Joseph Teixeira was killed at the Northern Wind facility in New Bedford, MA, while performing maintenance work inside a large, industrial, ice-making machine.

The machine was activated while Teixeira was inside, and he was caught in the moving parts. An autopsy determined the cause of death was asphyxiation because of chest compression.

OSHA found that the plant lacked procedures to power down and lock out the ice machine before employees entered it.

Northern Wind faces 19 serious and 4 other-than-serious citations. It has 15 days to contest the fines.

An employee is injured while playing volleyball. He files for workers’ comp, saying it was part of his job. His employer disagrees, saying it wasn’t part of his tasks. Does the employee in this case get comp?

Here are the details:

Sean Murphy worked at a fitness facility as a fitness supervisor.

One day while at work, a co-worker asked him to participate in a game of wallyball (volleyball on a racquetball court).

At first he declined, but the co-worker, who wasn’t his supervisor, insisted, saying without him, the game couldn’t go forward “because they didn’t have enough people to participate.”

He agreed to play, and when he jumped up to block a shot, he came down and injured his right leg.

He underwent surgery to repair a fracture.

Since one of his duties was to promote and implement the classes and programs that his employer offered, he filed for workers’ comp.

An arbitrator awarded him comp benefits. The employer appealed for these reasons:

• Murphy had no duties in the racket sports department
• Wallyball wasn’t within Murphy’s responsibilities
• His supervisor never ordered or directed him to play or participate
• The center had a policy prohibiting employees from playing while they were on duty, and
• Playing wallyball was a voluntary recreational activity.

A state court upheld Murphy’s comp benefits, saying his participation in the game “clearly benefited the business of operating a health facility and [Murphy] clearly believed the activity was part of his work duties.”

The court said Murphy’s situation was similar to that of a pro athlete: Recreational activity was part of his job.

What’s your opinion of the court’s decision? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Cite: Elmhurst Park District v. Sean T. Murphy, Appellate Court of IL, No. 07-MR-947, 10/6/09. (PDF)

A casino dealer at Harrah’s Metropolis Casino in Illinois claimed she hurt her back while dealing a stand-up card game.

She said she had to twist her upper torso to take the cards in her left hand from the card dispenser located to her right.

Her doctor said she aggravated a prior back injury which was caused by repetitive bending and twisting as a card dealer.

The casino argued that the work incident was only a minor contributing factor.

Result: The Workers’ Compensation Commission ruled that the employee established her accident arose out of and in the course of employment. She’ll get comp benefits.

Does your company teach proper lifting to any employees performing mostly service functions? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Cite: Britton v. Harrah’s Metropolis Casino, Ill. W.C. Comm. 2009.

Workers were cleaning and dismantling old gasoline storage tanks at a Miami, FL, convenience store when the explosion occurred.

Rescue workers rushed the 38-year-old man to the hospital in hopes doctors may be able to reattach the leg, which was severed below the knee.

Two workers were cleaning and dismantling two 3,000-gallon gas tanks after they were dug up at the store.

While cutting through one tank, a spark from a saw ignited fumes. The tanks hadn’t been used for 20 years.

Part of one tank struck the one worker’s leg.

If one of your employees was injured in an exercise class, you wouldn’t expect that to be covered by workers’ comp. But that’s not how one court saw it.

Frank Torre worked for Logic Technology, a company that performed on-site contracting work for General Electric.

Torre suffered a spinal cord injury while participating in an exercise class at the G.E. fitness center during work hours.

A workers’ comp law judge ruled that his injury arose out of and in the course of his employment.

Torre was off duty when he took the class and wasn’t compensated for nor required to take it.

So to receive workers’ comp, he’d have to prove that his employer sponsored the activity, which required “an affirmative act or overt encouragement by the employer to participate.”

It turns out Torre was encouraged by his employer to have a gym membership. Logic Technology offers reimbursement to its employees for half of their G.E. fitness center membership fees. But in this case, Torre didn’t even seek reimbursement for the membership.

