Articles Posted in Occupational Injuries/Diseases

Workers Compensation and Removed Safety Devices 

In most instances, workers who sustain injuries while on the job will be covered by workers’ compensation insurance. Often, other insurance coverages may also be available based upon the particular circumstances.  For example, an employee driving a work vehicle on the job who is hit and injured by another driver who was negligent may be able to pursue both a workers’ compensation claim and a direct personal injury claim or lawsuit against the negligent driver’s auto insurance.  Another important example involves workplace injuries from removed safety devices when it was the employer who removed a critical safety device or directed someone to do so.  

Can You Get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome From A Car Accident

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome And Motor Vehicle Accidents

Many people are familiar with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) as a condition caused by repetitive stress injuries such as working with vibrating tools, heavy manual labor, and even less impactful but repeated movements such as typing. Within these categories, carpal tunnel syndrome is often a workplace injury. What is less well known, however, is traumatic carpal tunnel syndrome that can be triggered by a single injury to the hand or wrist from an event such as a motor vehicle collision, a sports injury, or a slip-and-fall injury.

Complex regional pain syndrome, or CRPS, is a relatively recent name for related conditions that have been known by other names in the past, such as “reflex sympathetic dystrophy” (RSD) and “causalgia.” What was often referred to as RSD in the past is now more commonly known as “CRPS-I,” and what was called causalgia is now more typically referred to as “CRPS-II.” Other names have included reflex neurovascular dystrophy, algoneurodystrohpy, sympathetically maintained pain, and Sudek’s syndrome. As might be guessed from the many names for these associated conditions, they are complicated and often not well-understood. They generally involve trauma to the peripheral nerves and have symptoms involving the sympathetic nervous system.

complex regional pain syndrome
Both versions of complex regional pain syndrome can result from trauma such as from motor vehicle collisions, sports injuries, and workplace injuries.

craneSomething about crane accidents capture the imagination and horror of many.  When a tragic crane accident occurs, it is often front page news, perhaps because it results in dramatic images of property damage, sometimes way up in a city’s skyline.  But the severe injuries and deaths that can occur in such a situation make an accident involving a crane something not to be ogled, but avoided at all costs.  Construction workers account for a disproportionate percentage of work-related fatalities yearly and are substantially more likely to receive serious injuries when compared to employees in other industries.

After a series of crane accidents making the news, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) launched a program aimed at reducing significant injuries and deaths related to the operation of cranes in general industry, construction and maritime operations in the Pacific Northwest.  And to improve compliance with its program, OSHA conducted compliance inspections, training, consultations on-site, and outreach programs.  They also formed partnerships and alliances to help improve crane safety.

forklift
Forklift accidents are a major cause of workforce injuries, especially in industrial warehouses.  We will examine some of the major causes of forklift-related accidents and injuries and discuss how to prevent them.

Preventing Tip-Overs

A pedestrian is injured every 8 minutes in the United States.  As a Sacramento Pedestrian Accident attorney for many years, I have handled hundreds of pedestrian injury cases.

In every case, a quick investigation of the scene is necessary. The accident scene may have tire tracks that show the vehicle’s direction of travel, skid marks as well as debris that can show the point of impact. There may be parts of the car still present such as broken headlights or mirrors and these should be collected. Road markings should be measured and photographed.

Proving Liability

An important factor in any personal injury claim is proving “liability” — showing who caused an injury and how that happened. In some types of claims, proving liability is fairly straightforward. For example, if a motorist is stopped at a red light and is injured when hit from behind by another driver, it’s relatively obvious who caused the injury and how they did it. In other situations, however, this can be much more challenging. Slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall injury claims are often much more difficult situations in which to prove liability and show how a “defective condition” of some sort caused the incident. One difficulty is in understanding how and why the injured person ended up in a situation where the defect caused him or her to slip or trip. This is where the element of human factors in personal injury claims becomes very important.Short_Leg_Walking_Cast

Truck Backing Accidents are preventable.

Statistics show that 25% of all trucking accidents involve backing up. Backing is an almost daily activity for most truck drivers and almost all of these accidents are preventable.

Classification of Burn Injuries

Burn injuries to the skin and flesh can be caused by several things, including chemicals, heat, friction, electricity, and radiation. There are different classification systems that describe the severity of a burn, with the most familiar one describing the “degree” of the burn. This includes:

Sleepiness is just as risky to a driver as drinking and driving. Being sleepy is dangerous to drivers and other people driving, biking, or walking on the road. Just like alcohol, being sleepy slows the driver’s reaction time, decreases one’s awareness of one’s surroundings, increases the risk of having an accident, and impairs one’s judgment.

Investigators find it impossible to prove with certainty that a crash was caused by sleepy driving, especially in a fatality; however, there are several clues to look for at the scene of the crash that can tell the investigators that sleep was a factor. For example, if only one vehicle was involved, if the injuries are fatal, or if there is a suspicious lack of evasive maneuvers or skid marks.

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