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what happens if someone dies in an accident in your shop.

kpotter

Diamond
Joined
Apr 30, 2001
Location
tucson arizona usa
The steel yard that I purchase all my metal from had an accident and one of their employees died in the accident. I do not have all the details but it involved an overhead crane. Does workmans comp cover situations like this and what are the liability issues. I hope to never be faced with this, losing a person in an accident would be a horrible experience I hope to avoid.
 
You send everyone home for the rest of the day, sometimes the whole week.

A price will be assigned to the person (gross...yes, I know) there are charts
and graphs.

The next of kin is brought in (if they insist) to see the accident scene.

Have seen it happen a few times (never seen it myself, just the aftermath, not good at all.
 
Workers Comp does cover it. OSHA does too, They quickly muster a huge force of inspectors and investigators to examine EVERYthing the company does and doesn't do, especially the documentation, then they assign an enormous fine. Then the real agony begins for the employer and management team, so I hear
 
Employee....

Our plant manager came in and made a formal announcement that we had a fatality and asked if everyone was Ok? Everyone was kinda shook up and in disbelief about what happened. Basically he got pinched by a 600ton die cast machine.

Plant manager said we could stay and finish our shift in the cafeteria or leave and it wouldn'tbe held aagainst us.

Emergency folks roped off and secured the area pending a investigation. Actually the area was guarded by uniformed city police officers.

Happened at around 3:45am I left somewhere around 6am. Day shift was scheduled to start a 7:30am. As far as I know except for the direct vicinity of the accident everyone else had a regular day after a group meeting with the plant manager. Although I don't think much got done that day truth be known.

I never did hear what his wife ended getting out of it. All I know is my wife and kid looked awfully good that morning.

Brent
 
Workers Comp does cover it. OSHA does too, They quickly muster a huge force of inspectors and investigators to examine EVERYthing the company does and doesn't do, especially the documentation, then they assign an enormous fine. Then the real agony begins for the employer and management team, so I hear

By comparison, a GI gets hiself cooked when a 20 Ton Rough Terrain crane's boom draws arc off an 8800 Volt overhead powerline, one lone Company-Grade Officer from some unrelated unit as has had no contact with his unit gets orders cut as Investigating Officer.

That crane class was on my own Military "Heavy" License, so I were he. The Army Medical Corps Autopsy was not an easy read.

The poor sod had been where he was MEANT to be - out in FRONT of the crane directing his operator after first eyeballing about FOR such dangers as overhead power lines... instead of leaned up against the spade at the other end of it smoking a joint, he'd not have died.

Up to his own CO to sugar-coat that one in the letter to his family. The Investigator's report may NOT whitewash a damned thing, no matter who's ox gets gored, US Gummint included..

Your bigger worry? Someone maimed for life, and NOT kilt. Ask your underwriter.

Then go and run the safest shop you know how, or can find out how.

Best any of us can do.
 
Its an owners worst nightmare, thinking of someone getting badly hurt or killed, a nightmare both at the person level and for the business. Just thinking about it should get you going on practicing good safety procedures, equipment, training and its an ongoing effort, from inspections to toolbox talks.

As for liability, here it could severe fines even jail if there was a high level of negligence. We try to be by the book, no diy lifting devices unless we have a stamped drawing, annual cert on the cranes, daily inspection of cranes, chains and slings (each on a checklist in a binder), annual stress test on chains, training of each person and so on. All this costs money, its a burden, probably excessively so for a small shop and frankly if you are the owner and on the on tools everyday you know if things are ok or not.....but the gov wienies will go by the paper work/record keeping of above list
 
I get pushback on some of my designs (to make them cheaper), even had a supervisor substitute a material I spec'd without my knowledge (or permission).

I tell them "It's not your name on the drawing, you won't be sitting in
the witness box, 'splaining it to a judge."

It is a constant concern with me, and I take it very seriously.
 
Anytime someone dies from a fuck up, it's no good. The shittiest part being, even if the deceased was negligent and was the cause, there will always be someone digging for gold.

I wish all of us the best of luck, and best judgement, as to avoid any tragedies, no matter the cause. We all know the effect.
 
It is a constant concern with me, and I take it very seriously.

Once, the unit President, the second time, the founder and Chairman, I had to respond to a direct order with an offer to train my replacement so that they could have a second chance of their will being obeyed, but I could not, would not, had MADE my decision, and it was their turn now.

Both backed down. Both apologized the same 3 days later for ever asking.

Rich or poor, the most valuable property a man ever owns is his integrity.

Ever let them take that, there ain't much left, is there?
 
This happened at the company that I work for. There was an OSHA investigation that lasted for years, along with a fine in the millions of dollars,and a settlement with the guys family. Part of the OSHA settlement was a huge change in safety training and company policy.
 
Things like accidents get interesting.

The investigators report is step one.

There are many private companies that also investigate things with very elaborate equipment like you see on tv.

When the lawsuit starts it gets real interesting.

Lesson learned...make your facility safe.

OSHA gas non-enforcement inspections where you invite them to inspect your facility to look for stupid things.

They assist in reducing accidents and do not cite you, if they just show up they do.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
Accidents happen when you least expect it!

So I always talk safety, diligence, awareness, think, take your time.

