Philadelphia Area Workers' Compensation Lawyer

Employers in our state must abide by workplace safety laws enacted by the federal government and by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. But laws vary to certain degrees among the states, and a recent study of workplace accidents suggests that these differences are linked to the number of fatal accidents reported in a state.

The Rand Center for Health and Safety in the Workplace conducted the study, which examined the number of fatal and non-fatal workplace accidents in each state. Interestingly, a high number of fatal accidents tended to be correlated with low numbers of non-fatal workplace injuries. The same also held true in reverse: States with the highest number of reported non-fatal injuries tended to have the fewest number of employees killed in accidents.

Some workers in Pennsylvania may deal with temporary or chronic back pain. According to one doctor, they are hardly alone. In his recently published book on preventing and dealing with back pain, one surgeon says that 80 percent of people will have back pain at one time or another. In addition, he notes that people spend approximately $5 billion in treating back issues and miss 93 million days from work each year.

A number of jobs place heavy lifting requirements on employees. Laborers and construction workers come immediately to mind as people who stand at increased risk of sustaining a back injury in the course of their employment. But back injuries can occur at any job. Nurses often have to lift and move patients; chefs and restaurant employees must carry heavy packages of food and equipment; even office workers may be required to move weighty boxes of paper.

Pennsylvania companies know that they have to invest in research and development in order to grow and remain competitive in their respective industries. New technologies can be dangerous, however, and accidents sometimes happen while companies tinker with and perfect their products. Last week, an explosion rocked a General Motors research building that was performing tests on a new generation of electric car batteries.

Eighty workers were removed from the building. Five needed medical attention, and one required treatment at a hospital. That person endured skin damage from exposure to chemicals released in the workplace accident. He also suffered a concussion from the high-energy explosion, which blew out windows and took an eight-inch solid door off of its hinges.

Pennsylvania workers know that construction sites have the potential to injure and even kill those who work in them. Over the years, the construction industry has adopted a number of measures designed to improve workplace safety and reduce the number of workplace accidents. Unfortunately, proper safety standards are not always observed, and officials are investigating whether improper maintenance could have been the cause of a crane collapse that killed a construction worker this week.

The accident occurred at the site of a subway expansion project. According to investigators, the crane was not lifting an object when, without warning, one of its supporting cables gave way. Its boom arm fell to the ground, where it killed one construction worker.