Industrial Accident Lawyer Blog

Work injuries occur with some frequency at sea. While working on an offshore rig can be dangerous, proper workplace safety mechanisms and procedures can help reduce the frequency of work injury or death.

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon exploded, taking the lives of 11 workers and injuring scores more. The explosion was preventable, was preventable had either Transocean or BP used a blowout preventer----a mandatory safety device which is common. At the time of the explosion, the Deepwater Horizon was two days away from capping the oil well and handing off the pumping responsibilities to a production platform. During the disconnection process, the rig suffered a blowout. The rig's blowout preventer---a 450 ton series of valves developed to prevent a gusher if drilling mud controll is overwhelmed---failed, allowing oil to escape into the Gulf of Mexico.

Continue reading "Deepwater Horizon: Transocean Rig Explodes, Workers Die." »

Georgia work comp lawyers see clients with preventable injuries caused by dangerous working conditions. Often, it is a workers compensation claim or work injury which leads an employer to initiate appropriate workplace safety initiatives.

Recently, in Macon, Georgia, OSHA inspectors were proactive in inspecting the Robins Air Force Base, and found dangerous conditions which could have led to a Georgia work injury had it not been discovered. When OSHA visited the facility, it found process issues identified that did not meet OSHA standards, specifically noting problems with sanding equipment and protective gear.

Continue reading "GA: OSHA Violations and Work Injury" »

The Middletown, Conneticut Kleen Energy power plant explosion investigation is underway, with OSHA and the Chemical Safety Board both on the property to determine the cause of the Kleen Power explosion and work injuries.

According to initial reports, the Kleen Energy power plant explosionoccurred while the plant was being built, and the property was occupied largely by construction workers and contractors. The blast occurred during the process of purging an underground, high-pressure natural gas pipeline running through the facility. There are reports that welding operations were not halted during this gas purge, and it appears that non-essential personnel were allowed to remain near the gas line, which, if true, would violate OSHA standards and commonsense. As a result, 5 workers were killed, with scores more injured.

The Flynn Law Firm is a refinery explosion, work accident, and industrial accident law firm, is currently investigating claims related to the Kleen Energy explosion in Middletown. If you were at the Kleen Energy Middletown power plant at the time of the explosion, or you were injured, you are entitled to bring a claim for your injuries. Contact the Flynn Law Firm today.

Five construction workers repairing balconies at a residential highrise were hurt at work, and subsequently died, after scaffolding the men were working on collapsed. The men plunged thirteen stories. Four men died, with one living but in critical condition.

According to OSHA, scaffolding collapse is a leading cause of work accidents, including Atlanta Workers' Comp claims. If you've been hurt on the job or have sustained a work injury, call the Flynn Law Firm.

OSHA has fined the Disney company Disney $44,000 after a July accident on the Walt Disney World train caused a worker death. According to reports, one of the trains was driving in reverse during a track switch, backing into another train, killing the driver.

This type of accident, whether it's a Georgia work injury, requires an Atlanta workers comp lawyer or a product liability case, is entirely preventable with adequate worker training and communication. Here, a worker in a maintenance bay apparently mistakenly radioed that it was clear for the train to begin backing up, even though the track had not been realigned.

Continue reading "OSHA Fine Against Disney For Work Injury" »

OSHA has issued a significant fine against a Massachusetts manufacturer after an injured worker suffered the loss of a finger tip due to a machine which did not have the required guard needed to prevent a workplace injury. The lack of machine guarding was noted on other machines at the facility, and thus OSHA found the failure to have such guards "willful."

Thousands of workplace injuries and worker deaths occur each year because of an absence of machine guarding. Additionally, many Georgia workers comp claims could be avoided if machine guards were in place. Often, employers remove machine guarding to increase production, in doing so putting profits over worker safety.

Recently, the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) issued warning reminding employers and workers and the dangers pressure vessels pose to those working in industry. Atlanta injury attorneys often deal with burn injuries sustained as a result of industrial explosions caused by pressure vessels, including chemical tanks and gas tanks. If such vessels are improperly installed or welded, they may have inadequate pressure relief systems. The CSB noted several incidents related to pressure vessels, including a Louisiana gas explosion which killed 4 workers. The CSB also noted a Texas chemical explosion in Houston involving a pressurized tank which exploded, causing massive damage.

The failure of a valve at a welding supply company has led to the burn injury of a welder. The industrial accident was sent a welder to the local burn center for treatment of burn injuries.

After the welder removed a valve from a settling tank, the tank malfunctioned and exploded. Smaller, secondary explosions then followed. The injured worker suffered burns to his head, upper body, hands and arms.

This case serves as an example of kind of third-party tort claim injured workers can file when hurt in a workplace accident or industrial accident. While workers compensation attorneys can obtain workers compensation benefits on your behalf, an experienced burn injury attorney can pursue your claims against product manufacturers and other third-parties who are at fault for your injuries. The value of a third-party claim is almost always significantly higher than a workers' compensation claim.

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.

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.

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.

MFG Chemical has agreed to pay $270,000 in civil penalties to resolve claims arising out of a chemical release at a Dalton, Georgia facility. The chemical release resulted in workplace injuries and Georgia workers' comp claims related to the inhalation of hydrochloric acid which was released. MFG did not adhere to guidelines under the Clean Air Act which required it to exercise extreme caution when handling hydrochloric acid. Had MFG had proper workplace safety mechanisms in place, the Georgia work injury could probably have been avoided.

Continue reading "Chemical Plant Fined for Georgia Work Injury" »