Personal Injury
Man Dies after Lawton Factory Accident
A 26-year-old man from Duncan has died after falling into some machinery at his workplace, according to a report in The Oklahoman. The man was cleaning a piece of equipment that uses an auger at a plant in Lawton when he fell in and became trapped. Emergency workers worked for nearly two hours to free the man, who was entangled from the waist down. Lawton Fire Department Lt. Steve Thornton said, “His legs were caught in an auger. They used a forklift to stabilize the auger while cutting it in two (pieces), lifted up the auger and pulled him from the machinery.”
After being freed, the man was taken in an ambulance to a nearby hospital. He died not long after his arrival from severe injuries. The vice president of operations at the plant said that the company will be conducting an in-house investigation into the Oklahoma workplace accident as well as cooperating with all government agencies to discover the cause of the tragedy. A spokesman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said that the agency will be investigating the incident.
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Bethel Acres Family in Fear of Pack of Dogs
In Bethel Acres, a family is worried for the safety of their children after discovering a pack of neglected dogs next door to their property. KFOR News reports that more than a dozen dogs have been left outside without food or water in the summer heat. The dogs have been wandering to neighboring properties in search of food, according to the parents of the children, even killing some of the family’s chickens. The father is concerned that the dogs may go after his children, saying, “(The dogs) got the taste of blood. You don’t know if it’s going to turn on to a kid or what it could be next.”
The neighbor, who is keeping the dogs, says that he is trying to give away the animals. He claims that the dogs were dumped there and he has been doing his best to care for them but cannot afford to feed them all. The man says, “The pound won’t let me take (the dogs) to them because we live out of county. If they come pick them up, they charge me $20 to $40.” According to the Bella Foundation, an organization that helps animals in the Oklahoma City area, most shelters do not charge a fee to drop off a stray and there are several pet adoption agencies that would be willing to help.
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Stossel Makes a Jab at Personal Injury Lawyers
In a recent segment on the Fox Business Channel, John Stossel, co-anchor of “20/20” on ABC News, stated, “For every person lawyers help, they hurt thousands more.” He is referring here to torts. A tort is a civil suit brought against a defendant for wrongdoing (such as damage, injury, or failure to act) that is done willfully, negligently, or in circumstances where the perpetrator is held to strict liability standards. Commonly, tort lawyers are known as personal injury attorneys. In Mr. Stossel’s opinion, lawyers who practice tort litigation are destroying America with “frivolous lawsuits.” He claims that such lawsuits cost the American people billions of dollars each year.
While there may be some “bad apples” that give legitimate personal injury lawyers a bad reputation, the majority of these attorneys are proving important services to clients in need, as well as the general public. For example, without lawsuits, big businesses would be free to harm and deceive the public without fear of consequences. These lawsuits have protected consumers and saved lives. Government regulation is often not enough to protect the public, but those rules combined with the financial and reputation costs of litigation keep companies responsible for making quality products with high safety standards. When individuals bring a tort suit against a doctor or a business, they are simply standing up for their legal rights when they have been treated unacceptably. The frivolous lawsuits that Mr. Stossel talks about are a rare occurrence when compared with the number of legitimate suits that often are of public benefit.
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Fireworks Safety Tips from the CPSC
In Oklahoma, fireworks are legal, except within most of the major metropolitan areas. If you and your family choose to set off fireworks this Fourth of July, it is important to observe the following safety tips set out by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC):
- Be sure other people are out of the way when lighting fireworks. When observing, do not stand too close to fireworks. Never point or throw fireworks at other people.
- Do not experiment with homemade fireworks or try to combine fireworks.
- Do not stand directly over fireworks when lighting them. Always stand to the side and move back immediately after the fuse is lit.
Consumer Product Safety Commission Releases New Statistics on Drowning
At the press conference to kick-off their summer campaign “Pool Safely: Simple Steps Save Lives”, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced new statistics relating to drowning and near-drowning accidents. In the first five months of 2011 there have already been 55 drowning and 63 near-drowning incidents throughout 29 U.S. states and territories. What is even more shocking is that in each year from 2006-2008, an estimated average of 383 pool and spa-related drownings among children younger than fifteen took place with 76 percent being children under five years of age. Also alarming are statistics from 2008-2010 which show that in each of those years an average of 5,100 pool or spa submersion injuries for children younger than 15 were treated in emergency rooms. Of those cases, 79 percent were children under the age of five.
