Posted on August 27th, 2010
A 37-year old woman from Wyandanch severed her arm in a frightening workplace accident last Friday. At around 2:40 in the afternoon, Beatriz Blas was working at her job with Brand Packing Group Inc. on Price Parkway when her arm became stuck in the packing machine she was using. A coworker quickly responded to her screams and helped free her from the machine.
Blas was airlifted to Nassau University Medical Center before being transported to Stony Brook University Medical Center. Blas was listed in stable condition as doctors planned to try to reattach her arm.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating what caused this terrible accident.
Posted on July 15th, 2010
Reuters reports, “Coal producer Peabody Energy said an employee was killed in an accident involving a shuttle car at its Willow Lake mine in southern Illinois, in yet another mine casualty in the United States this year.” According to Peabody, the mine was immediately shut down following the fatal accident.
An explanation as well as the details of what happened are not being disclosed. Peabody says they have informed the proper officials.
This Willow Lake Mine is already under investigation by the Mine Safety and Health Administration. They have been ticketed by the agency several times and are currently working to improve their accident rate.
Peabody’s rival, Massey Energy Company, is also being investigated for a fatal mine explosion.
Posted on July 7th, 2010
Over a year has passed since OSHA decided to give a $7,000 fine to Walmart following the death of an employee in a workplace accident. Thanksgiving Day 2008 was a fateful day for the store. Crowds of shoppers lined up outside a Long Island store trampled a temporary employee on their way to take advantage of the holiday deals. Walmart has spent more than a million dollars in legal fees fighting this fine.
Officials are shocked. They say that typically companies do not make a huge fuss about fines less than $10,000. According to the New York Times, “Wal-Mart is arguing that the government is improperly trying to define “crowd trampling” as an occupational hazard that retailers must take action to prevent.” They claim they have already investigated the incident and made changes to their big sale procedures.
The Labor Department is complaining that their legal services are being exhausted by Walmart’ s bitter battle. The New York Times writes that, “over the last five months 17 percent of the available attorney hours in the department’s New York office have been devoted to the case, consuming the equivalent of five full-time lawyers.”
