Recovery Beyond Workers' Compensation
After most industrial accidents insurance compensates their victims with workers' compensation paying medical bills and wages. There is no tort liability of the employer even if he is guilty of negligence.
However if the accident is due to a defect in a machine, such as inadequate safety provisions, that machine's manufacturer may be liable for a product liability lawsuit. It is a function of an expert witness to determine if such defect exists. Numerous codes specify safety in machines. Among them are:
* Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29, Part 1910, Occupation Safety and Health Standards (OSHA)
* National Electrical Safety Code
* National Electrical Code
* Numerous codes of the engineering societies and local communities
However strict conformance with codes is not sufficient to eliminate liability for dangerous machines.
Many industrial accidents result from a worker s effort to do a good deed beyond performing his assigned duties. Examples are clearing a jam in a machine and evading a safety device to increase productivity or reduce the worker s fatigue.
In my collection of anecdotes are the man who by-passed four concentric safety devices to reach into a molding press - and lost his hand, a woman who climbed through a gap in a machine guard to clear a jam - and was crushed, and an untrained man who tried to repair a machine - and was struck in the face by a spring powered lever.
Safety devices themselves may fail or be tampered with and should be tested regularly, preferably automatically as part of a machine s operating cycle. Workers may tamper with a safety device for their own convenience, so the machine s cycle should verify that the device is operating properly.
Warning labels are attached to machines, materials, and locations. But who reads them and even of those, how many obey them? Do you? Warning labels are a poor substitute for physical safety devices and practices. For example, dynamite could be sold over the counter with a warning label attached; instead it is sold only to those with a license to buy. Similarly, prescription drugs.
Training is a step better than written labels, but employees are not all humbly obedient. Permit me an anecdote: My machine shop foreman came to me in frustration because he could not persuade his men to wear safety glasses. I called a meeting and announced that ...we will no longer insist on safety glasses. You provide the eyes and we will provide the insurance. (Please do not send me criticisms of my legality.) Within an hour a machinist came into my office with a pair of cracked safety glasses in one shaking hand and a quarter inch bolt in the other. Gee, Larry, thanks. Thanks, Larry and walked out.
Workers do not want to be hurt and intend to be careful when they disobey their instructions, but repetitive work eight hours a day has a numbing effect on such care. Boredom cripples unless a tireless safety device is on duty.
It is the duty of a machine s manufacturer (and installation contractor) to anticipate unauthorized behavior and provide means to prevent it from causing injury. Failure in this duty is a tort.
Although the essence of workmen s compensation is to relieve employers of negligence liability, there are exceptions in which the employer acts or fails to act in a way he knows creates a danger and in other special cases involving presses, the most dangerous class of machines.
Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer.For specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.
