Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorneys Discuss Line Work Accidents

A Florida man died in November when he was electrocuted while working on a power line. Co-workers attempted to perform CPR on the man, and he was transported to a hospital after rescue workers arrived at the accident scene. The man died at the hospital as a result of his injuries.

Line work is one of the ten most dangerous professions. This is not surprising, because line workers work with or near electrical wires, and they often work in rain, snow, and other severe weather to restore service to homes and businesses that have lost power. Even when there are no power outages, line workers are busy installing, repairing, and maintaining the electric and utility lines that bring power, telephone, television, and internet to businesses and homes. Line workers do a diverse assortment of tasks in their work, from trimming trees and setting poles to stringing wires, splicing and soldering cables, replacing worn or damaged components of the electrical and utility distribution systems, and inspecting and testing lines.

For every one hundred thousand people who work on utility lines each year, there are between thirty and fifty fatalities. In addition to workplace fatalities, line workers experience a high risk of on-the-job injuries. Electrocution is an obvious risk of line work. The risk of falls, fires and explosions, musculoskeletal trauma, confined space injuries, and stress-related injuries are also present on line work job sites. Electrical burns and mechanical injuries lead the list of the types of injuries suffered by line workers on the job. Some injured utility workers even lose limbs because of workplace accidents.

Many utility companies acknowledge the high level of risk associated with line work. Still, the injury and fatality rate for the profession is slow to drop despite their increased efforts to improve employee safety. While some companies have improved their employee training programs, others have not, and employees who are not adequately trained to perform this dangerous work pose a danger to others as well as to themselves because line workers work in groups. Sometimes, safety equipment is not maintained in good repair, or line work vehicles are not in good working condition. These issues increase the risk of a line work accident, as does the cumulative stress of working long hours, which often happens for line workers, especially during storms and widespread power outages.

A line work injury can keep you out of work for quite some time. Medical bills can pile up if you have to miss work while you heal, and you may face uncertainty about whether you will recover enough to be able to return to doing line work. If you were injured in a line work accident or if you lost a family member in a line work accident, know that you do not have to navigate the daunting process of filing a workplace injury or death claim alone. Call the Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC at 1 (800) 707-9577 to learn more.

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Mississippi Personal Injury Attorneys Say Vaping Linked to At Least One Mississippi Death

Numerous illnesses and deaths related to vaping have been reported across America over the past few months. Unfortunately, Mississippi has not been spared the impact of this growing public health crisis. The state health department says that earlier this year, a vaping-related death claimed the life of a young Mississippi resident.

Many of the people who are being injured and killed in vaping-related incidents across America are young. The person who died from vaping in Mississippi was under thirty years of age, and there are at least four people in Mississippi who are between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four who have suffered severe lung injuries because of vaping. Vaping has been marketed as a smoking cessation method. Still, its safety and effectiveness are being called into question as more and more people who use e-cigarettes are getting sick. E-Cigarette companies are facing lawsuits related to their advertising, which is alleged to promote e-cigarette use by teens.

As of September 19, seven people in six different states were reported to have died as the result of vaping, and another five hundred and thirty reported vaping-related lung injuries. There is a nationwide investigation underway to assess the risk of severe pulmonary disease and lung injury associated with vaping. The risks related to using vaping products that contain THC may be more severe than the risks associated with products that contain only nicotine. It is important to note that all vaping products are likely to produce some degree of risk.

The investigation into vaping-related illnesses and injuries is proving difficult and complicated, as there are so many vaping products available from a wide variety of manufacturers. Adding to the complexity of the situation is the black market for e-cigarette cartridges, which makes it hard for investigators to determine what ingredients are in cartridges that were purchased on the black market. One particular ingredient, diacetyl, has been identified as a possible cause of vaping-related illnesses and deaths. Exposure to diacetyl can cause a potentially fatal disease called bronchiolitis obliterans. The chemical is widely used in the flavoring industry, and some food industry workers who manufacture popcorn and coffee, two foods that are often chemically flavored, have been found to have the disease. Diacetyl is a common ingredient in e-cigarettes, which is why it is being examined as a possible culprit in vaping-related injuries and deaths.

