Articles Posted in Work Injury

The Massachusetts State Police superintendent announced a safety study will help determine ways to reduce the risk of serious injury or death resulting in Massachusetts car accidents involving state troopers.

As our Boston injury lawyers have been reporting both here and on our sister site, Boston Car Accident Lawyers Blog, one trooper was killed and four others have been injured in the last month in car accidents that resulted from being struck while conducting car stops at the side of the road.

Patrol Col. Marian McGovern was joined by representative of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts.

Nationwide, car accidents are responsible for more than half of all work injuries involving law enforcement.

“When we sign up for this job, we know that we will be working on the shoulder of busy highways, with cars speeding by, inches away,” McGovern said. “We accept this because it is necessary for the protection of the public we serve and the very essence of our core mission.”

About half of the 87 police officers who have been killed in the line of duty so far this year have died in motor vehicle crashes. In fact, car accidents are a leading cause of all Massachusetts work accidents, not just accidents involving law enforcement officers.

So far this year, 10 cruisers have been hit by drunk drivers. Last year, 20 cruisers were struck by impaired motorists.

The patrol will also conduct a lighting study to see if improvements can be made to a trooper’s visibility while at the side of the road. A decade ago, Ohio troopers switched the color of their cruisers from “asphalt gray” to “bright white” in an effort to make themselves more visible.
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A Lowell woman has been charged with vehicular homicide in connection with a December Massachusetts car accident that claimed the life of a man working on Route 3 in Chelmsford, the Newburyport News reported.

Massachusetts State Police charged the 34-year-old woman with motor vehicle homicide, marked lanes violation, operating in the breakdown lane and failing to move over for an emergency vehicle. She was driving a 2001 Acura MDX northbound on Route 3 on Dec. 1, 2009 when her vehicle struck the rear of a 1999 Peterbuilt truck that was parked at a work set-up site, according to authorities. A 44-year-old man was killed and a 30-year-old worker seriously injured after the men were pinned between the truck and the defendant’s vehicle.

Road construction accidents are a frequent cause of Massachusetts work injuries. Workers who are injured on the job should contact a Boston workers’ compensation attorney to discuss their rights.

The Federal Highway Administration reports that more than 1,000 workers are killed each year in highway accidents and another 52,000 are seriously injured. In this case, the men were working for United Oil Recovery Inc., an environmental cleanup company. They were providing cleanup services at the scene of a previous motor vehicle accident.

Massachusetts’ Move Over Law took effect March 22, 2009 and requires drivers to move over and/or slow down when approaching emergency or maintenance vehicles with flashing lights.
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Safety concerns remain in Big Dig tunnels, nearly five years after a high-profile incident in which a 28-year-old motorist was killed in a 2006 Boston car accident caused by collapsing ceiling panels, the Boston Herald reported.

The chronic problems plaguing the Big Dig are a glaring example of road defects causing or contributing to Massachusetts traffic accidents. But a variety of safety hazards frequently contribute to serious traffic accidents, including inoperable traffic control devices, missing signs, poorly maintained roads and overgrown vegetation, which can obstruct the view of oncoming traffic or signs and traffic control devices.

While the report found that Massachusetts has done a good job of implementing safety improvements following the accident, the Highway Administration needs to do a better job in three areas: Ensuring the safety of ceiling anchors in the Ted Williams Tunnel; improving fire preparedness, and assuring the accuracy of concrete viaduct calculations.