Des Moines Personal Injury, Wrongful Death Attorneys Helping Injured Workers
When most people think of dangerous occupations, they often think of policemen, firefighters, electrical linemen, or construction workers. Sanitation or recycling work usually doesn’t come to mind as a dangerous occupation at first glance. However, according to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics 2013 report, only loggers, fishermen, aircraft pilots and roofers were at a greater risk of dying while on-the-job than sanitation workers. When we think of sanitation work, we usually think of metro waste trucks rumbling around our neighborhoods, picking-up our trash, recyclables and clearing snow in the winter, but we rarely consider the work inherently dangerous like we do for other professions.
Workers at private sanitation companies are especially vulnerable to on-the-job injuries and fatalities because those workers may not have received adequate training and the equipment they are using may be faulty. This tragedy was highlighted recently when a private sanitation company was cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for safety violations in the death of a sanitation worker. Among the violations cited was a faulty latch to secure the trash bin, causing the bin to dislodge as the worker was loading it onto the truck, crushing him .
There were 71 occupational fatalities in Iowa in 2013, down from 97 deaths the previous year. Although there is a nationwide downward trend in occupational injuries according to statistics from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, fatal on-the-job injuries for Hispanic or Latino workers increased in 2013. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, fatal work injuries among Hispanic or Latino workers rose 7 percent in 2013. 797 Hispanic or Latino worker wrongful deaths across the nation in 2013 constituted the highest total since 2008. Fatal work injuries were lower among all other major racial/ethnic groups.
The Des Moines/West Des Moines Metro Statistical Area (MSA) had 6 work related fatalities in 2013, Cedar Rapids had 4, Ames had 1, Waterloo/Cedar Falls had 5 and the Quad Cities, comprising Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL., reported the highest worker fatalities for all Iowa cities at 7. If you or a family member has been injured on the job, you may have grounds for a Iowa personal injury or workers’ compensation claim. Contact the Law Offices of Stoltze & Updegraff, PLC in Des Moines for help
Sources: NYTimes, “Dangers of the Job And Dreams Collide”, May 18th, 2015.; Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.org, “Fatal occupational injuries by Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), 2013”, accessed May 26, 2015.; Bureau of Labor Statistics.gov, “Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries News Release”, accessed May 26, 2015.