Public health officials are suggesting that people discontinue their use of all kinds of vaping products and get immediate medical attention if they experience any sighs of vaping-related illness or injury. Chest pain, shortness of breath, coughing, fever, vomiting, nausea, fatigue, and diarrhea are some of the symptoms that have been reported by people who have suffered vaping-related illnesses. E-cigarette sales have already been banned in at least twenty-eight other countries. Several cities and states are working on legislation that would limit access to e-cigarette products and pull flavored vaping products, which make the products very appealing to teens, off the market.

E-cigarette injury law is an emerging area of personal injury law. Some individuals who have been hurt or killed by e-cigarettes are pursuing litigation against e-cigarette manufacturers. To learn more about how our Mississippi Personal Injury Attorneys can support you in pursuing your personal injury claim, please call our office today at 1 (800) 707-9577 to schedule a free initial consultation.

 

 

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Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorneys Discuss What Automobile Accident Attorneys Can Do For Accident Victims

Automobile accidents can cause a lot of stress and strain on top of any pain you are experiencing as a result of the crash. Your life was busy before you got in a wreck, and you may wonder how you’ll handle all of the responsibilities that were already on your plate as you recover from your injuries. Fortunately, you do not have to bear the burden of getting your life back on track after a car crash on your own. Mississippi automobile accident attorneys can help you with some of the daunting tasks that you are facing.

To receive the greatest amount of benefit from working with a Mississippi automobile accident attorney, contact several attorneys as soon as you can after your accident. Look for someone who is available to handle your automobile accident case, and meet with one or more attorneys that are available before selecting the attorney that you feel is best able to help you. When you turn over the tedious and frustrating work of pursuing an automobile accident claim to an automobile accident attorney, you free up your time so that you can focus on doing what you need to do to heal from any injuries you received in the accident.

Automobile accident attorneys are skilled professionals who are adept at navigating the automobile accident claims process. They know when a proposed settlement offer is not adequate, and they know how to negotiate with insurers to obtain a more fair result. Automobile accident attorneys know how to obtain the information they’ll need to support the claim that they make on your behalf, and they know how to present that information to the insurer in a way that supports your claim.

Some automobile accident victims attempt to contact the insurance company themselves and pursue an automobile accident claim. While insurers would have you believe that you, as an individual, can file a claim for damages, they make it difficult to do so successfully. For example, it is often difficult for people to locate and obtain medical records and other types of evidence that they could use to support their claim. Because the insurance claims process is so hard to navigate, many accident victims who have filed their own claims end up frustrated, exhausted, and without a settled claim for much longer than they need to. If you are in this situation, an automobile accident attorney may be able to help you. They can pursue a claim for damages on your behalf, and they can spend their time calling, emailing, and otherwise pursuing the insurer until your case is resolved.

If you were hurt or if someone in your family was killed in a motor vehicle wreck, you do not have to bear the burden of pursuing an automobile accident claim during this difficult time in your life. We’re here to help. Call the Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC at 1 (800) 707-9577 to arrange an initial consultation.

 

 

 

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Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorneys Remind Drivers to Be Careful in Parking Lots

While many motor vehicle accidents happen on the road, collisions do occur in other places such as parking lots. As many as one in five car crashes occurs in a parking lot. With the holiday shopping season in full swing, parking lots everywhere are busier than usual, and accident risk in parking lots is at its peak. Approximately five hundred people die, and sixty thousand people are hurt in parking lot collisions each year.

