Workplace injury

Millions of employees go to work everyday with a sense of trust that employers will safeguard their health and welfare. On occasion, accidents and injuries can occur on the job. When these injuries could have been prevented or are the result of oversight by the employer, action deserves to be taken.

While Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has the oversight to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards, be aware that a workplace injury, while the result of an employer or third party negligence, may not necessarily be the result of an OSHA violation. 

Third party negligence occurs when an employee has sustained an on-the-job injury caused by someone other than the employer or a fellow employee and may include instances such as traffic accidents, defective products, defective equipment, or the exposure to toxic substances. Every on-the-job injury should be evaluated to determine if a third-party claim exists.

There are numerous laws and programs, such as worker’s compensation, that affect workplace safety and the victim’s ability to recover for a workplace injury. An attorney can help navigate the numerous aspects of a workplace injury claim.

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Mesothelioma the tiger

Mesotheliomas are aggressive tumors arising from the thin layer of tissue that covers most internal organs, like the lungs, and the abdominal cavity. 

When a genetic mutation turns off the normal life cycle and death rate of a cell, they abnormal cells multiply out of control and accumulate to form a mass called a tumor. When these cancerous cells break off form the tumor and travel to other body parts, it is called metastasis.

Mesothelioma risk is believed to be higher in people who are exposed to high levels of asbestos, have long term exposure to asbestos or have had exposure to asbestos at a young age. On the other hand, not everybody who has had significant exposure to asbestos will develop mesothelioma. There may be some underlying genetic risk factor that is not yet understood. The danger comes when workers in the process of mining, removing insulation or otherwise working with asbestos create a dust that settles in the lungs or stomach. By a mechanism still unknown, the dust causes an irritation that leads to cellular genetic mutations. 

Although asbestos is still used in a limited number of industries, the federal government limits the amount of asbestos fibers workers may be exposed to and sets rules to protect workers. A great deal of litigation has centered upon workers who developed mesothelioma.

Patients most frequently present with abdominal pain. It takes a biopsy, a surgical procedure to remove a small portion of tissue for laboratory examination, to definitively diagnose mesothelioma. For patients with mesothelioma, surgery to remove as completely as possible cancerous areas is the primary treatment. Supplementary strategies include cryotherapy, immunotherapy and chemotherapy.

A cancer diagnosis is devastating to the whole family. Grief and sadness are to be expected. In the tumult of traipsing between physicians, take control of your precious time by becoming an educated patient.

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Government to Screen for Black Lung in West Virginia Miners

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is providing free health screenings to coal miners in 16 West Virginia counties to provide early detection of pneumoconiosis.

Pneumoconiosis, also know as "black lung," is a serious but preventable lung disease. It is caused by inhaling coal dust. There are few early symptoms of the disease, but as it progresses, it can cause lung scarring and shortness of breath. Some people who develop serious cases of black lung become disabled or die.

The disease is not curable but it is preventable.

Under the Federal Mine Safety & Health Act of 1977, all working underground coal miners are eligible for free chest x-ray screenings.

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Controversial Workers’ Compensation Reform Measures in Louisiana

A letter writer to The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, Lousiana, explains why proposed workers’ comp reform in his state is a bad idea.

One of the most controversial parts of the proposed Louisiana reform centers around patient choice. Reform advocates want to take away a worker’s right to choose his or her treating physician – something many states have already done – and require him or her to go to an approved doctor.

The writer argues: “Bottom line: All of the proposed changes will harm injured workers.”

He writes further, “It will put people on Medicaid, Medicare and welfare. It's just another example of the promotion of special interests over the rights of the working class. I write this letter for the injured workers who may not even know their rights hang in the balance. It could happen to you. Call your legislators.”

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Mesothelioma: Cancer and Asbestos

Cancer is hardly a condition that anyone wishes to deal with and when cancer is diagnosed it can be heartbreaking. However, when it is discovered that cancer is a result of a third party's negligence a feeling of anger can overcome the diagnosed individual. Such is the case with mesothelioma which is a cancer derived from exposure to asbestos. If a building is infested with asbestos and the building management did not take the steps to remove the asbestos then those who were exposed to it may have a case for a lawsuit. In fact, they would have a very strong case.

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Removing Asbestos and Reducing the Threat of Mesothelioma

If you have discovered the presence of asbestos on your property you will need to have it removed as soon as possible. This is because exposure to asbestos can lead to the development of the cancer mesothelioma. As such, any asbestos removal company that is hired to remove the dangerous material positively must do an effective job. Remember, if the asbestos is not completely removed and the dwellers of the property have been assured it was removed then the removal company can be held liable. Actually, they SHOULD be held liable and if you have procured the services of such a negligible company you should seek proper action.

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Mesothelioma and Employee Liability

When it comes to employees rights all employee have a right to work in a safe environment and that includes an environment free of exposure to asbestos. Unfortunately, not all employers take the proper steps to safeguard their employee's safety and can put them at risk to asbestos exposure. These employers are also putting themselves at severe liability risk as well as they can find themselves sued for putting their employees in jeopardy. No reasonably responsible employer would place anyone under their supervision in direct path of a cancer causing agent. Any employer that does do this, however, should face the consequences.