Another factor: Torre’s job required him to develop contacts with current and prospective clients, and the company president stated that participating in the fitness class helped do that.

Not only did the comp board rule in his favor, but on appeal, the Supreme Court of New York did also.

Do you agree with the court’s decision? Since Torre was encouraged to make business contacts at the gym, did that make his workouts part of his job? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

Cite: Torre v. Logic Technology, Inc., Supreme Court, New York, No. 506423, 7/2/09. (PDF)

Workers’ comp boards and courts draw a fine line between what is and what isn’t a work-related injury that qualifies for benefits. See if you can guess how the court ruled in this case:

Michael Haley worked in a shipping yard which handled arriving and departing tractor trailers and the loading and unloading of the trucks. Part of his regular duties included climbing into and out of truck cabs.

One day at work, when he stepped into the cab of a truck, he felt a spasm in his left leg.

Haley didn’t climb the step in an unusual or awkward way, and there wasn’t anything strenuous about stepping up a total of 16 inches.

After the spasm, Haley had no strength in his leg and had trouble moving it.

Doctors diagnosed a ruptured quadriceps tendon and performed surgery quickly thereafter. Complications soon developed, causing Haley to walk with a cane for some time after the injury.

He applied for workers’ comp. The state comp commission found that he hadn’t proven his injury “arose out of” his employment and denied his claim for benefits. Haley appealed.

A state appeals court upheld the comp commission’s decision, so Haley didn’t get benefits.

Haley had argued that the 16-inch step was higher than a normal step that most people would encounter outside of work, and for that reason, he should get comp.

However, the court noted that doctors weren’t able to explain any link between Haley’s work duties and the rupture. All they were able to say is that the injury occurred at work.

“At work” isn’t necessarily good enough to qualify for workers’ comp. Case closed: The company won.

Do you think the court made the right decision? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Cite: Haley v. Springs Global U.S., Inc. and Zurich American Insurance Co., Court of Appeals of Virginia, No. 2841-08-3, 8/18/09.

The 20-year-old tradesman was hammering in a nail at a construction site in Melbourne, Australia, when the nail flew into his eye. No word on whether he was wearing any eye or face protection.

He then pulled the 40 mm nail from his eye before paramedics could arrive.

The attending paramedic said the man had some blurred vision, but appeared to have escaped serious injury to his eye.

“If someone has something go into their eye like a nail, they are probably best to leave it in there to reduce further damage, allowing the object to be removed [at a] hospital,” the paramedic advised.

The construction worker was trapped in a flooded tunnel under a highway.

Four workers were in a 24-inch diameter tunnel being dug for a water main according to Conroe, TX, police.

When a heavy downpour moved through the area, a supervisor told the employees to get out of the tunnel. Three employees were able to escape, one was not.

The employee’s body was found just more than two hours later, 50 feet from the tunnel’s opening.

The deceased employee worked for Boring and Tunneling Co. of America for 9 years.

The company’s president called the incident “a freak flood event.”

OSHA is investigating.

A 12-year-old boy died and his 8-year-old brother was injured after they got stuck in sand where their father was working in Azle, TX.

Edwin Gomez and his brother had climbed into the bed of a truck that was filled with sand.

They were playing there for a while when workers, who were installing a swimming pool, noticed a host used to pump the sand became jammed.

The workers found the 8-year-old buried up to his waist in the sand. The boy told the workers his brother was buried underneath the sand.

Workers dug the 12-year-old out and called 911.

Edwin was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The 8-year-old suffered a broken leg.

The local sheriff said the father won’t face any charges for bringing his children to a dangerous work site.

Do you have safety rules for children of employees at your company? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Imagine this: A company sponsors a Family Fun night of bowling for its employees and their families to improve morale. One employee injures his back while bowling. Does he get workers’ comp because this was an employer-sponsored event?

If you’ve read up on workers’ comp cases, you may have already guessed that the answer is yes, he did get comp.

And it’s cases like this one that are prompting states to rewrite their comp laws. Tennessee just did.

