Workplace Injuries

• Protecting immigrant labor from injuries growing concern

  Staff Writer | February 07, 2007 11:35 AM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  An Associated Press story last week addresses the growing problem of workplace injuries among immigrant workers who may speak little or no English. With more immigrant labor entering the construction and landscaping business, proper safety training is becoming an issue. A number of companies are failing to adequately train their non-English speaking workers, and injuries among them are on the...

• OSHA requires employers to post injuries

  Staff Writer | January 24, 2007 3:36 PM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  Each year on Feb. 1, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers to post the total number of work-related injuries and illnesses their employees experienced during the previous year. Employers are required to post OSHA Form 300A from Feb. 1 through April 30, 2007, with a summary of all the worksite injuries and illnesses their exployees had during 2006. A...

• Physical Therapy groups offer employment screens

  Staff Writer | January 15, 2007 2:51 PM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  Many Physical Therapy groups offer services to employers to screen potential employees for their physical abilities to perform certain jobs or tasks. This service can help prevent worksite injuries and save the companies money. An article about First Choice Physical Therapy in North Dakota provides a good example of this. The give post-offer employee tests for jobs that have certain lifting or...

• U.S. Capitol now a smoke-free workplace

  Staff Writer | January 11, 2007 9:07 AM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  New House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced yesterday a new smoke-free policy for the Speaker's Lobby, a meeting area near the Floor of the House of Representatives. Speaker Pelosi's historic action follows a nation-wide trend toward making workplaces smoke-free.Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights (ANR) and newpapers across the nation reported on this story:"As Members of Congress, we must be held to...

• OSHA fines companies for fall hazards

  Staff Writer | December 22, 2006 4:18 PM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  A report today on OccupationalHazards.com said that OSHA fined two contractors in Massachusetts for exposing their employees to fall hazards at residential construction sites. Many worksite fatalities in the construction industry occur because of falls. "Falls are the No. 1 killer in construction," said Francis Pagliuca, OSHA's area director for Middlesex and Essex counties. "Workers' lives are...

• Disability insurance gaining popularity

  Staff Writer | December 21, 2006 6:38 AM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  An interesting article from The Wall Street Journal highlights increasing consumer interest in disability insurance. This is attributed in part to lower prices for these insurance policies and to more people recovering and living longer after accidents or serious diseases such as cancer. The article reports:The renewed interest in disability insurance comes as disability rates are rising....

• Construction accident at Spring Hill College

  Staff Writer | December 04, 2006 1:08 PM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  The Press-Register reported Friday that a construction worker from Alabama died in an accident at Spring Hill College on Thursday. The victim was working on the third floor close to an elevator shaft when a concrete wall fell on and crushed him. Though the reason for the accident is not clear yet, an Occupational Safety and Health Adminstration (OSHA) investigator has been inspecting the scene....

• IBM plant workers fear cancer injuries

  Staff Writer | November 29, 2006 1:41 PM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  An interesting article in USA Today reports that a number of IBM workers who spend time working in manufacturing plants, especially those in East Fishkill, NY and Burlington, VT, developed cancer later in life. These alleged worksite injuries are raising concern among former IBM employees.One 55-year-old woman who worked in an IBM plant during the 1970s believes that the company is to blame for...

• Near miss when crane crashes at worksite

  Staff Writer | November 21, 2006 10:20 AM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  A crane accident in Colorado Springs last week in an open roadway of the COSMIX construction zone, fortunately not injuring anyone in the process. According to a report on Gazette.com, this was the third such mishap involving a crane in the construction site since April. One of the worksite accidents killed a worker. "This raises major concerns," said John Healy, area director for the...

• Construction site injury shocks man

  Staff Writer | November 14, 2006 12:40 PM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  MyrtleBeachOnline reported a construction accident today in which a subcontractor was shocked while installing parking lot light poles at a middle school construction site near Conway. The worksite accident involved a crane boom hoisting a light pole, which fell and struck power lines. As a result 27-year-old Sherrod Sellars suffered second-degree burns on his stomach and third-degree burns on...