Before you embark on your next journey to the store, the mall, your work parking garage, or any other place where you’ll be parking in a lot, take time to learn more about parking lot accidents and how you can reduce the likelihood that you will be involved in one. Understanding the causes of parking lot accidents can help you make safe choices as you navigate parking lots. For example, it is estimated that distracted drivers cause up to two-thirds of parking lot accidents. In addition to distractions like cell phones that can cause trouble for drivers both on the road and in parking lots, drivers in parking lots are often so focused on locating a parking space that they fail to see vehicles and pedestrians nearby. Driving in a crowded parking lot can be frustrating. Still, it is worth taking the extra time to reduce your accident risk by driving slowly and maintaining an awareness of everything that is going on around you as you navigate the busy aisles looking for a parking space. Sometimes, drivers are inappropriately aggressive when attempting to claim a parking spot. If this happens, it’s not worth risking a collision by trying to pull into a parking place that an aggressive driver is trying to claim. Yes, it is frustrating, but it’s preferable to possibly being injured or damaging your vehicle in a crash.

When you arrive at the end of an aisle, or you locate your parking spot, do not forget to use your turn signal so that other drivers can anticipate the movement of your vehicle. If you manage to find a pull-through parking space amidst the holiday shopping chaos, here’s one more reason to celebrate – pulling out of a parking spot is much easier and safer than backing out of it. If you do park in a space that you must back out of, look behind your vehicle before backing up and check blind spots carefully.

Once you have safely parked your vehicle, you’ll want to make sure that you get into and out of the building safely. Keep your cell phone in your pocket or purse. If you’re distracted by looking at a screen while you are walking through the parking lot, you could step out into traffic or walk behind a vehicle that is backing out of a parking space. Children are often hurt in parking lot accidents because they are not tall enough to be seen out of the rear window of many vehicles. Keep kids close to you and hold their hand as you walk together through the parking lot.

Nearly fifteen percent of automobile accidents that cause damage occur in parking lots. If you were hurt or if your vehicle was damaged in a Mississippi parking lot accident, call the Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC, at 1 (800) 707-9577.

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Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys Says Disclosing Whistleblower Identity May Not Be Illegal But Won’t Be Without Consequence

There’s no denying the intense pressure that is coming from President Trump and others to reveal the name of the whistleblower whose complaint triggered the impeachment inquiry that is pending against the president. The building pressure to disclose the whistleblower’s identity gives rise to two critical questions regarding whistleblower protection. First, is revealing the identity of the Trump whistleblower illegal? Second, regardless of whether disclosing the whistleblower’s name is illegal, are there any consequences that the person or people who reveal the whistleblower’s name will suffer if they choose to disclose it?

Government officials within the intelligence and national security community report that for most individuals, disclosing the whistleblower’s name would not break any law. Unfortunately, it appears as though Congress has not built much protection for whistleblowers’ identities into federal law. The only person who is legally prohibited from disclosing the whistleblower’s name is the inspector general, as specified in the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998. It’s possible that protections for whistleblowers against disclosure by the president or members of Congress have not yet been made law because there has not, until now, been a need for it. Government officials report that over the years, presidents and others within the government have shown whistleblowers tremendous deference and respect, including refraining from naming them publicly. If the president publicly reveals the name of the whistleblower, it would be the first time in history that a president did so.

Fortunately, the potential consequences that might befall a person who chooses to reveal the identity of the Trump whistleblower could prove incentive enough to prevent that disclosure from happening. The possible consequences associated with disclosing the whistleblower’s identity are dependent upon who it is that does the disclosing. For example, if a member of Congress chooses to reveal the whistleblower’s identity, that member of Congress could face legislative sanctions and be removed from some or all of the committees that they are currently a part of. If the president decides to identify the whistleblower, members of the House of Representatives could draft an article of impeachment alleging retaliation against the whistleblower.

The president, government officials, and the media are not the only ones who could face consequences for identifying the Trump whistleblower. If a member of the general public reveals the whistleblower’s name and the whistleblower or anyone in their family suffers harm, the person who made the disclosure could be subject to a civil lawsuit by the whistleblower’s legal team.

The lack of federal protection for whistleblower anonymity that is being exposed by the present efforts to disclose the identity of the Trump whistleblower is likely to discourage other potential whistleblowers who are considering coming forward on any matter. The Mississippi Whistleblower Protection Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC continue to support whistleblowers in their efforts to expose waste, corruption, and fraud. To learn more about whistleblower protection, call us at 1 (800) 707-9577 to arrange an initial consultation with the Mississippi Whistleblower attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC.

