Workers’ Compensation

Reading about the recent death of two men from Massachusetts is very distressing and leaves many people wondering about the circumstances of those left behind. Two families are likely facing financial difficulties, along with grief, after the tragic workplace accident. They will have to settle the high costs of funerals and burials, and in addition, they will have to do without the income of the loved one who died. The employer stated that the men were engaged in routine maintenance. In order to reach the high-tension transmission lines, they were lifted in a mechanical bucket to a height of 100 feet.…

Repairing a broken water line can be a fairly common duty for someone who works for the Department of Public Works. Although it is not an easy job, it is not one that is typically considered to be life-threatening or excessively dangerous. Sadly, for two Massachusetts men who were recently victims of a workplace accident, it was both. One man was killed and another man was injured in the early evening accident. The two were part of a crew of city employees that was fixing a break in one of the city's water lines. During the repair, a piece of heavy…

Responsible employers in Massachusetts want to provide a safe work environment for their employees. They offer safety training and have programs in place to ensure their workers are as safe as they can possibly be. Sometimes, however, despite all their precautions, a workplace accident occurs that forever changes the lives of the people affected. A Massachusetts man working at Logan Airport was killed recently when he was hit by a truck. The man was with a coworker in the cargo area early one evening. The coworker was driving a truck and began to back up. He ran over the man, who was…

Emergency personnel worked diligently to extricate a Massachusetts construction worker who was unable to free himself from a trench in which he had been working. The workplace accident happened at an area housing project that is currently being built. Officials are still investigating what caused the trench to cave in and where the man was located when it happened. For nearly three hours, rescue workers attempted to clear the debris that held the man captive. The lower half of his body was encased in asphalt, sand and rock, which only hampered the efforts to set him free. Boards found nearby were used…

A workplace injury is the prerequisite for establishing the validity of workers' compensation claim for benefits. Such injury also includes diseases that can be shown to be causally related to the nature of the work. Usually a treating physician will have to testify that the injury or disease was caused by work conditions. In a state other than Massachusetts, a court recently held that a man who assisted with a rescue effort after an explosion in a mine at work was entitled to workers' compensation benefits. A workers' compensation judge had ruled that the claim was invalid because it was only for emotional and…