Gonzalo Trevino Sr., 54, worked as a hauler for a garbage company. Investigators said Trevino was unloading his truck when another dump truck accidentally emptied its contents on him. The load shifted and tipped over the side of the semi tractor-trailer instead of going out the back.

Authorities said the garbage truck contained 80,000 pounds of building debris that included wood, steel and concrete. “It’s unknown at this time if it was an equipment malfunction or if it was a case of soft ground,” said Fire Chief Alan Carlson.

According to the Winnebago County Coroner’s Office, Trevino suffered blunt force injuries to his chest and abdomen when he was buried under the load. Rescue workers from 10 different departments spent almost an hour searching for him. The teams specialized in confined space, trench and excavation rescue operations. Firefighters dug Trevino out by hand from under the debris. However, he was dead by the time they found him.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating the accident. The agency has strict guidelines regarding landfill and waste management safety for both employers and employees. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, garbage truck workers had the seventh most dangerous occupation in 2010.

OSHA’s safety recommendations include providing workers with reflective gear, gloves and hard hats when they are working on garbage trucks or near moving machinery. In addition, garbage truck workers should exercise caution in order to protect workers and pedestrians from hazards. For example, equipment should be turned off completely to prevent accidental crushing.

Kellenberger Plumbing & Underground was issued one willful and one serious citation for two safety violations on May 2. OSHA initiated an investigation into the company under its trenching and excavation National Emphasis Program after getting a complaint about workers being unprotected.

On March 4 two employees were removing a sewer line at a Naperville, Illinois, workplace that was under construction. They allegedly lacked cave-in protection while working in an eight-feet-deep trench. The worksite also did not have a competent supervisor to inspect the trenches and remove hazardous conditions before the employees entered.

Kathy Webb, OSHA’s Calumet City Area Office director, said, “An unprotected trench can bury a worker under thousands of pounds of soil in seconds and cause severe or fatal injuries.” OSHA data indicates two workers die in trench collapses every month. Federal trenching regulations specify that trenches exceeding a depth of 5 feet are required to have a protective system to prevent cave-ins.

According to Webb, Kellenberger Plumbing & Underground has been cited for safety violations three times since 2012. The company faces a proposed penalty of $59,290 for the latest citations.

The company faces penalties of $70,000 for safety violations that led to the injury. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited the employer for one willful and one serious violation for failure to maintain workplace safety standards.

OSHA inspectors conducted a six-month investigation. They found the company could have prevented the worker’s injury by installing proper safety guards that ensure the aluminum press operator’s hands are away from the danger zone. The worker lost the ring, middle and index fingers on both his hands. Some of his right pinkie finger was also amputated when his hands got caught in the machine.

“It’s hard to imagine the agony and pain this young man suffered when six of his fingers were amputated,” said OSHA’s Aurora area director Jake Scott. “His life is now forever altered because the press lacked required safeguarding devices. These devices would have prevented his hands from coming in contact with the operating parts of the machine.”

OSHA updated its workplace safety enforcement guidelines last year. Employers are now required to report all hospitalizations, amputations and eye losses within 24 hours. Work-related fatalities must be reported to OSHA within eight hours. The maximum fine for failure to report such incidents in the specified timeframe has increased from $1,000 to $5,000.

Amputations comprised a significant number of OSHA safety violations and severe workplace injuries in 2015. There were 173 amputations reported in Illinois and 2,644 in the United States.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Henderson Construction of Central Illinois Inc. did not provide the worker with adequate training on the proper way to handle testing equipment. The company failed to manage when and how workers entered the pipe. It also did not monitor confined spaces for various hazards.

OSHA inspectors said Henderson and three other companies violated multiple safety regulations for confined spaces in construction. The contractors were renovating the Springfield Metro Sanitary District’s Sugar Creek Plant as part of a $54.4 million project. On April 11 Henderson was cited for five serious violations and faced proposed penalties of $35,000. The agency also issued a total of 21 citations and proposed penalties to controlling contractor Williams Brothers Inc. along with subcontractors Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc. and Tobin Bros.

