Injury Law Blog

As we approach the Fourth of July weekend, it's important to focus on remaining safe when venturing out into and onto the water. It is all too easy to become complacent and think that drownings could never happen to you, but drowning is the third leading cause of death for people of all ages here in the United States, nearly 8,000 fatalities every year.

Two young men from Medina Township in Ohio sadly became statistics this year on Father's Day after they capsized their small vessel on a private pond. The two, both 19, were on the water with a third man at approximately 2:30 a.m. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) recently released a statement after the boating accident claimed the Brunswick, Ohio, men's lives.

A burn that occurs at work can wind up impacting an employee in many different ways. Minor burns need first aid and typically heal with no lingering effects other than perhaps a scar on the skin surface. They do not typically interfere with an employee returning to work in short order.

But if a worker suffers a serious third-degree burn on the job site, the impacts from the burn could prevent them from returning to work for an extended time — if ever. A bad burn can cause a loss of motion in the limbs due to muscles, tendons and soft tissue contracting from the thermal injury. If too much range of motion is gone, there may be no way for the worker to carry out their job duties.

The Federal Employers' Liability Act Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) provides compensation and protection for injured railroad workers who are hurt or killed on the job. This federal statute, which applies to all railroaders, imposes certain duties and responsibilities on the railroad, such as:

  

If you are driving and get into a collision with another passenger vehicle, you may walk away unscathed or wind up with injuries that can range from minor to severe. But get into that same accident with a semitruck, and you will be lucky to live to see another day.

The size and weight disparity of these big rigs to the much smaller passenger vehicles is the reason that motorists do not fare well when they tangle with semitrucks on the highway. But there are also other factors at play that make semitrucks such a deadly hazard.