Sauk Rapids Workers' Compensation Law Blog

Laboratory workers in Minnesota may face serious dangers at work, especially if they handle biological, chemical, radioactive or other toxins on the job. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), there are over 500,000 lab workers in the United States. OSHA has issued laboratory standards to provide federal guidelines for workplace safety in order to protect these workers from physical injuries, toxic exposure and occupational disease. The guidelines apply to a variety of laboratory settings, including academic labs, chemical storage rooms and loading docks for laboratories.

These OSHA regulations are mandatory for employers operating labs where hazardous chemicals are used. Employers have a responsibility to make a plan for the management of toxic substances and train employees to handle them properly. In some cases, they may need to provide personal protective equipment in order to minimize the risks of exposure. Workers also need to be trained on maximum exposure limits and other specific guidelines. In some cases, there are specific OSHA regulations for the use of chemicals like benzene or methylene chloride, while workers engaging with reproductive toxins or carcinogens may also require higher levels of protection.

Fall protection violations are the most widely cited of all OSHA violations. This is unsettling when one considers how falls are responsible for 15% of worker deaths in general and 33% of construction worker deaths in particular. Every year, work-related falls cost Minnesota and the rest of the U.S. around $7 billion in workers' compensation claims and medical care.

OSHA and three other government agencies have come up with a three-step plan for preventing fall injuries and deaths. It all starts with planning. Employers should know ahead of time when employees will be working on elevated surfaces. People can be injured or killed even 6 feet off the ground, so employers should not underestimate the safety risks in a given job. Elevated surfaces include ladders, scaffolding, cranes and trees.

Suppose that you are a long-time construction worker. You have had few injuries, but when you fell off a ladder and suffered damage to your spinal cord, you began looking at life in a new light.

A spinal cord injury can dramatically change your life. Treatment is often a long, slow process and extremely expensive. You will need help to cover the costs both now and in the future.

From 2017 to 2018, the number of work-related fatalities in the U.S. rose 2% from 5,147 to 5,250. This is according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS states that the rate of work-related fatalities remains the same: 3.5% per 100,000 FTE (full-time equivalent) workers. Employees in Minnesota, regardless of their industry, will want to know more.

Drivers, sales workers and truckers saw the most number of work-related deaths. Transportation incidents were the most common of all fatal incidents, making up 40% of them. There was an increase of 12% in the number of deaths arising from unintentional non-medical drug overdoses or alcohol overconsumption and of 11% in work-related suicides.