“Workers can be killed when employers fail to protect construction workers from the many dangers in confined spaces,” said OSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor Dr. David Michaels in a statement. “Employers can prevent more tragedies like this one if they ensure proper training of workers and communication among multiple employers whose workers are on the same site.”

The citations were among the first issued under OSHA’s revised confined space standard. They were implemented on August 15, 2015, to protect workers from hazardous conditions. Each year hundreds of employees face the risk of dangers such as explosions, electrocution and toxic exposure. During emergencies they may have difficulty exiting manholes, tanks, pipes and other confined spaces safely and quickly.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said that one of the workers was Vincent S. Santoyo, who was 47 years old. He was transported to Lutheran General Hospital, where he was declared dead. An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was blunt force trauma of the torso.

While another worker was also treated at Lutheran General, two other workers were treated for minor injuries at Northwest Community Hospital. According to OSHA spokesman Scott Allen, preliminary reports indicate that a strap or chain supporting a portion of the beam failed, thereby causing the beam to collapse.

OSHA has initiated an investigation into Santoyo’s employer, Omega Demolition Corp. of Elgin, and Judlau Contracting, Inc. of New York, the general contractor. Larry Joswiak, OSHA’s acting director in Des Plaines, described the incident as “tragic and preventable.” OSHA will also conduct interviews of company officials and perform safety checks prior to creating a final report.

Since 2006, Omega Demolition has received nine citations, most of which addressed the dangers of lead across the country. As a result of the violations, the company paid fines in the amount of $6,465.

If you were injured while working on a construction site, or at any other job site, call the work injury/workers’ compensation attorneys at Briskman Briskman & Greenberg.

OSHA inspectors reported seeing four Apex Exteriors Inc. employees exposed to the risk of falling over 25 feet from a roof. The workers were installing shingles at a residential construction site without proper fall protection in January. The company also did not follow ladder safety regulations. According to OSHA standards, fall protection is required when employees are working six feet or higher above the next lower level.

The latest incident was the seventh time since 2010 that Apex Exteriors has been cited for fall violations at Illinois work sites. OSHA statistics reveal falls from elevation are responsible for 40 percent of deaths among construction workers. “One false step can be debilitating or fatal to a worker without fall protection,” OSHA’s North Aurora, Illinois, area director Jake Scott said in a statement.

The agency held its annual National Safety Stand-Down Week between May 2 and May 6. Their goal is to encourage employers nationwide to discuss workplace safety with employees. The campaign also urges employers to commit to implementing fall safety measures to protect employees and prevent accidents.

Joseph Kehrer and two companies affiliated with him, D7 Roofing and Kehrer Brothers, violated numerous health and safety standards, according to an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), part of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Joseph Kehrer and Kehrer Brothers face fines of $1,792,000 for willful exposure of workers to asbestos after inspectors found that Kehrer and company supervisors ordered employees to remove materials that contained asbestos during the renovation of a school.

Many of the workers were foreign workers hired temporarily by Kehrer under the H-2B visa program. According to OSHA investigators, Kehrer knowingly exposed non-English-speaking workers to asbestos and threatened to fire them if they spoke to investigators.

Kehrer and Kehrer Brothers were cited for 16 egregious violations, nine willful violations and six serious violations. The investigation found that in addition to knowingly exposing workers to asbestos, the companies and Kehrer failed to provide proper equipment and training for asbestos removal. OSHA found that the companies also failed to create a required decontamination area and failed to use appropriate methods to minimize asbestos exposure. Kehrer Brothers was also placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program. The companies were given 15 days to contest the findings.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago workers’ compensation lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

Elements in a Comprehensive Effort
As long-term care facilities begin to plan their respiratory protection programs, they should keep
in mind several essential components to remain compliant, effectively mitigate risk and protect
patients and staff:

Qualified administrator
This individual should be intimately familiar with OSHA regulations and understand the
potential infectious hazards an organization may face. He or she should also be aware of the
necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) that will adequately safeguard staff. Typically
this is an N-95 respirator-a device that prevents the spread of target sized particulate matter 95%
of the time.

