With the holiday season now in full swing, a recent Associated Press article, republished in The Oregonian, highlighted both the importance of the Christmas tree industry to our local economy and the importance of workplace safety. The Salem-datelined piece begins with the image of 50,000 freshly cut Christmas trees stacked…
Articles Posted in Industrial Accidents
Malfunctioning Fairground Ride Injures 13
Many of us have walked through traveling carnivals and probably had the same thought: exactly how safe and well-maintained are these fairground rides that spend much of the year being hauled from one county fair to the next? For a group of parents in Connecticut this weekend that question became…
Potentially Unsafe Conditions At Meat Plant Cause Fatal Oregon Industrial Accident
Late Friday night a Southeast Portland man working as a cleaner at a meat processing plant in Clackamas died after falling into a piece of machinery, according to The Oregonian. The details of this Oregon Industrial Accident case are disturbing and will merit close scrutiny in the months to come.…
Fertilizer Plant Explosion Leaves Behind Many Unanswered Questions
Last week’s huge explosion at a fertilizer plant in the small town of West, Texas killed 14 people and devastated a huge area. As a lengthy account in The New York Times earlier this week shows, it also raises serious questions about corporate responsibility, government oversight and the safety standards…
Helicopter Crash Raises Oregon Wrongful Death, Industrial Accident Issues
Investigations of a 2008 helicopter crash that killed nine and injured four in Northern California have resulted in criminal charges for two Oregon men and also raise both Oregon wrongful death and, potentially, industrial accident issues. The details of the tragedy were outlined last week by The Oregonian. All of…
Albany Man’s Ordeal Celebrates Medical Technology, but Raises Workplace Questions
Last week The Oregonian reported on the ordeal of an Albany man, a story that is both inspiring and, in some ways, troubling. The paper reports that the man, a 40-year-old machine operator at a lumber mill, was scheduled to be released from Legacy Emanuel Medical Center after nearly 10…
Standing Up to the Chamber – Standing Up for Oregonians’ Rights
Last week the US Chamber of Commerce held its annual Legal Reform Summit – an event designed to scare Americans into believing that our courts are out of control. The American Association of Justice took this opportunity to set the record straight, posting an online slide show designed to educate…
Propane Truck Explosion Highlights Industrial Accident Danger
This week, a story from the other side of the continent turned a harsh light on an issue of great concern to us here in Oregon: propane explosions and the potential they have, as industrial accidents, to cause great damage. According to an article from the Pennsylvania newspaper The Intelligencer,…
Industrial Lathe Accident A Reminder of Workplace Dangers
A recent article in the Sacramento Bee is a telling reminder of the importance of workplace safety here in Oregon and of the sort of precautions businesses ought to be taking to avoid Oregon industrial accidents. According to an Associated Press report posted on the newspaper’s website, a 60-year old…
Crane Accident Verdict Highlights Importance of Civil Courts
Last month I wrote about a criminal trial in New York considering liability for a 2008 industrial accident in Manhattan. Two construction workers died when their crane collapsed. This week, following a 10-week trial, a New York judge dismissed all four charges against the crane’s owner, who was accused of…