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Why Do We Have Workers’ Compensation Laws?

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    Why Do We Have Workers’ Compensation Laws?

    By Ted Bowman of Gallon, Takacs, Boissoneault & Schaffer Co., L.P.A. Posted in Workers' Compensation on Wednesday, February 13, 2013.

    Before the enactment of workers’ compensation laws, work related injuries were governed by the common law of torts. An employee injured on the job could sue the employer for damages. In order to recover, the injured employee or the dependents of an employee killed in an industrial accident had to prove that the employer was liable under common law negligence principles, for causing the accident. In many cases, the employer could escape liability under one or more of a trio of defenses. The defense of “contributory negligence” held that if the injured employee’s own negligence contributed, however slightly, to the accident, there could be no recovery. The “fellow servant rule” prevented recovery if the injury or death resulted from the negligence of a co-worker, and the “assumption of the risk” doctrine barred recovery if the injured or deceased worker was aware of the dangers of the job.

    Under the common law, the injured workers or their surviving family members very rarely recovered. In the early days of the twentieth century, a study of 370 fatal work-related injuries in Cuyahoga County revealed that the survivors recovered damages or received a settlement in only 36 per cent of these cases. The average recovery was less than $850.00. A study of non-fatal injuries during the same period showed that in these cases less than 2o per cent of the injured workers ever made any recovery.

    Workers’ compensation laws were enacted in Ohio because it came to be widely believed that the common law tort system was inadequate to meet the problems associated with work-related injuries in an increasingly industrialized economy. The vast majority of work-related accidents resulted in no recovery of lost wages and medical bills, and in the few cases where some recovery was made, it was typically inadequate to compensate for the economic loss caused by the accident. Workers’ compensation laws, which provide for payment of medical bills and at least partial replacement of lost wages resulting from a work-related injury without regard to negligence or fault, were adopted throughout the United States because the common law system often resulted in injured workers and their families being reduced to poverty.

    Why it is important to bring up what, to many, may seem like ancient history? My answer is “People who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.” Legislation limiting the types of injuries covered by workers’ compensation has been common over the last twenty years. Vocational rehabilitation programs rarely make a serious effort to help workers who will never be able to return to their previous jobs to gain the knowledge and skills they need to make a successful transition to a new occupation. Court decisions have developed a body of law on the subject of “voluntary abandonment of employment” which often results in injured workers being denied compensation for reasons having nothing to do with whether their work-related injuries have left them unable to work.

    A century ago, lawmakers in Ohio were committed as a matter of public policy to workers’ compensation laws to prevent injured workers and their families from being reduced to poverty. Today, there is reason to ask whether that commitment survives.

    Tags : workers' comp
    Related Post :   What types of work injury compensation benefits am I eligible for in Ohio? , 6 Workplace Injury Prevention Tips , When and How to File a Work Injury Report , Make Sure You Do These 5 Things After You are Injured on the Job , Causes of Common Injuries at Work ,

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    • Hunter suffers shotgun wounds to leg in hunting accident – $300,000 (insurance limits)

      Hunting/Gun Accidents
    • Young father and husband suffers crush injuries from defective cornpicker – $475,000

      Man struck and killed when bolt breaks on grain auger – $400,000

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      Blind man falls on steps at rented property resulting in severe injuries – $450,000

      17 year old paralyzed after second floor porch rail fails resulting in fall to concrete below – $400,000 (insurance limits)

      Slip & Fall
    • $725,000 – Neurosurgeon negligence resulting in permanent injury

      $300,000 – Obstetric nurse failed to recognize signs of fetal distress, resulting in the death of the fetus

      $275,000 – Family physician negligently failed to treat infection in a patient with prosthetic heart valve resulting in death

      Family practice physician failed to recognize and treat MRSA infection, resulting in serious injury for woman requiring skin grafting and permanent need for pain medication – $225,000

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      $400,000 (bankrupt default) – Man crushed to death in giant stamping press when safety switch fails

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      $1,000,000 (policy limits) – Man dies following severe burns in steel mill ladle incident –

      $750,000 – Man severely injured when pallets that are improperly loaded, fall and strike him in the head

      $400,000 – Electrical pole falls at jobsite, causing severe injury

      $390,000 – Bolt from cut off steel beam falls from rafter, striking worker below, causing neck injury

      $300,000 (bankrupt default) – Man killed on unguarded automatic welding machine

      $300,000 – Improperly guarded production line press fires unexpectedly, causing partial loss of three fingers

      $265,000 – Man suffers severe ankle and leg fracture following fall from roofing job after employer failed to provide fall prevention safety equipment

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    • $1,000,000 (policy limits) – Retired autoworker suffers leg amputation and severe injury to other leg and arm when semi truck swerves left of center and hits small pickup head on

      $650,000 – Construction worker on way to job site critically injured when semi truck overturns on Ohio turnpike entrance ramp

      $600,000 – Semi truck runs red light, causing collision and causing arm injuries, multiple surgeries and permanent limitations

      Truck Accidents
    • $2,500,000 – Pick up truck loses control on icy turnpike, causing violent crash resulting in disabling injuries Learn More

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    • $1,250,000 – Truck pulling equipment trailer fails to yield at stop sign and kills motorcycle rider

      Motorcycle Accidents
    • $2,440,000 – Truck driver suffers crush injury to foot, when steel falls from loaded trailer

      $2,250,000 – Wrongful death of man at construction site due to crane accident

      $1,500,000 – Injury at construction site, resulting in broken leg, multiple surgeries and nerve damage

      $1,100,000 – Crane failure resulting in death

      $800,000 – Construction worker falls to death at steel mill construction project through unguarded opening in catwalk 50 feet off the ground

      $700,000 – Crane injury at construction site, resulting in nerve damage

      $700,000 – Wrongful death of worker at jobsite by defective crane

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