A written plan
Underpinning a dynamic program is a detailed document that describes how the organization
shields staff from respiratory hazards and complies with OSHA regulations. This document
should describe any PPE needed, as well as the required environmental controls, such as proper
ventilation. To assist organizations in crafting a written plan, OSHA provides in-depth resources
that outline necessary components. In particular, the agency’s small entity respiratory program
compliance guide is quite helpful, including a sample plan for reference.

A workplace analysis
To ensure a respiratory protection program mitigates the correct hazards, long-term care
organizations should conduct a workplace analysis to see what risks are, or may be, present.
Organizations should take this assessment seriously as it is the only way to guarantee the
selection of optimal respirators and PPE. The program administrator may want to consult
external resources when conducting this assessment, such as CDC modules about specific
airborne diseases.

The order was issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued penalties in 2013 for exposing workers to excavation hazards at a Des Plaines worksite. The owner of the company was held for 23 days in federal jail in December 2014 after violating a court enforcement order. The owner was released on a $10,000 recognizance bond. The court order vacates the bond, but permits OSHA to enforce a collection action to recover $110,440 in penalties.

Nick Walters, OSHA regional administrator in Chicago, said that the agency will pursue all avenues to uphold the law against employers who violate safety standards.

The 2013 penalties stemmed from an OSHA inspection in October 2012. The agency said that the owner of the company was uncooperative and refused to acknowledge that any violations had occurred. Excavation and trenching operations can expose workers to hazards such as asphyxiation, cave-ins, drowning, fire, being struck by machines or equipment or coming into contact with underground utility lines.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago work accidents lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

The policy, released on June 25, represents the second time in two months that OSHA has warned those in the healthcare industry of its intent to increase enforcement. In April, OSHA issued revised guidelines for preventing workplace violence against workers in the healthcare and social service fields. The agency states that it is responding to “some of the highest rates of injury and illness” for these workplaces when compared with industries tracked nationwide. This includes “57,680 work-related injuries and illnesses” in U.S. hospitals, a rate “almost twice as high as the rate for private industry as a whole,” according to OSHA.

Five Specific Hazards

The new enforcement policy promises that OSHA will monitor closely compliance with health and safety rules relating to:

• Safe patient handling,
• Workplace violence,
• Bloodborne pathogens,
• Tuberculosis, and
• Slips, trips, and falls.

OSHA states that it is also interested in:

• Exposure to multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs), such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and
• Exposures to hazardous chemicals, such as sanitizers, disinfectants, anesthetic gases, and hazardous drugs.

Even if an inspection begins for an unrelated reason, OSHA now will take the opportunity to examine a facility’s compliance in each of these areas. It anticipates seeking access to employee medical records and interviewing employees to confirm what it finds in injury and illness records. Since these hazards are common in the industry and the policy, in essence, broadens the scope of each healthcare facility inspection and lengthier, broader, and more exacting inspections are likely to result — with the possibility that more citations and proposed penalties will be issued to employers in the healthcare industry.

For more go to the web site of the Jackson Lewis law firm.

The scrap metal recycling facility is owned by Behr & Sons, which has been cited for previous safety violations at its facilities in Illinois and Iowa. However, despite that pattern, OSHA had never inspected the facility where the worker died until after the incident in March.

OSHA said in a press release that the company has now been deemed a severe violator and will be subject to additional inspections. According to OSHA, the company has shown a pattern of neglecting worker safety and requires a “culture change.”

However, OSHA’s budget has been cut significantly over the years. Statistics show that in 2011, there were not as many OSHA inspectors as there were in 1981, despite the fact that there were twice as many workplaces to inspect.

