Chicago Workers' Compensation Attorney Blog

A scaffolding fall accident in May caused an Illinois worker to lose his life at a construction site. The worker was applying stucco to a home under construction in Burr Ridge when he fell from a scaffold and suffered a head injury. The fatal Illinois construction accident was in large part due to the fact that the worker was not wearing fall-protection equipment.

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has recently cited the construction company responsible for employing the construction worker with four willful violations. Following an investigation into the fatal accident, it was determined that Igor Jerema Construction based out of Buffalo Grove failed to provide employees with fall protection, build scaffold supports on firm foundation, provide a ladder for workers on the scaffolding project and lacked a plank platform for all levels of the scaffold. The construction company is facing proposed fines of $50,000, a relatively small price to pay for putting workers at risk of fatal injury.

Chicago workers' compensation attorneys understand that fall accidents are one of the many dangers construction workers face. The leading cause of death in the construction industry is fall accidents, but workers are also subject to transportation accidents, struck-by accidents, trenching accidents or injuries caused by operating hand tools or power tools.

OSHA representatives are aware of the many different dangers in the construction industry, which is why they are now offering an online v-Tool for workers and employers to learn about the many different hazards they may face. Almost 137,000 construction workers are injured and another 800 are killed annually on the job.

OSHA has developed a set of 12 brief construction hazard prevention videos that can assist workers in identifying a potential hazard and also eliminate the threat of work-related injuries at a construction site. Each video is two to four minutes and depicts a real-life job site incident that resulted in injury or death. The video then follows-up with a corrective action that can be used to help prevent the same kind of incident from happening at other job sites.

For example, one video shows a worker falling from a ladder that is erected on a scaffold well above ground level while another worker stands on the edge of the platform with no railings or protective harness to keep him from falling. Workers are not permitted by OSHA standards to work 10 feet above a surface without having some sort of protective equipment or device that can prevent them from free-falling to the ground. The worker in the video reaches to hammer a nail into the siding and loses balance, causing him to fall to ground level. The video corrects the hazard by showing a long scaffolding strongly built from the ground up that offers full support and railings around all the edges to prevent a fall accident. In addition, the ladder was removed from on top the scaffold as the platform can be raised and lowered through a cable device. The railings on each side of the scaffold prevent a worker from falling over the edge while measuring or working on top of the scaffold.

Other videos include images of other types of fall accidents, sprain and strain injuries that can occur, struck-by accidents, exposure to carbon monoxide at a construction site and injuries that can occur while trenching or excavating at a construction site.

Continue reading "Scaffold Fall at Illinois Construction Site Leads to Fatal Work Injury; Company Cited for Willful Violations" »

Gire Construction Inc. has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) for several violations that include failing to provide workers with fall protection equipment while working at elevated levels.

Construction companies that put workers at considerable risk of a work-related fall accident in Chicago or elsewhere should be held accountable for their negligent actions. Too many times these violations go undetected before a tragedy occurs and a worker gets seriously injured from falling off a rooftop or scaffolding.

Our Illinois workers' compensation lawyers want to remind injured workers that you do have rights and should pursue legal action for compensation of your injuries. Work-related injuries can be costly and should not be consumed out-of-pocket when your employer failed to provide adequate protection or a safe work environment for you and your co-workers.

The Champaign, Ill.-based construction company was first inspected by OSHA investigators on May 27 at a Decatur job site location. During that inspection, 21 workers were observed without fall protection while removing shingles from a building's rooftop. As a result, two willful violations were cited for failing to properly train workers and failing to provide fall protection.

On June 3, employees from Gire Construction were seen performing roofing work without fall protection at two separate residential sites in Champaign. OSHA inspectors cited the company for two more willful violations for not providing fall protection to employees working at elevated levels above the ground's surface. An additional willful violation was handed out for failing to provide a ladder that extended three feet over the eave of the roof.

The five willful violations totaled $140,800 in proposed fines for disregarding employee safety knowingly and not providing protection regulated by federal standards in the construction industry.

Gire Construction also received a serious violation citation for not requiring employees to wear eye protection during a September 15 inspection at a Rantoul job site. The serious violation proposed a penalty of $3,300.

Since 2004, Gire has been inspected five times. The company has been cited for 12 previous violations involving training, ladder usage and fall protection. Companies that fail to correct safety and health violations can be cited for repeat violations that usually result in stiffer penalties.

Construction companies under federal regulation are required to provide workers with proper training on how to work at heightened levels. Companies are also required to make sure job sites are equipped with fall protection such as safety nets, guardrails or personal fall-arrest systems.

Employers have a responsibility to make sure protective devices are present before a job begins. Employers should instruct all workers to use fall protection devices or risk being taken off the job. Creating a safe work environment and demanding safe practices from your employees is one way to keep workers productive and ensure the job gets done safely and correctly.

Continue reading "Gire Construction Cited for Fall Hazards; Illinois Company to Pay Hefty Penalties" »

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) knows that spring is the busiest time for residential construction and they want to remind construction employers how to avoid fall hazards on the job site.

Our Chicago work injury lawyers post frequently to our Chicago Workers' Compensation Attorney Blog regarding fall hazards on job sites and roofing falls. We are quite familiar with the fact that falls are the leading cause of injuries and death in the workplace.

OSHA's guidance document, Fall Protection in Residential Construction, reminds employers how to protect their workers from fall hazards.

Fall Protection in Construction is OSHA's standard which requires employers to provide fall protection systems to their workers. Near the end of last year, OSHA issued the Compliance Guidance for Residential Construction as an aid to employers on how to comply with fall protection standards.

This new document, focused mainly on new construction, gives examples of safety measures used to prevent fall-related injuries. Employees working at residential construction sites that are six feet or more above the ground or the next lowest level must be protected by some sort of fall protection system (personal fall arrest systems, guardrail systems or safety net systems).

"Fatalities from falls are the number one cause of workplace deaths in construction," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. "We cannot tolerate workers getting killed in residential construction when effective means are readily available to prevent those deaths."

There are many safety methods illustrated in the new document to provide fall protection:

-Interior or exterior bracket scaffolding when installing roof trusses.

-Anchors (strap or bolt-on) for roof trusses, ridge poles, rafters and foundation work.

-Safety nets, bracket scaffolding, anchors and retractable lifeline stands can be used during roof sheathing and weatherproofing.

-Various forms of guardrail systems.

-Assorted lifts and scaffolds (pump jack, welded end).

Fall prevention safety tips include covering all holes and openings, have fall prevention training, inspect fall protection equipment before every use, have training on lifts and scaffolding and make sure to use the appropriate ladders and the correct angle for the job.

Further information can be found on OSHA's Residential Fall Protection Web page.

Continue reading "Spring a Dangerous Time for Chicago Construction Accidents" »

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" »