Construction Site Safety: ROP's and why you need them.

Steve Lombardi — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:13:00 GMT

Construction Site Safety – The AP reports on a Kentucky mine worker dying after his bulldozer tipped over when pushing debris over a 180-foot wall an American coal mine. He’s the twentieth coal miner killed this year in the U.S. Here in the Midwest, Iowa, we see this same type of accident when farmers driving tractors get too close to a field terrace. Terraces are used to impede erosion by getting hills layered by leveling strips of hillside land.

In agriculture, a terrace is a leveled section of a hilly cultivated area, designed as a method of soil conservation to slow or prevent the rapid surface runoff of irrigation water. Often such land is formed into multiple terraces, giving a stepped appearance. The human landscapes of rice cultivation in terraces that follow the natural contours of the escarpments like contour plowing is a classic feature of the island of Bali and the Banaue Rice Terraces in Benguet, Philippines. In Peru, the Inca made use of otherwise unusable slopes by drystone walling to create terraces. This form of land use is prevalent in many countries, and is used for crops requiring a lot of water, such as rice. Terraces are also easier for both mechanical and manual sowing and harvesting than a steep slope would be.

NIOSH investigates each incident. They have in-house and state based reports. Farming fatality rates from tractor rollovers is prevalent and accounts for a large number of farm deaths.

“Agriculture has one of the highest occupational fatality rates of all industries in the United States (1). Tractors and other types of agricultural equipment account for a large proportion of these fatalities, and farm-tractor rollovers account for approximately 130 work-related deaths each year in the United States (2). Although rollover protective structures (ROPS) are effective in protecting tractor operators from fatal injuries during rollovers (3-5), most tractors in the United States are not equipped with ROPS (4-7). Beginning in 1985, tractor manufacturers in the United Sates agreed to sell only tractors with ROPS; however, many older tractors without ROPS remain in use. To determine the prevalence of the use of ROPS, beginning in 1992, the Farm Family Health and Hazard Surveillance (FFHHS) program * collected state-based data on tractor age and use of ROPS from selected states. As of August 1997, four states had completed collection and analysis of data on farm tractors. This report summarizes the results of that survey, which indicates that 80%-90% of tractors in use in the four states were manufactured before 1985 and that less than 40% are equipped with ROPS.”

If you want an example of the types of tractor without rollover protection look up ABC’s Good Morning America with Chris Como and Sam Champion as they race tractors without rollover protection. It’s certainly not the smartest thing I’ve seen those two do. Watch closely because when Chris Como driving the green tractor during the tractor pull has rollover protection. When racing Sam Champion neither has a ROP. So this morning we have Chris Como with the do’s and don’ts of tractor ROPS. Thanks Chris, and congratulations on beating Sam.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

Iowa Q&A: Work. Comp. When should a lawyer get paid?

Steve Lombardi — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:25:58 GMT

Q: I retained a lawyer for a workers comp injury-was receiving benefits before he was hired-now all of a sudden he wants me to give him a perecntage of my weekly benefits. I have not signed any form giving him permission to do so but he has also had the check made out in his name and mine and sent to him. How ethical and legal is this? The contract at first was for a third of the settlement. I'm confused about when should a lawyer get paid. Can you help me understand this?

A: It's not unusual for a lawyer to get paid from weekly indemnity benefits; in fact it should be expected. Lawyers normally and by rule in Iowa are required in contingent fee cases to have written fee agreements. I've used one for 27 years. If the weekly benefits are disputed then you pay a fee. If not, then unless there is some extenuating circumstances, probably not. There is weekly indemnity benefits paid during the healing period and those paid for permanent impairment. While PPD benefits are always disputed TTD benefits are not categorically disputed. I'd need to know more before I could give you a definitive answer. I've probably confused you more than anything so let me say, read your contingent fee agreement and see what it says about weekly indemnity benefits paid during a healing period as well as disputed benefits.

Temporary Total Disability (TTD) [85.32, 85.33(1)]

When an injury results in more than three calendar days of disability, the employee may be entitled to TTD benefits beginning on the fourth day and continuing until the employee has returned to work or is medically capable of returning to substantially similar employment, whichever occurs first. The three-day waiting period becomes payable if the disability period exceeds fourteen calendar days.

When a job-related injury results in a permanent disability, the employee may be entitled to PPD benefits based upon the degree of permanent disability. The PPD benefits are payable in addition to the HP benefits and are to begin at the termination of the healing period. There are two types of PPD benefits:

(1) Scheduled Member Disabilities – An employee’s entitlement to PPD benefits when a scheduled member is involved is based on functional impairment. Below is a list of the scheduled body members along with the value (in number of weeks) for each member.

Weeks

Loss of thumb .... 60

Loss of first finger ... 35

Loss of second finger ... 30

Loss of third finger ... 25

Loss of fourth finger ... 20

Loss of hand ... 190

Loss of arm ... 250

Loss of great toe ... 40

Loss of any other toe ... 15

Loss of foot ... 150

Loss of leg ... 220

Loss of eye ... 140

Loss of hearing in one ear ... 50

Loss of hearing in both ears ... 175

Permanent disfigurement, face or head ... 150

This schedule represents the number of weeks of benefits payable for 100% loss, or loss of use, of the body member.

If the permanent partial disability rating is less than 100%, the percentage rating is multiplied by the number of weeks shown. For example a 20% loss, or loss of use, of a thumb would be computed as 20% of 60 weeks or 12 weeks of PPD benefits.

(2) Body As A Whole Disabilities – When an injury results in a permanent disability to the body as a whole, it is referred to as industrial disability. Factors to be considered in determining industrial disability include the employee’s medical condition prior to the injury, immediately after the injury, and presently; the situs of the injury, its severity and the length of healing period; the work experience of the employee prior to the injury, after the injury and potential for rehabilitation; the employee’s qualifications intellectually, emotionally and physically; earnings prior and subsequent to the injury; age; education; motivation; functional impairment as a result of the injury; and inability because of the injury to engage in employment for which the employee is fitted. Loss of earnings caused by a job transfer for reasons related to the injury is also relevant. There are no weighting guidelines that indicate how each of the factors is to be considered. Once the degree of the industrial disability is determined, the percentage rating is multiplied by the total value of the body as a whole (500 weeks) to determine the number of weeks payable.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer - Workplace Discrimination

Construction Site Safety: ROP's and why you need them.

Iowa Q&A: Work. Comp. When should a lawyer get paid?