Each year, the New Jersey Department of Labor uses some of the tax money allotted to it by the government to update a list of the most dangerous safety issues found at New Jersey job sites. This list provides workers and contractors with a veritable slam dunk in terms of their workers’ compensation or personal injury claims. In other words, if you were injured because of one of these safety problems listed on the NJDOL website, you will likely have a much easier time filing your claim than otherwise. Below, we’ll take a look at the list.
- Lack of emergency exits or an emergency plan – When an emergency happens and the workers are trapped because of a lack of an emergency exit or an evacuation plan, the employer is generally liable for the injuries. The workers can claim a failure to adequately prepare resulted in worse injuries.
- Electrocution – Injuries due to exposed electrical circuits, fires caused by electrical problems, ungrounded circuits, and more result in a large number of Jobsite injuries every year. These injuries are almost always compensable under workers’ compensation and for non-employees, can be cause for a lawsuit.
- Stored energy injuries – Stored energy not released before maintenance is a large risk factor for injury. These include air compressor injuries, electrical injuries, and valve injuries.
- Lack of machine guards – Industrial machinery should have guards to prevent injury. Workers who work with such machinery should expect the machine to be in full working order. That includes safety equipment meant to make the machine safer. Employers must provide safety equipment and employees should not work on machines that are not fully equipped with factory-standard safety shields and more.
- Slip, trip, and fall hazards – Walking hazards, such as messy floors, pinched workplace environments, lack of safety rails, and tripping and slipping hazards result in a number of workers’ comp claims and personal injury lawsuits at job sites.
- Storage failures – Storing materials in warehouses must be done in accord with physics. Otherwise, the store materials become unstable and fall on top of employees. This happens when there is a failure to adequately train forklift operators and others responsible for warehouse work.
- Hazardous material training – Companies get themselves into a lot of trouble when they fail to train employees on how to properly work with hazardous materials, noxious gasses, lead, asbestos, or other materials. Employees need to be provided the proper safety gear and trained on its proper use.
- Fire prevention issues – These are quite common. Dust fires, explosions, outdated or useless fire prevention systems, and a lack of a safety plan result in numerous burn injuries and deaths each year. Most of these will be found to be avoidable.
- Confined spaces – Working in confined spaces requires training and the oversight of safety experts. Gasses can build up and it can be difficult to learn how to maneuver in a confined space. Certain confined spaces will require a permit for hazard mitigation. Still, injuries in confined spaces occur each year.
Talk to a New Jersey Workplace Injury Attorney Today
Schibell Law, LLC file claims on behalf of injured workers on their employers’ workers’ compensation insurance policy. Alternatively, if you are an independent contractor, you may be entitled to file a lawsuit due to workplace injury. Call our office today and we can discuss your case in greater detail and begin planning your next moves. https://njbmagazine.com/njb-news-now/njdol-announces-top-10-public-sector-workplace-hazards-of-2021/