In this particular case, Robert Powell, a Cedar Rapids Gazette employee, was one of 75 workers who participated in a family night of bowling sponsored by his employer.

The day after the event, he felt pain in his back and left leg. He underwent two rounds of surgery. He was placed on disability, but later lost his job because of a dispute over whether he was able to work, according to an article in the Des Moines Register.

Four years later, the Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commissioner awarded Powell more than $100,000 in benefits.

The commissioner pointed to a Supreme Court ruling that says if activities that led to an injury were for the benefit of the employer, or for the mutual benefit of the employer and worker, they should be treated as work-related.

So, should you cancel that employee picnic or your softball team? Employers get in trouble when:

• employee attendance is expected
• the event takes place during normal work hours
• uniforms promoting the company are worn, or
• transportation is provided to the event.

About one in four states have taken legislative action to limit workers’ comp awards for injuries that happen at company-sponsored events.

Tennessee’s governor signed one such piece of legislation into law in June. The new law states, “No compensation shall be allowed for an injury due to the employee’s voluntary participation in recreational, social, athletic or exercise activities (including, but not limited to, athletic events, competitions, parties, picnics and exercise programs) whether or not the employer pays some or all of the costs thereof.”

There are four exceptions:

• required participation
• participation that benefits the company in ways other than employee health or morale
• events during work hours that are part of work duties, and
• injuries due to an unsafe condition during voluntary participation using facilities designated by, furnished by or maintained by the employer, and the company had knowledge of the unsafe condition.

Should employers have to pay for employees’ injuries during company-sponsored recreational events? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

A North Carolina man died after being run over by both his pickup and a large dump truck at a landfill.

James Huskey of Waynesville went to the county landfill to dump some trash, according to the Citizen Times.

As he was leaving, a dump truck struck the passenger side of his pickup and pushed it about 90 feet.

Huskey opened his door and stood up in an attempt to alert the dump truck driver. He lost his balance, fell and was run over by his pickup and the dump truck.

The dump truck traveled another 120 feet before a supervisor at the landfill alerted the driver.

Huskey was declared dead at the scene.

An officer with the county sheriff’s department called it “a very freak accident.”

The driver doesn’t face charges because traffic laws don’t apply on private property.

North Carolina OSHA is investigating.

A worker slipped and fell into a vat of hot melted chocolate and died at a factory in Camden, NJ.

29-year-old Vincent Smith II was one of four workers on a platform above the vat at the Lyons & Sons facility. They were dumping solid chocolate into the vat to be melted.

After falling, he was hit by an agitator that’s used to mix the chocolate and killed.

The man appeared to have died instantly from the blow to the head from the agitator.

A co-worker slammed on an emergency shutoff switch, but it was too late.

News media accounts haven’t included details about the quality or presence of guardrails around the vat. OSHA is investigating.

The accident happened Sunday at about 2 a.m.

The crash claimed the life of 21-year-old employee Austin Wuennenberg. Six guests were treated on the scene for minor injuries. The driver of the other monorail was also taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

One early theory among people involved with Disney’s monorail system is that one of the trains was switching tracks, which requires the monorail pilot to override the anti-crash system, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The monorails have data recorders which may provide more information on the cause of the crash.

Wuennenberg was a student at nearby Stetson University. One of his former classmates is quoted as saying the young man scheduled his classes around his Disney job and took precautions if he was working a night shift.

Brandon Ross says his friend would make the hour-long drive to the Orlando area the day before his shift so he wouldn’t be tired when he operated the train.

In an online profile, Wuennenberg referred to working 12- and 14-hour shifts recently.

The unidentified employee is expected to recover.

The employee of American Wood Source of Lebanon, OH, was transported via medical helicopter to undergo surgery. He appeared to be conscious as emergency personnel loaded him onto the helicopter, according to the Journal-News.

The worker suffered the injury while operating machinery. No other details on the accident are available.

OSHA is investigating.

