Infographic: Workplace Fatality Data

Please check out this info graphic, courtesy of Compliance and Safety, on safety in the workplace and the companies responsible for helping to keep you safe on the job.

If you or someone you know has been injured on the job, The Cole Legal Group can help get you the compensation you deserve for your pain and suffering.  Even if your workplace accident is covered under workers' compensation insurance, there may be fault and responsibility on the part of other individuals involved from which additional compensation may be obtained.

The Cole Legal Group has the experience required to handle your accident/injury case, along with a compassionate approach and individual focus that allow you to only worry about getting well. We work aggressively for every single client we accept. We know that personal injuries are just that - personal. They affect not just you, but also your family, friends and loved ones.

Contact Us immediately if you've been injured by the negligence of another.

Featured By: Compliance and Safety LLC

NHTSA Proposes Electronic Stability Control Systems to Prevent Deadly Rollovers

Manufacturers would have to equip large trucks and buses with safety systems that help prevent rollover accidents through computer-controlled braking, under regulations proposed Wednesday by the government.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s proposal would require electronic stability control in new trucks and buses, including motorcoaches.

The safety system senses when a driver might lose control and automatically applies brakes to individual wheels to keep the vehicle stable and avoid a rollover. It helps prevent skidding across icy or slick roads, and helps motorists keep control when swerving to avoid an unexpected object in the road. The individual wheel braking counters over-steering and under-steering.

Government research shows the technology could prevent up to 56 percent of rollover crashes each year — the deadliest among all crash types — and another 14 percent of loss-of-control crashes.

[Involved in an 18-wheeler or commercial truck accident? Contact us!]

NHTSA estimates that a standard requiring the safety systems on large trucks and large buses would prevent up to 2,329 crashes, eliminate an estimated 649 to 858 injuries, and prevent between 49 and 60 fatalities a year.

The safety systems are already required in passenger cars, sport utility vehicles and light trucks, beginning with the current model year. But the safety systems have been available in all SUVs and many passenger cars for years.

“We’ve already seen how effective stability control can be at reducing rollovers in passenger vehicles,” NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said in a statement. “Now, we’re expanding our efforts to require stability enhancing technology on the many large trucks, motor coaches, and other large buses on our roadways.”

Safety advocates welcomed the proposal.

“Rollover crashes can be costly and catastrophic, especially when involving a large truck weighing 80,000 pounds or a motorcoach carrying as many as 54 passengers,” Jacqueline Gillan, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said.

Preventing a rollover is essential to protecting motorcoach occupants, she said. Motorcoaches have become the over-the-road passenger airlines for millions of families, students, seniors and church groups, with nearly 750 million trips taken each year.

David Champion, senior director of automotive testing for Consumer Reports, has called electronic stability control “the single most important advance in auto safety since the development of the seatbelt.”

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source: Washington Post (Lowy, 5/16)

OSHA fines Magnablend $45,000 for violations related to fire

WAXAHACHIE - The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Magnablend Inc. with seven serious safety and health violations Friday related to the October 2011 fire at the company's blending plant, which burned to the ground.

The penalties total $45,000.

According to a press release, OSHA's Fort Worth office found violations including failing to conduct a hazard assessment, install a sufficient ventilation system, train workers in specific hazardous chemical protection procedures, evaluate respiratory inhalation hazards, ensure that the fire sprinkler system was adequate, use electrical equipment in accordance with its labeling, document the classification of hazardous locations for electrical purposes and ensure that electrical equipment was considered safe for the location where it was used.

The release goes on to explain a serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

Magnablend, a company that specializes in blending and manufacturing chemicals for industrial and consumer markets, is now operating at a new location in Waxahachie.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with the area office or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

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source: WFAA (AP, 3/30)




If you have been affected by the Magnablend Chemical Fire of October 2011, please contact us by filling in the short form on this page.  We will help you get the compensation you deserve for your pain and suffering.

Magnablend Chemical Fire October 3, 2011

Exposure to toxic chemicals may have long lasting and serious effects. Exposure may occur by direct contact with the skin, breathing in the chemicals as fumes or by ingesting toxins by mouth.

Dangerous chemicals can be released because they are mishandled in manufacturing plants, are not safely loaded for transport or because the companies responsible for the chemicals fail to follow their own procedures or statutory requirements.

The types of injuries that result may differ depending on the type of chemical involved as well as the duration of the exposure (direct contact, breathing in the chemical or ingesting it by mouth).

If you believe that you or a loved one has been injured because of exposure to toxic chemicals and you would like to know about your legal rights, we would be glad to speak with you. Please contact us at 972-923-2222 or toll free at 877-942-4537. The Cole Legal Group wants to help you get the money you deserve for your injuries.