Recent Tragedy Highlights Work Related Accidents
Brian O Sutter
Personal Injury
Throughout your daily activities, safety is always one of your primary concerns. It should be an employer's concern as well, and a recent accident in Apollo Beach Florida has shed new attention on the subject of work related accidents.
The Big Bend Power Station experienced a major accident when molten material surged from a tank and burned several workers, killing four of them. Only a month earlier, toxic chemicals were released at the same plant and caused more injuries. The US government has numerous protocols in place that are designed to help protect employees from these types of issues, and repeated accidents such as these could be a sign that additional safety issues could be present.
The Accident
The accident in question occurred during routine maintenance when employees were attempting to unplug a tank that was filled with waste product only to have the waste spill from the tank and onto them. Currently, the accident is under investigation, but OSHA has already announced that it suspects the cause could be due to the plant itself not providing a safe working environment for all of its employees. And if this is found to be the case, those injured or the families of those who were killed will likely have the right to seek financial compensation.Seeking Compensation For Workplace Injuries
Talking to a worker's compensation attorney is one of the first things that should take place following an accident. Worker's comp is in place to help provide some measure of protection to injured employees, but the reality is that the insurance companies aren't always easy to work with. Instead, they may often use stall tactics or try to avoid paying anything at all. And in some cases, they may try to pay a small amount instead of what is truly deserved. Seeking additional compensation for workplace injuries involves showing that the employer created a situation that was unsafe and that they did so knowingly. This falls into the category of 'reckless and negligent' behavior, which is what must be shown in virtually any personal injury case. But with workplace injuries, it can be tricky to do so. You must show that the employer knew about unsafe conditions and chose to do nothing about them, or that they failed to meet all applicable safety regulations set up by the government. A number of different steps could be used to do so, including:- Using past accident reports
- Reviewing potential safety violations from the past
- Previous injuries
- Employee or witness testimony
- Security camera footage
- Company records
- And more