There’s an important point workers and supervisors should know about impalement injuries: If an object pierces part of an employee’s body, it’s best to leave it alone — don’t try to remove it.

Often, removal will cause the person to bleed to death before help arrives. Letting it in place can seal the wound until it can be removed by doctors.

Proof: In 2007, 17-year-old Matt Robinson of Dexter, MO, accidentally shot a three-and-a-half inch nail through his heart at a construction job and lived to tell about it.

He said he wanted to take the nail out but didn’t because he was scared.

He made the right decision, according to doctors. A surgeon said if Robinson had tried to pull the nail out himself, he would have died.

The nail actually plugged the hole in his heart which kept him from bleeding to death.

Brian Jacobs had been at Summerford Pallet in Ashford, AL, helping his father at work when he fell into the machine.

He underwent surgery at a nearby hospital. Reports are that the boy will be able to keep his legs. He’s in fair condition in an intensive care unit.

OSHA is investigating, according to the Dothan Eagle.

Federal law prohibits 14- and 15-year-olds from working in manufacturing, mining or any hazardous industry.

For more information on prohibited occupations for teenagers, click here.

The employee got comp. Here’s what happened:

Clinton Dwyer was working at a Circuit City when a co-worker asked him to help her get a stuck bag of chips out of a vending machine.

There was a history of snacks not dropping down from the machine’s spindles. Employees would shake the machine to dislodge the stuck snack.

Dwyer shook the machine twice, but no luck.

Then, he took a step back and gave a hockey-player-like check to the machine with his shoulder.

Next thing, Dwyer was on the ground in pain. He fractured his hip in the process of trying to retrieve the snack.

Doctors operated on him that day for the fractured hip. Years after the incident he still feels pain in humid weather and after a certain amount of exertion.

He filed for workers’ comp, and Circuit City fought it.

Did personal comfort doctrine apply?

The state Workers’ Comp Commission awarded him comp, saying the personal comfort doctrine applied.

That doctrine says at-work employee actions for personal comfort — such as eating or using the restroom — are covered by workers’ comp.

Circuit City took the case to the state appellate court.

The court said Dwyer should get comp, but not because of the personal comfort doctrine.

Instead, the court said the good Samaritan doctrine applied.

That doctrine says when an employee leaves his work duties to help someone else, whether that is “in the course of work” hinges on whether the employee’s action was reasonably foreseeable.

The court said, since there were previous problems with the snack machine, and the company had no stated policy against shaking it, it was foreseeable that Dwyer would help his co-worker. For that reason, he got comp.

This isn’t an isolated case. An Oregon court has also ruled that an employee who injured his foot while helping a co-worker dislodge candy from a machine should also receive comp.

Did the court extend the good Samaritan doctrine too far? Do you think Dwyer should get comp? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Cite 1: Circuit City v. Dwyer, Appellate Court of Illinois, 5/21/09.

Cite 2: Washington Group International v. Barela, Oregon Court of Appeals, 8/22/07.

An employee helps a co-worker get a stuck bag of chips out of a workplace vending machine and in the process fractures his hip. Does he get workers’ comp or not?

The employee got comp. Here’s what happened:

Clinton Dwyer was working at a Circuit City when a co-worker asked him to help her get a stuck bag of chips out of a vending machine.

There was a history of snacks not dropping down from the machine’s spindles. Employees would shake the machine to dislodge the stuck snack.

Dwyer shook the machine twice, but no luck.

Then, he took a step back and gave a hockey-player-like check to the machine with his shoulder.

Next thing, Dwyer was on the ground in pain. He fractured his hip in the process of trying to retrieve the snack.

Doctors operated on him that day for the fractured hip. Years after the incident he still feels pain in humid weather and after a certain amount of exertion.

He filed for workers’ comp, and Circuit City fought it.

Did personal comfort doctrine apply?

The state Workers’ Comp Commission awarded him comp, saying the personal comfort doctrine applied.

That doctrine says at-work employee actions for personal comfort — such as eating or using the restroom — are covered by workers’ comp.