According to OSHA regional administrator Nick Walters, Behr & Sons let the conveyor belt run at unsafe times because it increased efficiency.

Bob Briskman is a workers compensation lawyer in Chicago and work injury attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

The Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office stated that McKinney may be ready for release within a few days. Sheriff Patrick Toombs outlined the accident. According to his statement, the McKinneys and Robokoff were disassembling the pump jack in order to move it with a winch truck. 

As the truck backed up, Robokoff was pulling back a cable of the jack, which was in contact with the truck. When the cable touched the power line, it electrocuted Robokoff. Harvey McKinney, who was walking behind the truck, touched it in response. The power surged through the cable to the vehicle, killing McKinney as well. The driver of the truck was not injured. Toombs said that officials are currently unsure why the cable struck the electric line.

All three were employed by Rayco Pumping Unit Service of Midland. 

OSHA has launched an investigation into the incident. Investigators have not yet determined fault in the accident. Potential factors include the location and height of the power line, equipment failure, lack of supervision and unsafe working conditions in the oil field. Careful consideration will be required before any conclusions can be drawn.

By Mary Ellis LaGarde

According to a recent drilling article in the Houston Chronicle, workers have no one to rely on for their safety or assistance in the event of an accident, not even the federal government. It’s a depressing commentary on the human condition when 60 oil rig workers die, one at a time, and it does not register as a warning flag. This observation came from no less that the former assistant regional administrator for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

It’s not news that onshore oil fields are virtually the most dangerous places to work. This fact was revealed in 2007, at the beginning of the fracking boom, by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSHIB), who revealed that 40 percent of the 663 riggers killed while working on rigs, died in Texas. 2012 was a bad year, featuring a ten-year high, with 65 deaths, 79 workers who had a limb amputated, 92 who sustained burns, 675 with broken bones and 82 crush deaths. These are grim statistics. Unfortunately, with the increased activity, particularly in the Eagle Ford Shale patch, the problem will only get worse.

Furthermore, the CSHIB study showed the federal government has done nothing for 22-years with regard to putting safety procedures and standards in place for onshore gas and oil drilling. These findings did not let the OSHA off the hook for their lackluster rules and regulations pertaining to safety. They are only mandated to launch an investigation relating to accidents that kill a worker or that resulted in three or more employees being sent to hospital. There were 18,000 work-related injuries in the past 6-years, and only 150 were investigated.

Perhaps it goes without saying, but bears mentioning as a reminder of the lack of government involvement relating to safety in the oil industry in Texas, that when the OSHA conducted an investigation, safety infractions and violations were cited in 78 percent of them. It’s not too difficult to suspect that the accidents that were not investigated were also caused by safety violations.

Instead of getting better, it appears safety procedures and standards rank dead last with the government. Hundreds of Texas families would disagree with this approach. Hundreds more workplace accident lawyers also find fault with this hands off attitude.

Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP is one of the premier trial firms in Austin Texas. Contact a wrongful death attorney by calling 512-476-4944 or learn more at http://www.civtrial.com/.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) maintains a list of U.S. employers with severe and/or repeated violations of safety regulations: the Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP). A major investigation by the Houston Chronicle revealed that several Texas oil companies with repeat violations and multiple fatal accidents in recent years have somehow avoided inclusion in the list.

In fact, according to the Chronicle, none of the Texas oil and gas companies with multiple reported fatalities is included in the SVEP.

The program was once called the Enhanced Enforcement Program, and the names of companies included in it were kept secret. But now, the SVEP’s intent is to focus attention on companies with “repeat” and “willful” violations, according to OSHA official Jordan Barab. However, many companies have avoided that attention.

The Chronicle noted that OSHA supervisors have considerable leeway in assessing whether a particular company should be included in the list. But safety experts interviewed, including John Newquist, a former OSHA administrator, said the omission of some Texas violators was problematic.

