Work injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Block O’Toole & Murphy are constantly assisting victims of workplace accidents, particularly injured construction workers. Frequently it requires dealing with The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and securing their investigative reports about an accident. These reports are crucial in prosecuting a construction accident case and protecting an injured worker’s rights. The Labor Department is now debating whether to make these records public.
The construction accident lawyers have a few observations about this:
#1-it will have a chilling impact eliminating or softening worker safety laws because some of the safety lapses commonly seen in these reports will astonish the lay person. The wealthy developers and contractors that profit from construction will really hesitate pushing reform if everyone can see how changing these laws will place innocent hardworking people in harm’s way.
#2-it will reveal the repeat offenders. like in any profession, there are good and safe developers and contractors and there are the not-so-good ones. Those are the developers and contractors who will repeatedly place helpless workers in dangerous positions to finish a job faster at the expense of doing a job the safe way.
#3-it will expose how immigrant and minority workers are consistently placed in the most dangerous positions and suffer the greatest number of accidents. the most vulnerable workers are the ones taken advantage of the most as well.
#4-is more of a question . . . Will it reduce the number of workplace accidents? We hope the bright lights being shined on the dangerous workplace practices – – when the public can truly participate in the discussion and see things firsthand – – will make developers and contractors more likely to follow the rules.
Block O’Toole & Murphy is a law firm that prides itself on helping injured workers. The firm is regarded as one of the premier personal injury and construction accident law firms in the entire state of New York. They have recovered more than $700,000,000 in verdicts and settlements on behalf of injured victims. To learn more about these aggressive and experienced trial lawyers, please see their website at www.blockotoole.com. For a free consultation, please call 212-736-5300.
Source: ABC News