Circuit City took the case to the state appellate court.

The court said Dwyer should get comp, but not because of the personal comfort doctrine.

Instead, the court said the good Samaritan doctrine applied.

That doctrine says when an employee leaves his work duties to help someone else, whether that is “in the course of work” hinges on whether the employee’s action was reasonably foreseeable.

The court said, since there were previous problems with the snack machine, and the company had no stated policy against shaking it, it was foreseeable that Dwyer would help his co-worker. For that reason, he got comp.

This isn’t an isolated case. An Oregon court has also ruled that an employee who injured his foot while helping a co-worker dislodge candy from a machine should also receive comp.

Did the court extend the good Samaritan doctrine too far? Do you think Dwyer should get comp? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Cite 1: Circuit City v. Dwyer, Appellate Court of Illinois, 5/21/09.

Cite 2: Washington Group International v. Barela, Oregon Court of Appeals, 8/22/07.

Another employee had removed two containers from a stack using a forklift at Blount Fine Foods when the top container fell, hitting Justin Cordeiro, according to South Coast Today.

Cordeiro was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

OSHA is investigating. There’s no word on whether Cordeiro was wearing a hard hat at the time of the incident.

Among the OSHA standards that would apply in this case:

• 1910.178(m)(2): No person shall be allowed to stand or pass under the elevated portion of any truck, whether loaded or unloaded.
• 1910.135(a)(1): The employer shall ensure that each affected employee wears a protective helmet when working in areas where there is a potential for injury to the head from falling objects.

Police say Cody Rigsby was buried under several feet of grain inside a bin at the Tempel Grain elevator.

On the day of the incident, local emergency officials were notified at 1:30 p.m. that a worker was missing and believed trapped in the bin, according to The Pueblo Chieftain.

Four fire departments and community volunteers worked until 7 p.m. the same day to recover Rigsby’s body. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

It’s not known what safety equipment was being used at the time of the incident.

Workers should be trained to assume that the potential for entrapment in a bin with stored loose materials (grain, sand, gravel, coal) is always present, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Other safety steps:

• Workers shouldn’t be allowed to enter a storage area from the bottom when material is adhering to the sides or is bridged overhead.
• When workers must enter storage areas, they should stay above the material at all times and never stand or walk on top of it.
• Any time a worker enters a storage area, the supply and discharge of materials must be stopped and locked out.
• Workers entering storage areas should wear safety belts or harnesses with properly fastened life lines.

While it didn’t cite Wal-Mart for a violation of a specific standard, OSHA has used its General Duty Clause to fine the retailer in the trampling death of a worker last November.

Wal-Mart has 15 business days to decide whether to pay the $7,000 fine or appeal it.

OSHA issued Wal-Mart one serious citation under its General Duty Clause for inadequate crowd management following the Nov. 28, 2008, death of its employee, Jdimytai Damour, at its Valley Stream, NY, store.

Damour died of asphyxiation after he was knocked to the ground and trampled by a crowd of about 2,000 shoppers who surged into the store for its annual day-after-Thanksgiving sale.

OSHA says employees were exposed to being crushed by the crowd due to the store’s failure to implement reasonable and effective crowd management techniques.

OSHA’s acting director for the Long Island, NY, area, Anthony Ciuffo, said this was not an unforeseen situation. Ciuffo says Wal-Mart should have recognized the hazards based on previous Friday-after-Thanksgiving crowds.

Wise use of General Duty Clause?

The agency cites the General Duty Clause when there’s no specific regulation that covers an incident resulting in serious injury or death.

OSHA’s General Duty Clause states, “Each employer shall furnish to each of his employees employment and place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.”

How does OSHA define “recognized hazards”? In its recently revised Field Operations Manual (FOM) for inspectors, OSHA lists three ways in which a hazard qualifies as recognized:

• Employer recognition: This can be established by evidence of actual employer knowledge of a hazardous condition.
• Industry recognition: A hazard is recognized if the employer’s industry is aware of its existence.
• Common sense recognition: The FOM states, “Hazard recognition can still be established if a hazardous condition is so obvious that any reasonable person would have recognized it.”