Enforcement of safety standards is critical to keeping workers safe. One important aspect of that enforcement is government oversight. But often – and especially when government oversight becomes lax – injured workers, their families, and the attorneys who represent them must also work to hold employers accountable for their actions. If you are injured or a loved one is killed while on the job, contact the attorneys at LaGarde Law Firm.

By Mary Ellis LaGarde

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the citations to Northstar Metal Products for 11 violations of health and safety regulations following the April 1 incident. One of the workers injured suffered burns to his face, arm and hand. OSHA proposed fines totaling $51,480.

An OSHA official said that manufacturing companies that engage in processes that produce combustible dust must take special precautions to avoid explosions and injuries.

One repeat citation was for the failure to control hazardous energy. The company had been cited for a similar violation in 2011.

Other violations included failure to control hazards resulting from aluminum dust, lack of fall protection and respiratory protection, lack of machine guarding, improperly maintained fire extinguishers, inadequate signage and violations of practices regarding electrical work. These were all classified as serious violations, meaning that there is a substantial probability that the dangerous condition could cause serious injury or death, and that the employer knew or should have known about the condition.

Northstar Metal Products had previously been cited by OSHA for 11 violations.

The company was given 15 days from the receipt of the citations to comply or contest the findings.

Bob Briskman is a Chicago work injury lawyer and workers compensation attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To read more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

The collapse occurred at about 10 a.m. (CST) on January 20, 2014 at the International Nutrition plant in south Omaha, where the company produces animal feed supplements.

Rescuers rushed to the scene, but they had to move slowly and carefully to avoid inflicting further injury on those trapped as they worked their way through the wreckage. By about 2 p.m., all surviving victims had been extricated from the debris, and firefighters shifted from rescue to recovery mode. Two bodies still lay within the building.

It was late afternoon before firefighters were able to pull 53-year-old Keith Everett’s body from the debris. When night fell, the cold and dangerous conditions forced officials to suspend the operation before retrieving the last victim. The body of David Ball, 47, was retrieved from the wreckage the next afternoon.

Investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are leading the investigation into the collapse, but they have warned that it is too early to say what caused it.

According to OSHA records, the company was fined $13,000 in 2002 for a fatal accident in which a worker fell into a mixer as he was cleaning it. In 2012, six safety violations were noted at the plant, including lax safeguards on some equipment.

In cases like this, victims’ families want answers. They want to know whether something should have been done to prevent the accident and whether the company or any individuals were negligent. The counsel of an experienced personal injury attorney is indispensable in sorting through the evidence and working with investigators to uncover the facts.

We Focus our Practice Exclusively on Wrongful Death and Critical Injury Cases – Contact a personal injury attorney at The Lietz Law Firm by calling 866-554-1238 or learn more by visiting http://www.lietzlaw.com/.

The day of the explosion, at least 14 people lost their lives, and part of a small Texas town was obliterated. From media reports to date, it appears the plant’s owners were relying on a decades old exemption allowing them to avoid targeted workplace safety requirements and various inspections, and kept them from participating in a prevention program involving environmental officials.

The owner relied on an exemption that was nearly twenty years old, a claim the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) vowed to investigate. By shielding the plant in the name of the stated exemption, the company was then only required to adhere to more lenient rules and regulations and ultimately, also be able to steer clear of various OSHA and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules.

The implications of the company’s claim may have an impact on other businesses that store large amounts of dangerous chemicals. If what West Fertilizer states is true — that they may sell primarily to end users and thus avoid stricter regulations —- the chemical storage industry may become a horrific time bomb looking for a place to explode.

In the case of West Fertilizer, they had been sitting on 1,350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that should have flagged them for inspection. Oversights, or legislative flaws such as this one, need to be addressed, as workers’ lives are at stake.

As it stands, the retail exemption works to allow a company an exemption from more strict regulations, provided that more than half of their sales were to end users —- such a farmers. Apparently, the OSHA does not check such claims out, unless the site is inspected.

