Workplace Injuries

• Employer Retaliation Brings $6 Million Verdict

  Bob Carroll | May 18, 2006 2:21 PM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  An injured worker is legally entitled to file a worker's compensation claim without fear of retaliation by his employer. Sometimes, however, the employer decides to retaliate by firing the injured employee or by taking some other adverse action. When that happens, the law provides for a cause of action against the employer. Ex-UPS driver to get $6 million over firing for being 'injury...

• It Ain't Easy Being Mickey

  Bob Carroll | April 10, 2006 8:42 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Visitors to the theme parks of Florida may not appreciate the pain and suffering going on under those character costumes. The word from China is that being Mickey or Pluto is not a walk in the park. In Florida, the Workers' Compensation law requires that the employer provide a safe workplace. If costumed characters are regularly experiencing physical problems, which may be the case, I would...

• Crane Contacts Power Line And Causes Injuries And Death

  Bob Carroll | March 28, 2006 5:30 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Most workers assume that injuries or deaths that occur on a worksite are exclusively covered by the Florida Workers' Compensation Laws. There are circumstances, however, when the law permits a claim under Workers' Compensation and what are called third party claims against other responsible persons or companies. Because the compensation scheme of the official Workers' Compensation program is...

• 15% Of Your Co-Workers May Be Impaired By Alcohol Use

  Bob Carroll | January 14, 2006 4:33 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Workplace alcohol use and impairment directly affects an estimated 15 percent of the U.S. workforce, or 19.2 million workers, according to a recent study conducted at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) and reported in the current issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol. Source

• Dirty Secret Behind Electrical Linemen Deaths

  Bob Carroll | January 07, 2006 2:02 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Mothers, don't send your boys to be linemen.An electrical lineman's job is clearly one of the most dangerous in the United States. But the real tragedy, according to veteran linemen, family members, attorneys, and even OSHA [U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration] investigators, is that many of those deaths and horrible injuries could and should have been...

• Worker Killed When Run Over By Curb-Making Machine

  Bob Carroll | December 27, 2005 9:00 PM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  A 19-year-old worker was killed at a construction site in Wesley Chapel Tuesday when he was run over by a curb-making machine operated by another man, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office reported. The accident is being investigated by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office and OSHA.The need to focus on job safety, especially where workers are in close contact with vehicles or heavy machinery, ia...

• Worker Paralyzed By Falling Beam In 1994 Receives Verdict of $32 Million

  Bob Carroll | December 12, 2005 11:27 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  It has been 11 long years, but Norman Pelletier finally received the jury verdict he deserved. The construction worker's life changed instantly when an overhead steel beam broke loose and struck him, leaving him permanently paralyzed below the chest. He was motionless on a steel deck, his spine shattered and ribs crushed. Norman's attorneys worked mightily on his precedent-setting workplace...

• America's Safest Companies Recognized - What About The Most Dangerous?

  Bob Carroll | October 27, 2005 6:17 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Tthe 12 companies recognized as America's safest share a passion for safety. They come from different segments of the economy and produce different products and services. But, they strive for safety excellence. This usually means they go well beyond OSHA and EPA regularions and even industry norms. The common thread among the 12 companies recognized as America's safest is a passion for...

• Fiction Causes Worker Injuries

  Bob Carroll | October 09, 2005 4:07 PM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  There are fictions that cause injuries to workers. The Business Gazette tells us that managers are unintentionally flouting basic laws designed to keep employees safe and well at work. Why? Because of commonly held misconceptions over their safety responsibilities. Inadequate compensation, however, is not a fiction.From England comes a list of fictions that cause injuries to workers. The...

• Medieval Times But 21st Century Justice

  Bob Carroll | October 07, 2005 4:55 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  The Knights of King Arthur never heard of workers' compensation. But, a Newsday article reports that today's knights are coverd by it and know how to duel in our courts. Many workers in Florida are knights in combat almost daily. I think of police officers, construction workers, bridge builders, football players and others. There are legal obligations to the injured worker. The Knights of...