So, here’s the question: Do you think trampling by a crowd was a recognized hazard in this Wal-Mart case? Also, what do you think about OSHA’s increased use of the General Duty Clause overall? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

While working, an employee was pulled into and lodged in a large lathe. Emergency personnel pronounced him dead when they arrived. The worker died of severe trauma to his upper torso.

OSHA determined the lathe didn’t have proper machine guards.

In all, OSHA issued 23 alleged serious safety and health violations against the company, including:

• blocked or locked exit routes
• lack of proper fire protection equipment and training
• inadequate forklift truck training
• improper storage of compressed gas cylinders, and
• lack of protective gear for skin exposure to hexavalent chromium.

The company has 15 days to decide whether to pay the fines or contest them.

The crash sent two police officers to the hospital with minor injuries.

The fact that the officers only received minor injuries doesn’t do justice to this story. Both police cars are total losses, as you can see from video taken by WDAF-TV.

Police were stopped on Interstate 29 because of a one-car accident.

The texting driver ran into the back of one stopped police car, knocking it into another one. Police say there’s no evidence that brakes were applied before the crash.

Police charged the texting driver with DWI, careless driving and failure to yield. Missouri just passed a ban on texting, but it only applies to drivers under 21. This driver was 25.

A worker at a soup factory in Germany died after getting trapped inside a giant cauldron and cooking to death, according to the newspaper, Bild.

The man had climbed into the cauldron at the Eraso soup factory to clean it.

The cauldron’s lid suddenly closed while the man was still inside. It started to fill with steam as part of the disinfection process.

A doctor confirmed the man had been cooked to death.

Police and workplace safety officials are investigating.

Wrico Stamping Co. of Grapevine, TX, has 15 days to decide whether to contest the fines.

OSHA cited Wrico for:

• one willful violation for failing to perform regular inspections of mechanical power presses
• one serious violation for failing to provide safety blocks on mechanical presses
• one serious violation for not providing adequate supervision while employees are working on hazardous equipment
• one serious violation for not giving employees adequate training for maintaining mechanical equipment, and
• one other-than-serious violation for failing to report an amputation injury within 30 days.

A company had banned its employees from talking or texting on cell phones while working for safety reasons. Now it’s taking the cell phone ban one step further.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is banning employees from carrying their cell phones on the job. The penalty if they do: termination.

The new rule came after a trolley rammed into another one, injuring the operator and nearly 50 passengers, derailing both trains, and causing MBTA service to be suspended at the Government Center in Boston for several hours. The crash totaled three trolley cars and caused $9.6 million in damage.

The operator of the trolley told investigators from his hospital bed that he was sending a text message to his girlfriend just before the crash. Preliminary information from an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board also shows the driver, Aiden Quinn, ran a red light just before the crash.

Before this incident, MBTA employees were allowed to carry cell phones but were banned from talking or texting while on the road or tracks. A first offense carried a three-day suspension, although the agency had the right to fire violators. MBTA’s General Manager Daniel Grabauskas said the trolley driver in this crash would be fired.

“You are not to get on board that bus or [train or trolley] and have a cell phone on your person or in the cab. Period,” Grabauskas told The Boston Globe. “This is going to be a zero-tolerance policy.”

Officials said the new policy wouldn’t compromise communications in an emergency because cabs are equipped with radios and emergency call buttons.

Transit officials say in the last 12 months, five train and trolley drivers and 13 bus drivers had been cited under the old policy. One bus driver was fired.

State Transportation Secretary James Aloisi Jr. predicts other states and transit agencies would follow MBTA’s lead and ban employees from having cell phones on the job.

Did MBTA make the right decision, or is this overkill? Does your company ban employees from using cell phones while driving for business purposes? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

Jason Moyer, 39, was repairing an elevator in the Century Village retirement community at the time of the incident, according to the Palm Beach Post.

