Industrial Accidents

May 14, 2011

One Dead, Two Injured in Oregon Explosion

The death of a Forest Grove resident in an Oregon explosion near Gaston raises critical safety issues. According to television station KGW, the blast at the Stimson Lumber Company also injured at least two other workers. The incident may fit Oregon’s definition of an industrial accident, depending on what investigators determine to be its precise details.

The station, quoting local fire department officials, reports that the accident took place when “a six-foot-tall hydraulic accumulator machine exploded… as three workers were trying to dismantle it.” The incident also led to other parts of the mill complex being evacuated, KGW notes, “as a safety precaution.” State OSHA officials were reportedly on-site to begin their investigation shortly after the accident occurred.

Complex incidents like this one may fit the definition of an Oregon industrial accident if the equipment involved can be shown to have been defective or if the suggested procedures for operating it offered inadequate safety protections. Oregon explosions and similar industrial accidents often require specialized legal knowledge to litigate, because of the complex – often overlapping – layers of accountability on and off the job site that need to be examined as part of any court proceeding.

April 30, 2011

Notre Dame Death Raises Wrongful Death Questions

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Earlier this week Notre Dame University wrapped-up its investigation of an accident last October in which a 20-year-old student was killed when the mobile lift from which he was filming football practice toppled over amidst high winds. In a news conference the school’s president announced, in effect, that because everyone involved was partly to blame for Declan Sullivan’s death no one in particular was actually responsible, according to an account by sports columnist Mike McGovern.

The idea that universal blame for this tragedy means no one is individually responsible is disturbing – especially since, in many respects, it clashes with the findings of Indiana’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration. That organization fined the university for a list of workplace safety violations related to the accident. According to McGovern: “Notre Dame was cited for failure to properly train the students, failure to have the lift serviced and inspected as required, failure to have an operator’s manual on the lift and failure to have warning labels displayed.” IOHSA has levied over $77,000 in fines for these violations, which the university is contesting.

At a more basic level, however, someone made the decision to send Sullivan up an unsafe lift “in known adverse conditions.” Someone decided that videotaping football practice overrode legitimate concerns about a student’s safety.

March 11, 2011

Fatal Oregon Truck Accident Kills Driver

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A truck driver from California died last week in an Oregon truck accident on I-84 near Rufus, east of Portland, according to The Oregonian.

The victim, identified by police as Lino Domingo Lopez-Hernandez, died as a result of an unusual chain of events that began with a blowout on his own vehicle. Sorting out any resulting Oregon personal injury or wrongful death claims that may eventually arise from the accident is likely to be a complex business.

According to the newspaper, the accident began to unfold shortly after midnight last Thursday as Lopez-Hernandez was driving his big-rig west on I-84. The truck lost two tires and an axel for reasons that remain unclear. Lopez-Hernandez immediately pulled over. He was walking along the side of the road looking for the missing pieces of his truck when a pick-up, also traveling in the westbound lane, hit the truck debris, hurling it into Lopez-Hernandez. “The flying debris sent him over a guardrail and about 200 feet down an embankment, where authorities found his body,” The Oregonian reports.

December 12, 2010

Families Face Difficult Choices in Wake of Mine Disaster

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Nine months after an explosion in a West Virginia coal mine left 29 mine worker dead, the Wall Street Journal reports that many families torn apart by the tragedy remain unsure of their next legal steps forward. Their stories contain many lessons for Oregon families thrown into similarly tragic circumstances as the result of an Oregon wrongful death or industrial accident.

As the paper reports, within days of the mine explosion the board of Massey Energy Company, one of the largest and most powerful companies in West Virginia, offered each family a settlement: $3 million in compensation for the death, lost wages and lost companionship of their loved-one, in exchange for giving up any right to sue the company. The Journal reports that, at present, only seven families have agreed to the company’s settlement, and that “in at least two cases family members are at odds and plan to let a court decide which path they should take.”

For the families the choice is a painful one. As the Journal quotes one victim’s father, himself a miner, saying: “I don’t think it’s justifiable that they want to put a dollar sign on my boy.” As the article notes, the families of workers involved in other industrial accidents often face similarly agonizing choices.

December 9, 2010

Government Safety Watchdog Slams Oregon Company Over Helicopter Crash

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A scathing statement released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board cites “a series of improper actions” by a Grant’s Pass, Oregon contractor leading up to a 2008 crash that killed nine firefighters in California. According to a report in The Oregonian, the NTSB’s chairwoman found some actions by the company, Carson Helicopters, “so distressing that the NTSB has alerted the Department of Transportation’s inspector general to investigate in more detail, looking for possible criminal wrongdoing.”

The NTSB statement (see link below) paints a devastating picture of corporate negligence and deception. Referring to Carson, whose helicopters were contracted out to the US Forest Service for firefighting purposes, the NTSB writes: “The contractor’s actions included the intentional alteration of weight documents and performance charts and the use of unapproved performance calculations.”

Though the NTSB also found fault with actions by both the Forest Service and the Federal Aviation Administration, “Carson’s actions were so egregious – so egregious – that they have to go first,” NTSB member Robert Sumwalt told The Oregonian.

August 16, 2010

Logging Death Raises Defective Product Questions

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A logging accident in Chehalis, Washington late last week led to one worker’s death, according to a report by the Associated Press. According to the news agency, 47-year old Michael Messner of Longview, Washington died “while operating a logging processor.”

Quoting police sources, the agency says “Messner died Thursday when a chain broke and rammed through the windshield of the processor’s cab, striking him in the throat.” Washington state officials have begun an investigation. An official of the logging company for whom Messner was working says the company is also conducting its own investigation of the workplace accident.

All of this is noteworthy for Oregonians because of the reported circumstances surrounding Messner’s death. Had a similar accident taken place here in Oregon the victim’s family would be well-advised to consult with a Portland industrial accident attorney to see whether grounds exist for an Oregon wrongful death lawsuit.

July 21, 2010

Oregon Congressman Demands Explanation of Defense Contractor’s Immunity

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Contracts between the Pentagon and defense contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root grant the company complete immunity in Iraq for harm its employees may cause to either Iraqi civilians or American and other coalition soldiers.

That immunity – cited by KBR in defending itself against an Oregon workplace injury lawsuit – has prompted Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat who represents much of the Portland area, to demand an explanation from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, according to The Oregonian. In his letter to Gates, Blumenauer called the blanket liability exemption “mind-numbing”.

The newspaper reports that the exemption came to light as part of a lawsuit filed by 26 Oregon National Guardsmen who served in Iraq in 2003. The troops were assigned to guard KBR employees undertaking reconstruction work. The guardsmen claim that “the contractor knowingly or negligently exposed them to a cancer-causing chemical” the newspaper reports. A similar suit is also being considered by courts in Indiana.