Boston, Mass Workers' Compensation Blog

According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC), nearly 12,000 people in the United States suffer a spinal cord injury (SCI) each year. A further 265,000 live with the after effects of a serious spinal cord injury.

What Is a Spinal Cord Injury?

An SCI is damage to a person's spinal cord that results in loss of mobility or feeling. Contrary to what many people believe, it is not necessary for the spinal cord to be severed in order for an SCI to occur. In fact, for most people with SCIs, the spinal cord is intact, but it has suffered so much trauma that mobility and feeling are affected.

Common Causes and Effects of Spinal Cord Injuries

The most common causes of SCIs are car accidents and falls from heights, such as from a ladder or from a roof.

Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits can mean all the difference for those who are disabled or injured and unable to work. No one should have to wait unnecessarily for benefits, particularly those who have suffered injury while serving their country. Fortunately, the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) offers expedited processing of social security disability claims for military service members who became disabled while on active military service on or after October 1, 2001, regardless of where the disability occurs.

Active duty status and receipt of military pay does not necessarily prevent someone from receiving SSD benefits. A service member or veteran may apply for SSD benefits at any time while in military status or after discharge. Likewise, it does not matter if someone is currently in a rehabilitation program or undergoing treatment in a military or civilian medical facility.

A lawsuit recently filed in Middlesex Superior Court seeks to hold Wal-Mart stores accountable for the actions of contactors and subcontractors hired to renovate the company's stores. The plaintiffs are seeking five million dollars in damages for what they allege to be a pattern of unsafe practices.

At issue in the case is the death of Romulo de Oliveira Santos, who was on a crew hired to tear down walls at a Wal-Mart in Walpole. As the crew worked, Santos touched an electrical wire and was electrocuted. By the time emergency personnel arrived at the scene, he was dead. The crew had never been warned that there were live electrical wires in the room.

An investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that the electrical contractor in charge of the job in Walpole committed multiple violations and had, in fact, exposed workers to serious electrical hazards. State inspection records show that one of the job's subcontractors hired a Massachusetts electrician to obtain the necessary permits and then used unlicensed electricians on-site. This sort of activity appears to be part of a larger pattern: records indicate that the general contractor for the project had been cited in Louisiana for using unlicensed electricians in another Wal-Mart renovation.

A study recently published in The Journal of Labor Research revealed distinct differences in workplace participation between successful and rejected Social Security Disability applicants. The researchers found that rejected applicants earn and work less than accepted applicants in the decade prior to their applications. The results of the study have implications about the efficiency of the Social Security application process.

Details of the Study

An examination of male SSD benefit applicants' earning records revealed that rejected applicants earned approximately 8.5 percent less than accepted applicants six years before the application date and 22 percent less immediately before the application dates.

Additionally, the study found that rejected SSD applicants left the labor market at a more rapid rate as the date of their application approached than accepted applicants left, which may suggest that those applicants were motivated to file for benefits more by financial concerns than disabling conditions. The authors of the study note that their findings indicate that the SSD application process is at least moderately effective in separating those who are truly disabled and unable to work and those who are applying for financial reasons.

According to a recent study, the waiting time for approval of a Social Security Disability (SSD) claim may take more than several years. The Social Security disability process can be a struggle for those who have become disabled and are in need of assistance.

SSD applicants must first apply at local agencies in their states, who handle the initial reviews. If a claim is denied twice then an appeal may be filed with a Social Security Administration (SAA) administrative law judge (ALJ). The appeals process can then drag on for several years or even longer.

Recent Report Illustrates SSD Problems

More than 728,000 Americans are waiting for SSD appeals hearings. This is a 5% increase over 2010, according to a new study completed by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data research organization at Syracuse University.

OSHA, a part of the Department of Labor, has cited the MBTA for workplace safety violations at the Commuter Rail Maintenace Facility in Somerville. Some of the hazards to which employees were exposed include electric shock, blood-borne pathogens, and amputation.

The citation by OSHA to the MBTA is dated October 18 and gives the MBTA 15 days to pay the fines or challenge the citation. The MBTA responded to the citation citing their drop in workplace injuries by 58%.

There were 22 "serious" violations according to OSHA which came with a bill of $130,800. One such violation is that workers who clean the trains were exposed to blood-borne pathogens and were not offered the Hepatitis B vaccine. Additionally, an exit from the facility was partially blocked by a cabinet used to store flammable materials.

If you have been injured in a workplace accident, contact the Boston workplace injury attorneys of Pulgini & Norton at 1-888-344-2046 to discuss your injury and to learn about workers' compensation.

OSHA has issued new rules in response to the high number of residential construction fall deaths designed to limit the number of incidents of falls. The new rules in place regarding residential construction sites mirror the protections already in place in commercial construction sites.

The new safety precautions that OSHA is advocating include guardrails, personal fall arrest systems, and safety nets. OSHA recognizes that these systems are likely to increase the costs of residential construction but argues that the systems designed to prevent falls will also decrease workers' compensation costs and premiums, thereby negating most of the cost increase due to the safety systems.

OSHA's new rules come as a response to a study that showed a high number of residential construction deaths were due to falls and a lack of safety precautions in place to prevent them.

If you or someone you know has been injured in a residential construction site injury, contact the Boston workman's compensation attorneys of Pulgini & Norton at 1-888-344-2046 to discuss your situation and to learn more about workers' compensation.

The Federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has penalized Springfield, Massachusetts contractor Advanced Tree Services after one of their employees died when he fell off a roof while clearing snow. Many are saying the fines are stiff - but a worker lost his life and the contractor is alleged to have broken several OSHA guidelines.

By law, the company was required to report the death of Jimi Lee Gibb within eight hours. When they did not, the family of the deceased contacted OSHA and an investigation promptly began. This infraction alone cost the company $600.

OSHA Penalties Assessed Against Contractor

In addition to the failure to report penalty, OSHA assessed other penalties against Advanced Tree Services, including $4,200 for failure to protect their employees while working on a roof that was nearly 30-feet high. Typically companies have guard rails or require employees to wear personal fall arrest devices. Jimi Lee Gibb had neither. OSHA handed down a second $4,200 penalty because the company failed to provide employees with a "fall hazard training program".

Twin Pines Construction or Telles Construction are facing potentially upwards of $180,000 in fines from OSHA following an inspection of a building site in Portsmouth revealed numerous safety violations at one site. The company was contracting for the framing on a structure at the specific worksite. 

The greatest safety violation at the worksite was the lack of fall protection for employees. The investigation kicked off when an OSHA inspector witnessed an employee working on the fifth floor of a building without any sort of fall protection. Employees on the site could be working up to 57 feet in the air, all without fall protection. 

Additionally, there were instances where employees were expected to use a 6 foot ladder to reach items 10 feet away. This required using the ladder improperly and standing on rungs that were not meant for standing. Further, there were risks to the employees in the form of electrical shocks from using ungrounded extension cords. 

Fortunately for all of the workers, no serious injuries had been reported from the job site. 

If you have been injured on the job in the Boston area, contact the Boston-area workmans comp lawyers of Pulgini & Norton at 1-888-344-2046 to discuss your injuries and to learn more about workers' compensation.