The elevator fell on Moyer while he was in the shaft. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Moyer was employed by Xpert Elevator Services. OSHA records show no previous action or investigations of the company.

The elevator in the retirement community failed a private inspection in February 2008. During a follow-up, the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation cited the owner of the elevator for not having a current license and told the owners they must show proof of a current inspection.

Miguel Herrera-Soltero was working at Progressive Protein. His stepfather, Richard Leon, was also working at the plant when he heard another worker scream.

After hearing the scream, he saw his stepson on the floor with part of the forklift on his neck. Leon tried to pull the teen from under the machine but couldn’t.

Herrera-Soltero was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

OSHA standards say a forklift operator must be 18 or older. There is an exception for agriculture. Progressive Protein is a rendering plant for animal fats. Herrera-Soltero had worked at the plant just over a month.

As summer approaches, more teens will be entering the workforce. The U.S. Department of Labor has a web page that you can access here that lists jobs teens can and can’t do.

Naya Miah’s arm became trapped in an industrial printer at his family-run business in Oldham, England. Other family members saw the incident happen.

An eyewitness told the Oldham Advertiser that Miah’s hand looked like it had been steamrolled. It was completely mangled and caught in the machine.

When medics arrived, their first inclination was to try to dismantle the press to free Miah.

After it became evident that the dismantling process would take too long and cause him further injury, medics called in an emergency surgery team who amputated his arm in the print shop.

He’s now in stable condition at a local hospital.

Accounts of the accident don’t explain how Miah’s arm got caught in the machine.

Police in Surrey, British Columbia, say a 25-year-old woman was killed when she was struck in the back of the head and neck with her laptop computer.

Heather Storey was on a business trip with her luggage in the back seat of her car when a tow truck collided with her, according to the CBC.

Investigators say Storey would have survived the accident had it not been for her laptop.

Her laptop was unsecured in the back seat at the time of the accident. Police believe the crash impact threw the laptop out of the back seat, striking Storey. She died of blunt force trauma to the back of her head.

Storey’s brother, Michael Pratt, is warning others to take steps to avoid similar incidents.

“Try not to keep stuff [in your car's back seat] that can get airborne or hit you, just because your family, and people that care about you, really will miss you when you’re gone,” Pratt said.

Not only is this a bizarre OSHA fine, it could set a dangerous precedent. The agency has fined a company for an employee’s fatal injury that happened while he was away from his home office on assignment.

Buffalo News sportswriter Tom Borrelli fell while climbing a steep set of stairs on Nov. 8, 2008, at Buffalo’s All High Stadium where he was covering a football game.

Borrelli was trying to enter the stadium’s press box. To get there, reporters have to climb 13 steep metal stairs, prop open a hatch and walk across an unprotected walkway on the stadium roof.

Borrelli apparently hit his head at the top of the stairs and fell down them.

The reporter was paralyzed from the neck down after the fall and died of his injuries 12 days later.

Now OSHA has issued a fine — not against Buffalo public schools, but against the newspaper for sending Borrelli to cover the game. Total fine: $31,500.

OSHA found that:

• fixed stairways were less than 22 inches wide
• fixed stairs were installed at an angle to the horizontal greater than 50 degrees
• stair railings and handrails were not installed according to regulation; instead there was a single pipe-rail 26 inches above the stair tread
• fixed stairs did not have at least 7 feet of vertical clearance between the stair treads and the overhead obstructions, and
• a side-hinged door was not used at the top of the stairs; instead, there was a hatchway.

Obviously, the newspaper had no control over any of that. So what’s the reasoning behind fining the newspaper?

“Reporters were exposed to the hazards of falls and head injuries whenever they used the press box,” said Arthur Dube, regional director of OSHA’s Buffalo office.

“The newspaper was aware of these conditions. [It] should have prevented the reporters from using the stairs and the press box until they were corrected,” Dube said.

Buffalo News editor Margaret Sullivan called OSHA’s fine “illogical.”

She notes that reporters are sent into all sorts of situations, including covering wars, that newspapers can’t control.