In the meantime, thanks to loopholes build into legislation that should protect employees in workplaces such as this, people are dying. The West Fertilizer plant has not been inspected since 1985. Certainly something is wrong with that picture.

This explosion is a clear example of why workplaces should not self-designate their status to avoid government rules intended to protect workers. Workers who lost their lives in this blast or were seriously injured should speak to a skilled Austin injury lawyer to find out what their rights are and how they may obtain compensation.

Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP is one of the premier trial firms in Austin Texas. Contact a personal injury lawyer by calling 512-476-4944 or learn more at http://www.civtrial.com/.

This is a baffling wrongful death case, in which a 41-year-old man fell to his death while cleaning a running meat blender.

The equipment had an emergency switch; a co-worker rushed to turn the machine off, but the accident proved fatal. The autopsy indicated he died of blunt-force trauma and chopping wounds.

The Interstate Meat Distributors plant in Oregon had, just prior to this man’s death, been cited for serious safety violations relating to some of the equipment in the plant. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) indicated that safety at Interstate Meat was lax.

As a result of this fatal accident, the OSHA launched an investigation into the overall operation of the plant and the circumstances surrounding the worker’s wrongful death. OSHA officials suggested to the media that until the investigation was completed, they did not know for sure if there was a direct link between safety violations and the man’s death.

Plant management offered to fully cooperate with all investigations while continuing to operate the business. The results of any inquiries into the death will not bring the man back, and his family may wish to file a wrongful death lawsuit. On the face of the evidence relating to the lack of proper safety procedures, a wrongful death attorney could take the matter to settlement or court.

In the meantime, the family faces financial needs relating to their loved one’s sudden death. The best solution for them to pay all the bills would be to apply for litigation funding. It is easily applied for by going online or calling a lawsuit loan company.

Pre-settlement funding is a cash advance given to approved plaintiffs before their case is settled or goes to court. They may do what they wish with the money, but are encouraged to pay their bills and all expenses relating to a funeral and burial for their loved one. The remainder of the lawsuit loan can stay tucked in the bank while the plaintiffs take time to heal while waiting for justice.

Daren Monroe writes for Litigation Funding Corp. To learn more about lawsuit funding, visit http://www.litigationfundingcorp.com/.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is deadly serious about safety in the workplace. And despite what companies may think, they do inspect and keep track of whether or not there is compliance after an inspection. In this case, not only was there no compliance, the issues kept getting worse.

This is a Texas case involving Worldwide Oilfield Division, Inc. in Houston. It was slapped with a number of penalties for eight violations (new ones), four repeat violations and one safety violation after an October 2012 inspection. OSHA inspectors discovered workers were routinely exposed to unguarded machinery, electrical hazards and other issues at the Worldwide Oilfield Division location on Cunningham Road.

The inspection cited the facility for allowing workers to run dangerous, improperly protected equipment, putting them at high risk for amputations and other serious injuries. On re-inspection, the issues had not been fixed, resulting in a higher fine of $71,200.

Conditions noted at the facility included failing to provide the proper safety guards for a variety of machines that ran the gamut from vertical and horizontal turret lathes to band saws, and failing to ensure all panels, electrical cords and boxes were securely anchored to avoid the possibility of electrocution.

In penalizing the company, OSHA noted that it is the employer’s responsibility to provide a safe workplace for all workers. Providing a safe workplace includes ensuring the equipment they work with is not dangerous and has the proper guard equipment in place to prevent serious accidents.

Aside from the fact this company is in direct violation of OSHA rules, they are potentially exposing themselves to a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. In the eyes of the law, if an individual is badly injured or killed while on the job, and the cause of the accident was negligence on the part of the employer, the workers have a right to worker’s compensation benefits or to sue for compensation to cover items such as medical expenses, lost wages, and medications. In this instance, the employer is negligent in not providing a secure workplace and in not addressing safety issues, even when told to do so.

