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Unfortunately, you forgot to mention that the legal term which has to be proved is "willful negligence," a much more difficult thing to prove than the fact of simple negligence due to claimed ignorance of the potential harm.
Isn't it willful if it happens repeatedly? In post #3, the OP states that the machine that disfigured him has never been fixed: "The machine was modified but still sprung metal rods out once in a while, even so, afterwards."
Obviously the company is NOT ignorant of the injury to the OP, yet the machine continues to spew out metal rods afterward. There is no excuse for this. It is willful negligence.
The company's cavalier response to the OP's injury indicates to me that his injury wasn't the first one caused by that machine. A good investigation would probably reveal at least one prior incident similar to the OP's.
Are you lacking in your ability to know how to work safely? I don't mean to minimize the employers responsibility to provide a safe workplace, but some tasks are dangerous and it takes a special awareness of how things can go wrong to work safely.
There was a news story today about an employee who fell into a meat grinder at a food processing plant.
Probably the worst case scenario but things like this can happen from time to time, in factories.
My nightmare fuel is the three timber guys who were cleaning out a debarking grinder (think gigantic rock polisher-***-garbage disposal) when it turned itself on, with no one outside to switch it off. I don't recall ever hearing an explanation for the accident.
There are lots of dangers in manufacturing - anywhere there are moving conveyor belts, chemicals being used, hot temperatures, sharp metal parts - there's a bigger chance for injuries unless the company is scrupulous in following regulations. And when inspections are few, self-policing is relied upon, and penalties are low - we all know the cost-cutting that occurs. Self-regulation doesn't work - just like the fox guarding the henhouse doesn't work.
And when inspections are few, self-policing is relied upon, and penalties are low - we all know the cost-cutting that occurs. Self-regulation doesn't work - just like the fox guarding the henhouse doesn't work.
Read the recent reports about how many corners Boeing cuts on self-inspecting their assembly work? Try jagged metal edges in wiring compartments, caused by a rush process and a willingness to use a type of fastener that promotes them... and everyone knows, and it's all papered over. Yay deregulation.
The OSHA standard is pretty comprehensive for general industry but safety in manufacturing facilities pretty much comes down to how good of a job the individual company does in creating a safe environment through physical factors (machine guarding, etc) employee factors (training) and systemic factors such as having clear cut policies. It also has a lot to do with the management; a company can have the best safety program in the world on paper but if the management doesn't support it or overlooks safety issues then it is pretty much worthless.
My entire career has been in manufacturing in one capacity or another and I've been at companies that do a great job with safety and have had the misfortune to work at one place that didn't give a flying flip about safety. The company that didn't care about safety eventually ended up with a fatality due to a repeat willful OSHA violation and that location was closed down as a result.
Most manufacturers want to have a safe work environment because it is the right thing to do, employees are more likely to stay at a place where they feel safe, no company wants to pay tons of OSHA fines/workers compensation costs, and there are a growing number of customer companies that won't do business with manufacturers who have high injury rates.
I handle the safety function at my division and it is taken seriously. If an employee sees something unsafe or reports a concern it is looked into right away.
I have no sympathy for companies that blatantly disregard the safety of their employees. They deserve every bit of trouble they have coming.
Are you lacking in your ability to know how to work safely? I don't mean to minimize the employers responsibility to provide a safe workplace, but some tasks are dangerous and it takes a special awareness of how things can go wrong to work safely.
Well I am not an expert on how the machines work so if they go shooting out metal rods into people or cause a chain reaction of events to cause my arm to sprain, I don't know enough about that to see them coming.
I am taught on the job, how the machines work and how to operate, but as far as predicting what kind of freak malfunctions could occur, I don't know enough about the actual engineering of them to predict those I guess.
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