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Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Construction Supply Worker Killed by Granite Slabs
This time of year I wonder whether I should stay on the lighter side and "be happy." In past years I've used the last week of the year to focus on posts about new videos I've run into throughout the year. But... yes there is a but, I'm struck by the number of fatal accidents I'm reading about in today's news reports. I wonder if instead of just being happy for the holidays, there should be an extra emphasis on safety... just so we don't lose our focus, miss a detail and someone gets hurt or killed.
There's a line in the following story, dated December 22nd, that bothers me.
In an apparent freak accident, a construction worker was killed by slabs of granite in a New York City construction supply store.
The New York Post reports that the 47-year-old man was killed when a number of the heavy slabs used to make bathroom and kitchen countertops fell on him, with one striking him in the head.
What bothers me is that the story quotes David Perecman, a New York personal injury attorney, as saying: "There are so many ways and means people can be injured. Some, like this one practically defy categorization. However an injury accident is an injury accident and if the workplace is at fault, the family of the victim deserves rightful compensation for the death. Was it a fluke accident or was it due to a lack of safety regulations?"
Are there any "fluke" accidents? By that I mean, are there accidents that are just going to happen and nothing could have been done to prevent them? Maybe from an attorney's perspective there are fluke accidents, but from a safety point of view I don't think there are fluke accidents. I'll grant that there may be what are called acts of God (an unexpected high wind blows over a tree, for example), but that's the exception to the rule.
What do you think?
There's a line in the following story, dated December 22nd, that bothers me.
In an apparent freak accident, a construction worker was killed by slabs of granite in a New York City construction supply store.
The New York Post reports that the 47-year-old man was killed when a number of the heavy slabs used to make bathroom and kitchen countertops fell on him, with one striking him in the head.
What bothers me is that the story quotes David Perecman, a New York personal injury attorney, as saying: "There are so many ways and means people can be injured. Some, like this one practically defy categorization. However an injury accident is an injury accident and if the workplace is at fault, the family of the victim deserves rightful compensation for the death. Was it a fluke accident or was it due to a lack of safety regulations?"
Are there any "fluke" accidents? By that I mean, are there accidents that are just going to happen and nothing could have been done to prevent them? Maybe from an attorney's perspective there are fluke accidents, but from a safety point of view I don't think there are fluke accidents. I'll grant that there may be what are called acts of God (an unexpected high wind blows over a tree, for example), but that's the exception to the rule.
What do you think?
Labels: safety management, workplace fatalities, workplace injuries
posted by Steve Hudgik |
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