issued 15 safety violations, one of which was related to the employer's failure to establish conditions of work free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious harm. This likely casued the industrial injury and death of the steel worker.