Employer's safety violations result in employee death

April 17, 2013 (Press-News.org) Employer's safety violations result in employee death

Article provided by Norfleet and Lafferty LLC
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Employers who fail to provide a safe work environment risk their employees sustaining a serious injury on the job. In a worst case scenario, an unsafe work environment results in fatality.

Employee was not provided flame resistant clothing

A natural gas producer recently experienced such a tragedy at one of its gas well sites after employee was killed from injuries he suffered during a flash fire. The employees were not required to use flame resistant clothing, nor were they provided with any from the employer.

The misfortune resulted in a total of eight violations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, resulting in over $22,000 in penalties. Seven of the eight violations were labeled "serious."

OSHA issues serious violations when there is a substantial probability that death or severe physical harm could result and the employer either knew, or should have known, of the risk.

One of the serious violations was the employer's failure to provide flame resistant clothing to its employees while they are working around natural gas. Some of the other serious violations included failure to:
-Provide a written risk communication program
-Provide risk training
-Appropriately label equipment

The employer was also cited for failure to provide fall protection in certain high risk areas and operating equipment in the presence of flammable material.

The only non-serious violation was issued for failure to report the employee's death to OSHA within eight hours after the incident. Employers are penalized with non-serious violations when their actions will likely not result in death or serious physical injury, but are still directly related to the health and safety of employees.

Employers must fulfill several duties to provide a safe work environment

Employers have many responsibilities to ensure disasters like this do not occur. The director of the OSHA Erie Area Office notes that this situation shows that OSHA remains committed to holding employers responsible for not protecting their employees.

Employers in most states are required to provide workers compensation insurance coverage to employees. Additionally, employers also have a duty to perform several activities, including:
-Administer immediate emergency medical treatment to injured employees
-Create a written report of every injury
-Display proof of compliance with workers' compensation laws in a prominent place

The written injury report must be sent to the employer's insurance company as well as the office of the nearest workers' compensation board. Employers must also promptly comply with all requests for information regarding an injury from an insurance company or workers' compensation board.

If an injured employee files a workers' compensation claim, employers are also forbidden from retaliating against the employee in the form of reduced salary or working hours.

Retaliation also comes in the form of unfair treatment. An employee who is treated unjustly by an employer after filing a workers' compensation claim can allege retaliatory discharge.

In a retaliatory discharge suit, the employee does not need to show that the workers' compensation claim is the only reason for the employer's unfair actions, but only that it is a substantial reason.

Employees are entitled to be treated in a fair manner after suffering an on the job injury. An injured employee whose employer is behaving unreasonably should contact an experienced workers' compensation attorney. The attorney can help fight for all available benefits.