A North Carolina man died during the first week in August 2011 when a lawn sprayer landed on top of him, according to the Daily Press. The fatal workplace accident occurred at the Cahoon Plantation golf course in Chesapeake, Virginia (VA), but neither co-workers nor investigators know why the machine trapped the man and compressed his lungs and chest, causing mechanical axphyxiation.
Virginia police officers were called the golf course and pronounced the groundskeeper dead at the scene. Representatives of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are conducting an investigation into the incident.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, around 6,000 Americans die from workplace injuries every year, and another 50,000 workers die from illnesses caused by exposure to toxic and cancer-causing chemicals on the job.
Prior to the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, employers were only bound by common law to provide employees with a safe workplace. When a worker is hurt on the job, the worker can file a workers’ compensation claim against the employer. Workers’ compensation compensates an injured employee no matter who is at fault when the person gets injured. The program also provides for compensation to dependents of a worker killed as a result of a work-related accident.
Workers’ compensation may not be enough to take care of the medical costs, emotional distress and other damages from a serious injury. Therefore, the injured worker or family member should hold all the negligent parties other than the employer responsible. In the NC man’s case, the worker’s family can bring a wrongful death claim against the golf course owner or contractor with the assistance of Virginia accident lawyers if the owner or contractor was not the worker’s employer.
LC