Posts tagged Work Injuries

• Falling Down Stairs

  Ken Margolin | February 15, 2007 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  Falling down a flight of stairs or even a few steps can cause serious injuries. Broken bones, head injury, and other trauma can result. In determining whether a stair injury case should result in a lawsuit, a number of factors need to be determined in addition to the severity of the injury. Stair injury cases are a form of premises liability litigation. Stair design is one factor to be analyzed....

• Can I Sue if I Receive Workers Compensation?

  Ken Margolin | July 20, 2007 3:30 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Workplace Injuries
  

  I have been asked this question many times over the years by clients who have received serious personal injuries at work. Workers compensation pays the injured employee regardless of whether the employer or anyone else was negligent, and even if the employee's own negligence contributed to his injuries. Worker compensation laws are essential, but they are something of a devil's bargain. The...

• Workplace Assaults

  Ken Margolin | March 03, 2007 10:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Workplace Injuries
  

  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports that an average of 1.7 million people annually were the victims of non-lethal workplace assaults during the period 1993-1999. Leading the way for types of employment carrying the greatest risk of assault, were nursing homes and hospitals. Retail operations, such as grocery stores, also carried a surprisingly high risk...

• Working Teens at Risk

  Ken Margolin | March 07, 2007 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Workplace Injuries
  

  A disturbing article in Yahoo News the other day, described a serious problem with high school aged youths put in dangerous work situations. According to the piece, many teens between the ages of 14 and 18, were assigned to work with dangerous tools, with inadequate training, allowed to work excessive hours, or permitted to work with no adult supervision. Many of the violations noted were in...

• Real Tort Reform

  Ken Margolin | December 17, 2006 12:30 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  I grudgingly give credit where it is due. The insurance, big corporate cabal, has run one of the most brilliant public relations campaign in the history of duping the American public. Their first ploy was the one most essential in any media campaign - they captured the linguistic high ground. Everyone believes in reform in the abstract, and the forces who want to eliminate the rights of...

• Failure to Warn

  Ken Margolin | January 29, 2007 2:15 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  Tools and machines, simple and complex, carry risks. Manufacturers have an obligation to design their products to eliminate the most obvious risks, for example, placing effective hand guards on power tools. Obviously, though, the ways in which tools and machines may be used are many. Mechanical design safety measures have some practical limits, not the least of which is financial. One the...

• Slip, Trip, and Fall Traps

  Ken Margolin | April 19, 2007 1:15 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  Very serious injuries can result from incidents of slipping, tripping, or falling down. A fall can end careers, from such injuries as broken bones, traumatic brain injury, spine injuries, and others. But winning a fall down case in Massachusetts, is quite difficult. A number of legal theories stand in the way of success for even a severely injured plaintiff. If the incident occurred on a...

• Construction Accidents and Unionization

  Ken Margolin | January 23, 2007 3:00 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  A New York Times article at the end of last year reported that the number of construction fatalities more than doubled from the previous twelve month period. The biggest cause of construction deaths was falling, followed by deathfrom falling objects. The OSHA spokesman in New York City noted that non-union workers appeared to be more heavily at risk for death and serious injury. Union workers...

• Dangers from Above

  Ken Margolin | March 21, 2007 4:10 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  I'm not a deer hunter, but I have a few friends who are. They tell me that the reason why hunting deer from a tree stand is so successful, is that deers have no natural enemies who prey on them from trees. Deers don't look up to spot potential dangers. Humans are similarly at risk from objects falling from above them. Some truly catastrophic brain injuries, crushing injuries, and deaths, have...

• When the Insurance Company Comes Calling

  Ken Margolin | December 21, 2006 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  I was recently retained by a young woman who was seriously injured in an automobile accident. She was hit while crossing the street, in a crosswalk, and suffered multiple fractures. While her injuries are not life-threatening, she will lose significant time from work, will require a lot of physical therapy, and carries the potential for long-term troublesome, and even deteriorating,...