When you stop thinking about safety, and what could happen with what you're doing or going to do, you're opening the door to trouble.

The first priority in any industrial activity is safety...without it you have nothing.
Make it a cornerstone of your own thinking, and of your company's culture.
 
You can preach safety all you want, cover the walls with posters, and hire the most expensive consultants available. But if you, the leader, cut corners when you are in a hurry, think you are alone in the shop, or when safety just gets in the way of production all that training expense just got flushed down the drain.

You must set an excellent example for your employees, regardless of the cost. Your employees will rarely perform tasks more safely than you do them yourself.

Safety is as safety does.
 
Once, the unit President, the second time, the founder and Chairman, I had to respond to a direct order with an offer to train my replacement so that they could have a second chance of their will being obeyed, but I could not, would not, had MADE my decision, and it was their turn now.

Both backed down. Both apologized the same 3 days later for ever asking.

Rich or poor, the most valuable property a man ever owns is his integrity.

Ever let them take that, there ain't much left, is there?

Got called in to "Help" an outside vendor do a job, making a copy of my existing
fixture....No skin off my back, but I'm not helping them much.

Big multinational (that will not be named here) integrating the fixture into a cell.

i told them "You've got the part 180 backwards, simply switch the program,
and everything will work much better" As there was in process machined surfaces
not on the drawing, used for the fixture.

They refused to simply mirror the program, "No need to" and I explained
how in addition, unloading the part would be very hard for the operator,
and could drop & hurt someone.

They held firm.

I wrote it all up, my concerns for safety, and ran it up the flagpole, to no avail.

A few years go by, and lo & behold, in the morning safety report
is a "near miss" on the exact job, just as I had warned of.

I quickly made a call, and found out that no one was hurt.
Even though it was not my design, and I warned of this, I don't want
to see ANYONE (not even a vendor) get hurt.
 
The steel yard that I purchase all my metal from had an accident and one of their employees died in the accident. I do not have all the details but it involved an overhead crane. Does workmans comp cover situations like this and what are the liability issues. I hope to never be faced with this, losing a person in an accident would be a horrible experience I hope to avoid.

I think that any accident at a work place resulting in death would vary depending on:

1. Carelessness by the person dying

2. Malpractice by the company

Of course in both instances proof is crucial. The size (number of employees) of the company is also relevant as it becomes a question of how many knew or worked with the deceased.

Re insurance then there is both the company insurance policy and any personal insurance. Both my wife and I have personal insurance so neither of us would have financial problems to deal with as well as the tragedy.

As has been suggested then probably best to talk to an insurance company (or two) for advice. No two incidents (deaths) will require the same actions.
 
Got called in to "Help" an outside vendor do a job, making a copy of my existing
fixture....No skin off my back, but I'm not helping them much.

Big multinational (that will not be named here) integrating the fixture into a cell.

i told them "You've got the part 180 backwards, simply switch the program,
and everything will work much better" As there was in process machined surfaces
not on the drawing, used for the fixture.

They refused to simply mirror the program, "No need to" and I explained
how in addition, unloading the part would be very hard for the operator,
and could drop & hurt someone.

They held firm.

I wrote it all up, my concerns for safety, and ran it up the flagpole, to no avail.

A few years go by, and lo & behold, in the morning safety report
is a "near miss" on the exact job, just as I had warned of.

I quickly made a call, and found out that no one was hurt.
Even though it was not my design, and I warned of this, I don't want
to see ANYONE (not even a vendor) get hurt.

I'm trying to figure out if there was any reason you wrote "(not even a vendor)". It reads wrong - at least to me.
 
The steel yard that I purchase all my metal from had an accident and one of their employees died in the accident.

The way you’re expressing yourself bothers me. The steel yard had an accident? The employee had an accident, I’d say. Humans are the actors, not the things. Probably exactly the cause for the accident, things got more important than humans, to humans. It’s not the coupon clippers who work under a crane. The old disgrace
 
The way you’re expressing yourself bothers me. The steel yard had an accident? The employee had an accident, I’d say. Humans are the actors, not the things. Probably exactly the cause for the accident, things got more important than humans, to humans. It’s not the coupon clippers who work under a crane. The old disgrace

If the crane failed (and the employee was not the one responsible
for having it inspected)
It was the Yard.

Who said anything about working under a crane anyways ?

The OP says "Steel Yard" and "Overhead Crane" and off we go down the road.....
 
If the crane failed (and the employee was not the one responsible
for having it inspected)
It was the Yard.

Who said anything about working under a crane anyways ?

The OP says "Steel Yard" and "Overhead Crane" and off we go down the road.....

My former job was as a Safety Consultant for a workers compensation insurance company, I learned that crane accidents are very common. In California, the safety orders for cranes in the labor code are very thick, they were more than 100 pages when I was involved.

The next most dangerous device is the forklift. They are plain old town and country dangerous, especially when there is little training.

At the time that I was involved, the death benefit for a work-incurred death in California was a flat $50,000 payment. I think it was later raised to $100,000. Some states pay a life benefit to the widow or family of 2/3 of the deceased worker's salary.

Whatever is paid, won't bring anyone back. Employers need to have frequent safety meetings and stress what can happen.
 








 
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