Chicago Workers' Compensation Attorney Blog

Against a backdrop of 15-foot tall Superman statue, amidst a sea of 69 crosses memorializing area workers who have died from and struggle with cancer, the 6,500 residents of blue-collar Metropolis, Ill. battle for jobs and for quality of life, the New York Times reports.

Since a June 28 lockout, Chicago workers’ compensation lawyers have been watching events develop at the Honeywell uranium conversion plant – the only one of its kind in the country and one of only a handful around the globe.

Due to a labor dispute involving health care, pensions, job elimination and restructuring, the company has locked out 220 Illinois steelworkers and turned to hiring on inadequately-skilled temporary replacement workers (known casually as “scabs”) to tackle the dangerous, highly-specialized task of converting uranium, Labor Notes reports.

The process transforms milled “yellow cake” uranium through a complex four-step process that produces uranium hexafluoride gas and potentially exposes workers to risk of radiation poisoning and hydrofluoric acid burns. Uranium hexafluoride can be enriched and used as nuclear fuel.

A Sept. 5 explosion, later determined by U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors to be associated with the venting of hydrogen gas, only exacerbated concerns of the workers and citizens of Metropolis alike who are concerned about jobs, but also the safety of their community from exposure to toxic, potentially deadly, chemicals.

Twice before the town has been rocked by toxic releases from the plant, once in 1960s and again in 2003. The first incident required all homes within a half-mile of the plant be permanently vacated and removed. The second led to the evacuation of 75 homes and shuttered hundreds of residents in their homes and required them to shut off air conditioning to close off exposure to outside air.

Honeywell disputes any relationship between workplace exposure and worker cancer rates, but locked out steelworkers and their families disagree. As negotiations bog down, the community watches and wonders whether temporary workers are capable of safely handling the uranium processing happening on their doorsteps.

Continue reading " Honeywell explosion highlights risks faced by Metropolis steelworkers " »

While responding to a disturbance involving several students at the end of the school day, a 27-year-old elementary school teacher was stabbed by a student. A laceration to his left shoulder required at least six stitches to close the wound. A 13-year-old boy, who was later spotted dropping a bloody instrument down a nearby sewer, has been arrested and charged with one count of aggravated battery to a protected employee. It is believed the weapon may have been a razor knife or box cutter, CBS-2 in Chicago reported.

In 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that out of 158 Illinois work-related fatalities, 36 workers were killed in incidents involving violence in the workplace. During 2008 and 2009, 1,604 American workers died in violence-related workplace fatalities, broken down as follows:

~ 1,047 homicides

~ 841 shootings

~ 81 stabbings, and

~ 500 self-inflicted injuries

The BLS further reported that within the educational profession alone, in 2009 there were 60 work-related fatalities, 9 caused by violent assault.

A study published by the Center for Disease Control, reveals a disturbing trend of workplace violence facing K-12 school staff across the country. On average, teachers experience 39 crimes – 14 violent crimes and 25 crimes of theft – per 1,000 teachers. It is believed that the actual rate of incidents is much higher and these numbers are deflated because many incidents go unreported.

Between 1993 and 1999, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that American workers were exposed to 1.7 million acts of violence in the workplace. Overall, workplace violence accounted for 18 percent of all reported violent crime during this time span.

These acts included:

~ 1.3 million cases of “simple assault” (for example: being threatened with a stick)

~ 325,000 acts of “aggravated assault” (for example: being threatened with a gun or knife)

~ 36,500 rapes and sexual assaults

~ 70,000 robberies, and

~ 900 homicides

Continue reading " Illinois work-related violence facing public school teachers " »

A construction accident has claimed the life of a 44-year-old concrete pump operator working on the Rainbow Dam project just outside Great Falls, Montana. The victim was a long-time employee of Lonesome Dove Concrete Pumping, a subcontractor with the Chicago-based Walsh Construction Co., the Great Falls Tribune reports.

After completing a routine safety inspection on his pump truck, the victim became pinned and was ultimately crushed between his rig and second moving vehicle. He was transported to the hospital where he died of massive internal injuries. He was one of seven siblings, a father of two daughters and two stepsons, a grandfather, and had recently gotten engaged.

Currently, there are about 200 workers on the Rainbow Dam project, which resumed construction of a new powerhouse after a two-day pause in operation since the on-site fatality occurred. The location is now undergoing an Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection.

As our attorneys noted in an earlier post to our Chicago Workers Compensation Attorney blog, despite a 17 percent drop in industry-specific fatalities in 2009 – largely attributed to the economic downturn – construction remains the leader in work-related fatalities.

In 2007, out of 9,300 recordable cases of construction-related private sector injuries occurring in Illinois, 5,800 injured workers required either time away from work, a transfer to alternative duties or some degree of restriction. The number of days off spanned from one to more than 31, with nearly half lasting more than 31 days, the Illinois Department of Public Health reports.

Overall, 158,100 Illinois work-related injuries are believed to have occurred across all industry in the private sector in 2007. Of these, 47,500 Illinois workers required time off from work and another 34,200 workers required transfers or job duty restrictions.

Properly filing a work accident claim is critical to protecting your rights and the ability to collect damages to support your family as the result of a work accident. In cases where a fatal accident occurs, an experienced injury attorney may also be able to file a wrongful death claim on behalf of surviving family members.

Continue reading " Illinois construction company involved in fatal work accident " »

The number of workplace injuries in Illinois have fallen steadily for more than a decade. But it is a soft economy and a 15 percent drop in construction spending that played a major role in the 17 percent decline in construction-related fatalities nationwide in 2009, Bloomberg.com reports.

Late last week a 53-year-old Plainville man was killed after being run over by a backing dump truck on a job site, the Quincy Herald-Whig reported. Regardless of the economy, increased joblessness, and increased safety regulations, construction is still a risky business.

As we reported in an earlier post on Chicago Workers Compensation Blog, 95,500 Illinois workers were injured at work in 2009, and another 193 were killed. TheWorkers’ compensation attorneys at VanPopering Law Offices have a proven track record representing clients injured or killed in work-related accidents in Illinois. Our team has a thorough understanding of workers’ compensation laws and can help you follow the necessary requirements and help file your claim in a timely manner.

Nationwide, and despite the 17 percent drop in industry-specific fatalities, construction remained the leader in fatal injuries across all industry in the private sector for 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The largest decrease – a 44 percent drop – was in nonresidential building construction.

If you or someone you know has been injured or killed in a construction-related workplace accident, our attorneys may be able to help. If you would like to discuss your workers' compensation rights fully, or if you feel that you have been unfairly denied benefits that you legitimately qualify for, we would appreciate the opportunity to evaluate your situation.

Continue reading " Fatal Plainville work accident highlights dangers of serious and fatal Illinois construction accidents " »