A lawyer for Borrelli’s family says a lawsuit against the school district is pending. The family says it has no intention of suing the newspaper because Borrelli was just performing the job he loved on the day of his fatal injury.

The school district has been cited with serious violations by the state and is under order to repair the stairs by July.

Reporters aren’t the only workers who are sent to conduct their jobs off-site. All sorts of contractors and repair people do this every day, as do salespeople.

Imagine being fined by OSHA because your employee suffered a work injury that didn’t happen on your property.

What do you think of this case? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

An employee of California Carnival Co. of Sacramento was killed recently when he was crushed by a falling Ferris wheel car.

The Ferris wheel collapsed when Roy Taylor and another employee were disassembling it, according to The Sacramento Bee. They were both trapped underneath the car. The other worker was hospitalized with rib injuries.

Cal-OSHA is investigating. California Carnival doesn’t appear to have any previous violations with Cal-OSHA.

What constitutes loss of use of feet and hands to qualify for permanent disability? A state court says it’s not necessary for employees to actually injure their feet or hands for that to be the case.

The case involves the award of lifetime income benefits (LIBS) to an employee by the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission.

Carmen Muro was injured at work when she slipped and fell on a bathroom floor. She says she fell backwards and raised her right arm to prevent her head from hitting a toilet.

She injured her neck, right shoulder, lower back and hips, and underwent six surgeries on her back, hips and right shoulder.

The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania denied her LIBS. If she didn’t receive LIBS, disability payments would run out after about eight years. The comp commission ruled in Muro’s favor.

The insurer appealed the case to a state trial court where a jury also decided for Muro. The case then went to the state appeals court.

The insurer argued Muro wasn’t entitled to LIBS because she didn’t suffer a direct injury to her feet and right hand.

The Texas labor code says LIBS are paid for permanent loss of both feet, or permanent loss of one foot and one hand, due to injury in the workplace.

The insurer said Muro’s injuries only affected her feet and right hand indirectly.

The appeals court rejected this argument, saying it was enough that Muro’s limitations on her use of her feet and right hand were due to her injuries and surgeries to her hips and shoulders. As one doctor stated, the hands rely on the shoulders to function and an injury to the hips affect the feet.

You can read the court’s full opinion here.

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Ashley Taylor was an employee at England-based chocolate maker Thorntons Plc. He was standing on a conveyor belt to cool a piece of machinery that puts filling into chocolates when he slipped on a wet mat.

As he slipped, his hand was thrust inside the machine and into rotating rollers.

Although a trip bar was installed, it wasn’t correctly positioned to protect someone standing on the conveyor.

Taylor’s hand became trapped before a co-worker could stop the machine.

Rescuers had to be called to free him from the machine.

He suffered two broken bones and severe tissue damage in his hand. He hasn’t been able to return to work since.

The Health and Safety Executive has fined the company nearly $17,000 and ordered it to pay another $6,400 in costs for failing to provide a safe system of work.

Cem Tokac was waiting by the tracks for the train to make a delivery to his workplace, according to London newspaper The Times.

The video shows the tractor trailer crossing train tracks. Then the train approaches, hits the trailer, which plows into Tokac.

Tokac passed out. When he awoke, he was still on the ground surrounded by co-workers.

The amazing part: He suffered only cuts and bruises.

The driver of the tractor trailer also received only minor injuries.

Tokac now considers the date of the accident, Feb. 25, his new birthday. “Life is really beautiful,” he said.

Two Teichert Construction employees were killed In October 2008 after they were sucked into and drowned inside a 30-inch underground pipe they were working in after an excavator hit a nearby eight-inch water pipe, according to the Paso Robles Press.

Cal/OSHA issued a $140,000 fine for two willful citations involving subsurface installations and removal of employees from hazardous areas.

The citation alleges Teichert was aware the workplace presented a hazard but made no reasonable effort to address it.

Cal/OSHA also alleges that the foreman was informed numerous times about the existence of a water line, according to the citation.