In today’s Post and Courier there were two separate on the job accidents reported, one of which happened right here in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina when a large crane collapsed on a worker at Detyen’s Shipyard. The other occurred a little more than two hours south of the law offices of Howell and Christmas in Hilton Head, where a construction worker was killed after falling through a ceiling.
Wednesday morning a crane operator found himself in a precarious position after the crane’s collapse trapped him inside the cab of the machine. According to reports, the man’s leg was pinned under the machine for about an hour. Fortunately for him, his injuries from the job accident were not believed to be life-threatening. North Charleston firefighters and volunteers from the Charleston County Rescue Squad gave the injured worker treatment until they were able free the man and transport him to a local hospital.
Your South Carolina harbor accident lawyers at Howell and Christmas know that longshoremen and harbor workers’ work is dangerous and often leads to serious injuries and even death. When it comes to the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA), the Act covers most employees that are performing work that has a traditional relationship to maritime employment. There is also consideration given with regard to where (i.e. the location) the employee was working at the time of the accident. For example: the Act covers those workers engaged in unloading and loading ships as well as those that build, repair and/or dismantle ships. In many instances, employees that provide support to the above referenced work are also covered, however, each case needs to be looked at individually.
As mentioned earlier in this post, there was report of a fatal construction accident in Hilton Head, South Carolina. On Tuesday a construction worker repairing the heating and air conditioning system at weight-loss clinic, tripped and fell through a hole. The worker, from Savannah, Georgia, fell twelve feet and was pronounced dead at Hilton Head Hospital, according to the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office. The South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation and the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration have opened an investigation into this tragic accident. Their investigation is still ongoing.
The report of the accident did not mention the cause of the worker’s death, but it was cited that there is an autopsy planned at the Medical University. There, doctors should be able to specifically determine the injury that resulted in the man’s death.
Considering the report on this incident noted that the worker was 60-years-old, it reminded your Charleston workers’ compensation lawyers of a blog posted back in May, which covers a study on older workers and job accidents. You can find a link to the full post below. But, here is one tid-bit of information from that post which is highly pertinent, Workers age 55-64 missed an average of 11-12 days. Not only did older workers miss more days they also had higher incidences of work-related slip and falls, bone fractures, and hip injuries than their younger counterparts. In total, there 210,830 on the job injuries for older workers in 2009, which accounted for 17 percent all cases that year.
