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How Safe are Extreme Obstacle Competitions?
More and more people are participating in extreme obstacle race competitions. Many of these events include climbing walls, ropes, obstacle courses, mud pits and long-distance running. It is an ever-growing industry that produces hundreds of millions of dollars for the companies that sponsor these events.
And as the popularity of these events increase, so do the reports of serious injuries and fatalities.
One company has had four at least four participants during competitions they have sponsored in the past three years. The most recent death occurred in April 2013 during a race in West Virginia when a 28 year-old man drowned during the “Walk the Plank” portion of the race. Participants are required to stand on a 15-foot platform and plunge into a 13 foot pool of freezing, muddy water. Then they have to swim forty feet to a cargo net and exit the pool.
OSHA Issues 2014 SST Plan
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, (OSHA) recently announced its yearly inspection plan, specifically targeting areas that have the highest rates of injury and illness occur in the workplace.
The 2014 Site-Specific Targeting (SST) program is based on results the agency conducted in 2012 of companies in industries which are in high-hazard industries surveyed over 80,000 companies. In the appendix of the plan, OSHA lists descriptions of the industries of the companies they surveyed, which included air transportation, automobiles, construction materials, courier services, department stores, groceries, manufacturing, medical facilities, poultry products, scrap and waste, trucking and warehousing.
The results were then used to come up with the plan, which is geared for companies in non-hazard industries which have 20 or more employees.
Included in the plan is a checklist to be used by compliance safety officers. This checklist should help the officers with inspection and scheduling procedures.
New Report Unfavorable for Commercial Carrier Watchdog
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Two Children’s Products Recalled for Safety Issues
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently announced that Sweden-based furniture maker IKEA has issued a recall for nearly 3 million baby bed canopies that the company has been selling for almost twenty years. According to the product recall alert, the canopies pose a strangulation risk to young children.
The CPSC says that there have been at least nine reports of children becoming wrapped around and entangled in the canopy. One report involved a seven-month-old infant who managed to pull the fabric of the canopy into her crib and wrapped it around her neck. A spokesperson for IKEA says that some reports of these incidents involved minor injuries to the children. However, the details of those injuries have not been released. The baby bed canopies are made to hang from a hook over a child’s crib or bed. The product measures 7 feet by 2 feet and is made out of a mesh-like material. The canopies were sold from August 1996 until March 2014 at a cost of between $10 and $30. There are several models involved in the recall:- Legendarisk
Social Media in Lawsuits
The danger social media can play in the outcome of a court case was amplified in a recent wrongful death case. Not only was the plaintiff sanctioned by the court, but his attorney was as well.
In 2010, Isiah Lester, of Virginia, was awarded $6,227,000 plus $2,350,000 in interest for the death of his 25 year-old wife Jessica. Jessica was killed in 2008 when a truck owned by the Allied Concrete Company had come around a corner on just two wheels, flipped and landed on top of Jessica’s car. The concrete truck, weighing over 60,000 pounds, crushed Jessica. The driver later pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He lost his commercial license and spent 30 days in jail.
Lester filed the lawsuit against both the driver and the concrete company. During the trial, Lester’s attorney, Matthew Murray, received a request for discovery from the defendants’ attorneys. They were requesting content Lester had on his Facebook profile. Also attached to the motion was a copy of a photo of Lester wearing a shirt which read “I love hot mom” and holding a beer can.
Motorcycle Safety Tips, Part 2
Motorcycles are very dangerous vehicles because in the event of a crash, there is nothing to protect the passengers from hitting the other vehicle, the road, or any other objects in the area. That’s why Discovery News’s Meghan O’Neill has shared safety tips with readers to stay safe as the weather warms up and people pull their bikes out of the garage.
Here are the last five tips, continuing from a previous post about motorcycle safety:
- Leave enough space. Even though motorcycles are much smaller and lighter and they need less space to come to a stop than cars, they still need quite a bit of space to remain safe. It is better to leave too much space than not enough, so brake early. Many bikes also do not have anti-lock brakes, so slamming on the brakes is not an option on many motorcycles like it would be in a car.
Troubles with Mild Brain Injuries
People can suffer from brain injuries for any number of reasons. Frequently, the brain is injured in sporting incidents and car crashes. When a brain is injured, the victim does not always know immediately because the injury can be mild and can have no outer symptoms, or delayed symptoms.
It is important to seek medical assistance after suffering from a head trauma. After seeking medical help, seek legal assistance to learn all of your rights as a victim.
The Brain Injury Association of America offers important information to victims of mild brain injuries and their families:
- The recovery is not always quick. Although there are general guidelines for mild, moderate, and severe brain injuries and their recoveries, results can vary greatly between individuals. It could take a few weeks or several months to fully recover;
- Recovery is not a steady process. It is normal with brain injury recovery to have “good days” and “bad days,” so it is important to not overdo anything, even on your good days. The healing process take times, and it cannot be rushed;
Motorcycle Safety Tips
Although the weather has not quite warmed up yet this spring, many people are eager to head outside, whether it’s to play at the park, work in the garden, drive with the windows down, or to go out on a motorcycle. This is the time to prepare yourself for the open road and dangers of riding on a motorcycle so that you can avoid an accident on your motorcycle in the unpredictable spring and summer weather.
Discovery News’s Meaghan O’Neill shared the following tips for safe motorcycle driving:- Before hopping on your bike, take a motorcycle safety course. Many states require a skills test to be taken before issuing a motorcycle license and many also require the driver to go through a safety course. If your state does not require it, you should still consider taking the class. You will learn how to respond to an emergency situation, certain motorcycle laws for your state, how to avoid dangerous situations, and other helpful tips.
Changes to Child Car Seat Guidelines
Last week, as reported by the Chicago Tribune, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recommended changes to the child car seat safety guidelines. The first of the two proposals requires that the current Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) system, the standard car seat system implemented in 2002, alter the weight limit for their child safety seats. This would lower the maximum weight of the child user to 65 pounds (originally 70 pounds), taking into consideration the combined weight of the seat and the weight of the child. This proposal comes after significant testing showing that the LATCH system overloaded on impact during one of the tests that placed a 10-year-old, 77-pound dummy in a 30 mile per hour car crash.
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, Illinois law requires the following:
New Legislation Looks to Stop Benefits for Non-Work Injuries
In 2006, a pipe fitter named Gerald Daugherty was hired in a temporary position at a power plant close to the Quad Cities. Since Daugherty lived in Springfield at that time, he decided to move closer to his job in order to avoid a long commute of 200 miles. One morning, while he and a co-worker were on their way to the plant from a local motel, his car hit a patch of ice and crashed.
Daugherty suffered severe injuries from this car accident and sought workers compensation benefits to alleviate struggles to pay medical bills while recovering. After reviewing his case, the Illinois Workers Compensation Commission ruled that he should receive compensation even though he was not at work at the time of the accident.
Last December, the Supreme Court of Illinois reversed the decision. With a vote of 6 to 1, Daugherty was denied workers compensation benefits because he made a personal decision to relocate to the motel near his job. The ruling made a distinction that a personal decision is very different than a directive from an employer. The dissenting vote was cast by Justice Thomas Kilbride who believed that Daugherty should be classified as a “traveling employee” given his temporary status at the power plant.
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9631 W. 153rd St., Suite 32, Orland Park, IL 60462
708-966-2408
