Have you been injured in a workplace accident due to unsafe working conditions? If so, you may wish to seek civil penalties from your employer. In California, employers who have accrued workplace safety violations from the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration may be held liable for damages in a civil court. An experienced labor & employment attorney can advise you further.
Workers Injured Due to Unsafe Working Conditions
Unfortunately, employees are exposed all too often in the workplace to unsafe working conditions. Over the years, a number of serious incidents have been the result of lax workplace policies and shoddy enforcement of safety procedures:
- When an employee was installing a solar panel for Elite Electric, he slipped and crashed through a skylight, landing 29 feet below. He was not strapped into any type of protective harness, and no protective measures of any kind were available in the area.
- Custodial employees at the Kaiser Foundations Hospital were expected to dispose of collection boxes that were filled with uncapped needles, even though the boxes often were filled to overflowing and the lids would not properly close. Employers must protect all workers from blood-borne disease, and were clearly negligent here.
- Ashley Furniture faced several safety violations that imperiled employees, including failing to appropriately separate oxygen cylinders from fuel gas cylinders, failing to repair or replace damaged cords on industrial trucks, and failing to provide appropriate guards on a vertical band saw.
- One employee was injured and another killed in an electrocution incident at Five Star Plastering Inc. when the metal scaffolding came into contact with a live power line. The workers had received no safety training prior to the accident.
- Two Disney workers experienced a fatal, 80-foot fall from a platform that had been hoisted from a crane. The crane involved had not been inspected, and the operator had not performed necessary test runs or had rigging materials inspected prior to the accident.
- Three employees were sprayed with molten metal after Tesla Motors failed to repair a damaged safety lock. None of the employees had been trained in potential hazards of working with the machine, and none were wearing protective headgear.
- An employee for Three Frogs Inc. was killed after using incorrect procedures while cutting down a Eucalyptus tree. Appropriate training and rigging were not provided to the employees.
- Two individuals contracted Valley Fever because employees were not protected from airborne dust at First Solar Electric.
Unsafe Working Conditions at Your Workplace?
Many workplace injuries can often be avoided if employers choose to address unsafe working conditions in a timely and efficient manner. When they do not, legal action may be the best way to get their attention and to provide financial remuneration to those who have experienced harm due to unsafe working conditions. If you work in Sonoma County, Mendocino County or Lake County California, contact our aggressive Beck Law P.C., Santa Rosa employment law team to discuss your situation. Beck Law P.C., is located at 2681 Cleveland Avenue, just south of the Empire College School of Law and north of Coddingtown Mall.