Franklin Personal Injury Law Blog

Recently, members from all walks of the Massachusetts workforce, including lawmakers and safety officials, gathered to pay their respects to those who have died on the job. In the past year, 60 workers have died as a result of workplace accidents. The Workers Memorial Day event is held every year to remember those who have died and to draw attention to the necessity of increasing workplace safety for all.

One of the main reasons that workers die, according to several attendees, is because the fines that OSHA levies for violations are not steep enough to warrant changes in the way the workplace owners and managers maintain safety standards. Many of the people who were at the event stated that businesses often choose to risks fines rather than invest in the needed equipment or enforce protocols to guard workers' safety. According to some reports, the fines average less than $10,000, and many contend that those fines are not a harsh enough penalty to motivate changes for improved safety conditions.

Two electrical power line workers were killed after falling from the basket of their boom vehicle. The Massachusetts men have now become two more victims of workplace accidents. The company and OSHA are investigating how this tragic accident may have happened.

The men were engaged in maintaining electrical lines that were strung across a canal. They were up approximately 140 feet when their vehicle abruptly tilted back on its rear tires. The two workers are believed to have landed in a hole that was 30 feet below the ground surface. Emergency workers found the truck sitting up on its aft bumper and the men were declared deceased at the scene.

Authorities have charged a man for not staying at an accident scene involving another man's death. The man who died was killed as a result of a bicycle accident. Now, many residents of Massachusetts are calling for changes to be made in the way these types of criminal charges are handled.

The man who has initially been charged with leaving the scene of the fatal wreck could still be facing other charges as a result of this accident, since the prosecutor is still reviewing the accident. He has denied being aware of the cyclist's presence near his vehicle. He was operating a refuse truck at the time. While the bicycle and truck apparently collided, the driver has claimed that he was unaware that anyone struck his vehicle. Rather, he claims that he just thought he struck a pothole in the roadway.

Although Brain Injury Awareness Month will soon be over with the arrival of April, the effects of brain damage can live on for a long time in Massachusetts patients. One incident -- such as a vehicle crash or being struck in the head by an object -- can cause a brain injury that affects a person's world, either temporarily or for life, depending on the severity of the situation. Not only is the victim affected, but his or her family also must endure the painful ordeal as well.

Some patients believe they are able to heal their injured brains using hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatments. With these treatments, patients are introduced to environments featuring 100 percent oxygen at more than two atmospheres of pressure. Proponents of these chamber medical treatments say that they not only help with traumatic brain injuries but also with other physical ailments, such as Parkinson's disease and even autism.