At the press conference, CPSC Chairman Inez M. Tenenbaum and U.S. Olympic swimmer Janet Evans spoke, reminding the public of the importance of pool safety. Chairman Tenenbaum stated that “the number of drownings and near-drownings involving children under five [is] still a serious public health issue”. Janet Evans gave advice from a mother’s perspective saying, “As a parent, I know how important it is that I take every precaution to ensure the safety of my children in and around the water—whether it’s providing swimming lessons, installing a pool alarm, or just keeping a close eye on them while they’re in the water—all these steps will help prevent an incident.”
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Statement by Oklahoma State Rep. Mike Brown Criticizes Special Interests-Centered Public Policy
On April 18, Mike Brown of the Oklahoma House of Representatives issued a statement titled “Dismantling Democracy” in which he enumerates the various ways Republican public policy initiatives have supported the upper-class, insurance companies, and big business at the expense of average Oklahomans. The last seven years of poor public policy will directly or indirectly decrease the standard of living for middle-class working people.
Recent measures that have been introduced, pushed, and lauded by the Republican administration demonstrate that the wealthy, big business, and insurance companies are favored over the middle-class, working poor, disabled, and elderly. Their solution for Oklahoma’s revenue deficit is to reduce pension benefits while extending retirement ages; their steps to improve the struggling public education system are leading to taxpayer-funded private schools; their answer to economic development is to limit the public’s access to the courts and to place caps on valid damages in civil malpractice cases where the victim suffered permanent and substantial physical abnormalities or disfigurement.
New Oklahoma Tort-Reform Affects Awarding of Damages to Injured Accident Victims
Mary Fallin, the governor of Oklahoma, recently signed three bills that would change the state’s civil justice system, according to TimesUnion.com. While supporters of the bills, which become law on November 1, believe that they will benefit the local business climate, opponents believe that these reforms put business and insurance interests ahead of injured Oklahomans.
The 3 proposed civil justice reform bills would affect a civil lawsuit in the following ways:
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Woman Dies After Fall Down Dumbwaiter Shaft in Oklahoma City Workplace Accident
A 21-year-old waitress from Oklahoma City was killed recently when the dumbwaiter she was operating malfunctioned and caused her to the fall down the lift shaft, according to NewsOK.com. Investigators believe that the waitress was either loading or unloading the dumbwaiter when the workplace accident occurred due to a mechanical malfunction. The woman was taken to an area hospital in critical condition, and died from her injuries three days later.
Dumbwaiters are designed to carry lightweight items. The shafts must be inspected each year; however, the dumbwaiters themselves are only required to be inspected upon installation. The restaurant was built in 1947, and the article states that the dumbwaiter likely was installed at that time. OSHA is launching a full investigation of the fatal Oklahoma City workplace accident.
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Farming Accident Claims Life of Oklahoma Man
An unfortunate accident claimed the life of an Oklahoma farmer, according to KOCO.com.
The farmer, who was working in Jackson County, was operating a machine that compresses large amounts of cotton into bales at the time of his death. The specific details of the accident are unknown. The farmer was flown to an Oklahoma City hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.
Farming is a dangerous profession. Agriculture’s death rate is first among all occupations in the United States. Mining is second and construction is third. In 2007, the last year for which statistics were readily available, 715 deaths were attributed to agriculture and 80,000 disabling injuries occurred in the agriculture profession.
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Deadly Washington DC Train Crash Caused by Careless Inspections
According to an article in the Oklahoman, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that a Washington D.C. Metro 2009 train crash that occurred nearly a year ago was caused by a defective electrical circuit. The NTSB found that the electrical circuit did not alert the oncoming train that another train remained stationary on the track.
The train crash killed 8 passengers as well as the train’s conductor. When the stopped train became visible to the moving train, the conductor attempted to brake, but the train conductor only had 3 seconds to react, which was not enough time to avoid the collision. The entire train accident could have been avoided if the Metro’s signal system had been functioning properly that day.
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