Careless workers may unintentionally cause construction accidents
Arizona construction sites can certainly be dangerous places, but this is why safety guidelines are put in place. It is the responsibility of a construction company to make sure that safety regulations are followed and workers are trained so that injurious construction accidents do not occur. Sadly, in a case from a different state, the accident turned out to be not just injurious but fatal.
While working at a construction site on Jan. 23, a 19-year-old construction worker was killed when she was crushed by the bucket of a backhoe. The operator of the backhoe claims he didn’t see the woman at the dig site and accidentally dropped the bucket on top of her. She died at the scene.
The backhoe operator was hospitalized, probably due to shock, according to police officials. The man, later identified as the foreman, has been described by another employee as “always careless,” and apparently had a history of breaking things on the site. The sister of the deceased complained that only the week prior, the woman had been injured by the same backhoe operator when he gave her a bruise the size of a grapefruit on her back by purportedly knocking her leg with the machinery.
According to records, this is not the first time the company was cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for “serious” violations; it was fined for two construction accidents back in 2014. Reportedly, OSHA has started yet another investigation concerning the company into the circumstances surrounding the deceased worker’s death. In the meantime, the surviving family may choose to contact an Arizona lawyer to assist them in receiving the maximum amount of workers’ compensation benefits to help with burial expenses and other losses. The money, of course, will not bring back their lost loved one or ease their grief, but at least it will help see them through this difficult time without additional monetary burdens to worry about.
Source: dallasnews.com, “Woman crushed to death by backhoe at San Antonio construction site“, Claire Z. Cardona, Jan. 24, 2017
Content retrieved from: https://www.jeromegibsonlawfirm.com/blog/2017/01/careless-workers-may-unintentionally-cause-construction-accidents/.