California Injury Blog

A 26-year-old worker at Ceradyne’s Irvine facility was critically injured in an industrial accident after being hit with flying shrapnel on November 22, 2008, The Orange County Register reports. The worker, who remains unidentified, suffered traumatic injuries to his head and body and remains in the hospital in “gravely critical condition”. This 11/22/08 Irvine construction accident happened on the 17000 block of Daimler Street.

According to initial reports from the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), a machine at Ceradyne’s facility failed causing the flying shrapnel to hit the worker in the abdomen, thigh and the head. Costa Mesa based Ceradyne develops and manufactures “advanced technical ceramic products and components for defense, industrial, automotive, nuclear, electronic and medical markets,” according to the company’s Web site.

This is a tragic accident and my heart goes out to this worker and his family. I pray for his speedy and complete recovery.

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Four construction workers were injured in a Northridge scaffolding collapse accident on November 21, 2008, according to this CBS news report. The construction accident occurred at the four-story Village apartment complex that was under construction on the 9300 block of Corbin Avenue.

Investigators from the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA) are looking into how and why this accident occurred. They are apparently looking into whether all procedures were followed and whether the workers were wearing harnesses at the time of the accident. The men, who have not been identified, took a three-story fall. One man was critically injured, two others suffered moderate injuries and one suffered minor injuries.

It is indeed a relief this 11/21/08 construction site scaffolding accident did not end in fatalities and I wish all four of these workers the very best for a speedy and complete recovery. It is sad that these were just hard-working men who were injured because of someone else’s negligence.

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The 37-year-old driver of a forklift suffered severe burn injuries on November 3, 2008 after he accidentally backed into a gas main and causing an explosion, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports. The man, who has not yet been identified, was delivering supplies to a business in the 500 block of North Howard Avenue in Covina when the 11/3/08 accident occurred. The forklift driver suffered second-degree burns to his arms and legs. He is expected to survive.

Los Angeles fire officials said the worker was very lucky to survive this horrific accident. They are right - this accident could have been a lot worse. I wish this worker the very best for a speedy and complete recovery.

According to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), forklifts cause about 85 fatal accidents each year and about 34,900 forklift accidents result in serious injury. Industrial Truck Association statistics show that there are about 855,900 forklifts in the United States. This means more than 11 percent of all forklifts will be involved in some type of accident each year.

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Jacob Gaines, 24, of Bakersfield and Manuel Villagomez, 38, of Elk Grove died in a Paso Robles construction accident on October 2, 2008 after an excavator hit a water line and submerged both men who were working on a pipeline. According to an article in The Bakersfield Californian, the accident occurred at the intersection of Niblick and South River roads when Gaines and Villagomez were working in a trench.

The San Luis Obispo County Coroner’s officials say that the men most likely drowned; autopsy results are pending. Both Gaines and Villagomez were employees of Teichert Construction, a Sacramento-based company. Work on the pipeline has been suspended as investigators from the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health are looking into what caused this tragic 10/2/08 construction accident.

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A 35-year-old worker suffered severe burn injuries in an Oceanside construction accident Sept. 9 after a plastic can filled with gasoline caught on fire. The worker was trying to refill a gas-powered chain saw when the accident happened. The San Diego Union-Tribune was our source for this blog.

The injured victim, who has still not been identified, was working with a crew that was building a skate park within Martin Luther King Jr. Park on Mesa Drive. According to Oceanside Police Sgt. Kelan Poorman the construction worker was trying to refill the hot chainsaw using a one-gallon plastic container of gasoline and the heat from the chainsaw must have ignited the fumes coming from the can. The construction worker suffered burns over 50 percent of his lower extremities, Poorman said.

Please keep this injured construction worker in your prayers. Had this man received more training on how to handle a chainsaw or how to safely refuel the tool, this accident could have been prevented. It’s tragic!

The injured worker will be entitled to receive workers’ compensation benefits through his employer. His employer, very likely, is a contractor who is constructing the skate park for the City of Oceanside. Still worker’s compensation benefits in California are pitifully low. They’re definitely not enough to compensate an injured victim for medical bills, medication and loss of wages.

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Sixteen people were injured – three critically – when wooden scaffolding covering a Downtown San Diego pedestrian walkway collapsed along a housing construction site Aug. 28, according to this 10News report. Paramedics reportedly transported three people, a 50-year-old man and two women, ages 57 and 60, to an area hospital to treat what was classified as “life-threatening” injuries. At least 12 others are receiving treatment for moderate to minor injuries from the San Diego Construction Accident.

State investigations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (CAL-OSHA) are investigating this incident to find out what caused it and how it occurred. The builder of the affordable housing project, Allgire General Contractors Inc. of Carlsbad, closed the site down immediately after the collapse and ordered that all work be stopped at the site until an investigation is complete and adequate safety measures are taken. All victims were between 16 and 64 years old, the report said.

According to OSHA’s statistics, an average of 88 deaths occurred between the years 2000 and 2004 from scaffolds collapsing. In a Bureau of Labor and Statistics study, 72 percent of workers injured in scaffold accidents attributed the accident either to the planking or support giving way. OSHA has very specific standards when it comes to scaffolds and how they must be constructed and secured.

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