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Understanding Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is one of the most dangerous forms of cancer that a patient can suffer from yet even knowledgeable health care professionals are unfamiliar with this form of cancer. In general, when someone inhales asbestos it collects in the lungs and causes severe scarring. Additionally, asbestos fibers remain in the lungs where they cancerous mutations might develop in the lungs. Worst of all, these mutations can spread to other organs in the body where they inflict serious and irreparable harm. It goes without saying this is a serious and deadly condition to develop and the need for raising public awareness about the dangers of this cancer and its relationship to asbestos is critical.

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Tainted Drinking Water inTexas

Besides asbestos, we have introduced many other toxis substances into our daily lives. Read this story about drinking water in Texas...

Is There a Link Between Benzene, Leukemia and the Water in Bethany?While we take clean water for granted, in some towns in Texas contamination of ground water is a big problem.

Since the United States is not a third world country, its citizens automatically assume that clean water is as American as apple pie…in a perfect world – maybe. That is -- unless they live in a small town in Texas called Bethany. Like what was seen in the popular movie, Erin Brockovich, water sources can become dangerously tainted and cause severe injuries to those exposed to those sources or who rely on those water sources for drinking water.

One type of problem that water can cause - and which has been the source of litigation in Texas, due to the large number of oil refineries - is Benzene. Benzene is a sweet-smelling, but highly toxic, chemical solvent derived from petroleum. Benzene is used to manufacture a wide variety of products, including gasoline. Benzene can cause cancer, and has been directly linked to leukemia (bone marrow cancer) with chronic exposure. Even short-term exposure can cause headaches, dizziness, confusion and sometimes death when benzene is breathed or ingested. For example, as reported in the New York Times, July 9, 2006, Texas Lawsuit Includes a Mix of Race and Water, for decades people in the East Texas town of DeBerry, have been unable to drink, cook or bathe safely from their own wells.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its Toxics Release Inventory, releases of benzene to water and land totalled over 2 million lbs from 1987 to 1992. These releases were primarily from petroleum refining industries, with the greatest releases occurring in Texas.

With this being known by the EPA, why then did it take more than four years of persistence from residents in the Texas town Bethany, going through a bureaucratic nightmare, to have clean water to drink?The facts established by the EPA for the town of Bethany show contamination from an abandoned saltwater well injection disposal site.

What does a small town have to go through to get clean water to drink?This case in point, involving Bethany (and DeBerry) was recently reported in the Shreveport Times on June 15, 2007 in an article entitled "Small East Texas community finally will get clean drinking water". It took years, and the determined efforts of Rev. David Hudson of the Church of the Living God near Bethany, to get clean water to drink. Recently, Rev. Hudson announced that the EPA will pay to have a main water line installed. Letters detailing complaints on the well site date back to 1996. It wasn't until 2003 that the EPA deemed groundwater along the road unsafe to drink after high levels of hazardous chemicals such as barium, mercury, and arsenic, showed up in various samplings. The EPA started providing bottled water at no charge in August 2005 and will continue to do so until clean water is flowing.

According to these news reports, Hudson and his neighbors filed their suit against Basic Energy Services, the last user of the disposal site containing the salt water well injection disposal site. The site had been shut down in early 2005. The lawsuit was settled out of court in June 2006.
Then an assessment petition was filed with the EPA, requesting the agency conduct a preliminary assessment of the groundwater contamination. A multitude of water samples taken by a number of agencies over the years from the private water wells, natural springs, and the host of monitoring wells spread across the neighborhood resulting in a laundry list of contaminants being detected.

At this point the public has to wonder how much testing do they need to determine that water is too contaminated to drink?

Finally, samples were studied by labs across the country without bias. This was important because the findings determined that the private water wells only tested positive for fecal bacteria. The natural springs and monitoring wells were contaminated with metals and radioactive materials that exceeded levels considered safe for drinking water such as benzene by-products of oil and gas production.

According to the Shreveport Times article, seven families living on County Road 329 on the Texas-Louisiana line between Bethany and DeBerry, will get immediate relief from a new water line. According to the article, the Railroad Commission of Texas, an oil regulatory agency, kept saying that the water is not contaminated. The residents feel that the RC is not doing their job and needs overseeing. Much of this is also detailed in a federal lawsuit, filed by Longview, Texas, attorney Greg Love, that alleges that the Railroad Commission violated the community’s civil rights by denying clean drinking water while having full knowledge of the violations. Several of his clients have alleged that they ingested the contaminated waste water for years and have cancer.

This waste is mostly oily saltwater used in drilling. The waste contains substances such as sludge from storage pits and tank bottoms, used glycol, amine, and hydrogen sulfide scrubber liquid. There are at least 26 acknowledged chemicals in the waste, including such known carcinogens as benzene and one category listed as – other. Oddly enough, oil and gasoline are not categorized as hazardous waste

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