If you have been in a situation like this, discuss your case with an Austin injury attorney. If you want to know what is involved in an injury case or wrongful death lawsuit, an Austin injury attorney can provide you with the answers, allowing you to make informed choices about your situation.

Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP is one of the premier trial firms in Austin Texas. Contact a personal injury lawyer by calling 512-476-4944 or learn more at http://www.civtrial.com/.

One never expects an accident to happen, especially on a job you have been doing for years. Unfortunately though, accidents can and do happen without warning. In this case, one man was seriously injured and another killed while on the job at a Pepsi warehouse.

The two men were at work in the warehouse when a robotic lift system that moved completely loaded palettes, suddenly collapsed. It was 20 feet up in the air and fully loaded at the time. The palette crashed to the ground, crushing one man instantly and leaving the second one with life threatening leg wounds.

When EMS crews got to the scene, they extracted the one man still alive and rushed him to the hospital for immediate emergency care. The other man was lifted out of the area shortly after. Those on scene wondered why the men were in the area where the arm was in operation, as this was not permitted. A preliminary investigation revealed that the arm was undergoing maintenance when it collapsed. This, of course, raises the question as to why it was operating while the men were working on it.

OSHA officials plan to make a trip to the facility to try and determine the cause of the collapse. There may be safety violations identified at a later date. In the meantime, two families have been seriously affected by the death and the injury of a loved one.

The family of the deceased worker may wish to file a wrongful death lawsuit; the injured worker may pursue a personal injury case. The investigation may result in a finding of negligence. Was the arm defective? Did someone else trigger it while the men were in the area? Was there an electrical malfunction? Were both men operating according to the safety rules? Were there safety rules in place to deal with maintenance of the arm? Why was it in operation while the men were working on it?

There are many unanswered questions, but one question that is not without an answer is how would either of these families find the funds they need to pay their bills and still make it to trial? The answer is, either one of them could apply for lawsuit funding and get an emergency lawsuit cash advance to tide them over until they get justice.

Lawsuit funding is easy to apply for. Just complete a one-page, online application form or a call a toll free number. If a plaintiff has a solid case, pre-settlement funding is available within 24 to 48 hours. This is a no-hassle process, worth checking into if you are a cash-strapped plaintiff and need money to pay your bills while you wait for your case to be resolved.

Daren Monroe writes for Litigation Funding Corp. To learn more about lawsuit funding and litigation funding, visit Litigationfundingcorp.com.

The site was busy and things were rolling along according to schedule, when for some reason, the forklift snapped and a huge chunk plummeted down to the avenue below, shattering on impact and propelling pieces into the air in various directions.
A worker on the street was hit by a projectile in the back of the leg and tossed into the bushes. Emergency response crews took the man to the nearest medical facility for treatment. It is not known what made the forklift snap, but the U.S. OSHA will be investigation to see if the equipment was defective or poorly maintained.

This nasty accident could have turned out to be a lot worse than it was. Fortunately for the injured worker, he happened to be far enough away to miss ground zero impact. Nonetheless, his injuries may well be serious enough to lose time from work and may have been as a result of defective machinery, negligent forklift operation or improperly maintained equipment.

If he chooses to sue for his personal injuries, he may also discover he needs financial assistance to pay his bills until his case gets to trial. In order to find a source of money, he might be interested in knowing that he could be eligible for lawsuit funding from a litigation funding company. It is easy to apply for and he only needs to provide the case details to be considered. If the case stands a chance of winning in court, it is typically approved and the pre-settlement funding is sent out within 48 hours or less.

Legal funding is a lifesaver for financially strapped plaintiffs who need help to pay the medical and other bills while they are waiting for justice. When an insurance company approaches them about settling quickly for a low dollar amount, the plaintiff with a lawsuit cash advance in the bank can tell them to take a hike.

Daren Monroe writes for Litigation Funding Corp. To learn more about lawsuit funding and litigation funding, visit Litigationfundingcorp.com