 

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Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys Discuss Road Rage Truck Accidents

A November wreck involving an overturned cargo truck was allegedly the result of road rage. Fortunately, the driver of the overturned truck was not hurt. The Mississippi Highway Patrol is investigating the crash. A co-worker of the driver of the overturned vehicle claims another truck driver cut his co-worker off, causing the crash. The wreck happened just south of Terry, on Interstate 55.

Road rage accidents can be dangerous and even deadly, especially when one or more of the vehicles involved is a large truck. Truck drivers are trained professionals. They are responsible for operating their large vehicles safely in all kinds of road and weather conditions, as well as in traffic. When a truck driver loses their ability to continue driving safely even while they are experiencing anger or other negative emotions, there is a danger to the public as well as to the truck driver.

In 2016, a woman died in a trucking accident that has been attributed to road rage. The facts that describe the scenario that led up to the fatal wreck are shocking because many people are unaware that such things occur on America’s highways. Three trucks belonging to one company were traveling between Salt Lake City, Utah, and Eugene, Oregon. As they traveled, they encountered an RV. The RV is owned by another transportation company and was driven by a professional driver who holds a CDL license. Before the fatal crash, the three truck drivers and the driver of the RV had engaged in a perilous cat-and-mouse game on a two-lane highway. All four drivers were cutting each other off, driving aggressively, braking sharply, and passing each other, even in areas where passing was prohibited. In fact, in the seconds before the collision, one of the truck drivers attempted to pass the RV in a no-passing zone. When the truck driver realized there was a car approaching, he tried to return to the lane where he had been traveling. The driver of the RV maneuvered his vehicle in a way that prohibited the truck driver from moving back into the lane. The truck driver struck the car head-on, killing a woman and severely injuring her husband.

The two trucking companies whose vehicles were involved in the wreck and their drivers faced severe penalties as the result of the deadly crash. A judge recently upheld the jury’s award to the woman’s family, which exceeds twenty-six million dollars, and one of the truck drivers involved in the fatal collision pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter.

Truck drivers, like all drivers, must follow the rules of the road and operate their vehicles safely. If you were injured in a road rage trucking accident or a family member lost their life, you might be able to file a claim for the damages that you and your family have experienced in connection with the accident. Learn more about your options following a Mississippi road rage truck crash by calling the knowledgeable Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC, at 1 (800) 707-9577 today.

 

 

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Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorneys Discuss Workplace Accident Risks for Plumbers

Every job has specific risks associated with it. Plumbing does not make it to the top of lists of the most dangerous jobs, but there are many ways that plumbers can get hurt or even killed at work. An Australian man recently died in the hospital from injuries he received when a pressurized water pipe burst and struck him in the head. The man was working at the iMax theatre construction site at Darling Harbour. This fatal workplace accident is currently being investigated by authorities, who are concerned about several workplace safety concerns that have been reported at the Darling Harbour site. Earlier this year, a Nebraska plumber died when the ceiling of the building where he was working on fixing a leaky pipe collapsed and pinned him under the debris.

Plumbers sometimes have to work on ladders or scaffolding to reach pipes and other equipment that are in high places. There is a risk of falling from a height when a plumber does a job that requires the use of scaffolding or a ladder. Confined space injuries are a job site risk for plumbers, who sometimes must go into pits, ducts, and other places that do not have a safe level of oxygen. Severe injury and death can result when a plumber is unable to breathe or becomes trapped in a confined space like a collapsed trench with no way to escape.

Some of the tools that plumbers use regularly are rather heavy. Pipe wrenches can weigh a lot. When a plumber uses pipe wrenches and other heavy tools frequently, the strain that their body experiences from that work can add up over time to produce repetitive motion injuries like muscle strains, back injuries, or soft tissue damage. There is a great deal of bending, carrying, and lifting, in a plumber’s typical workday, and injuries can result when loads are too heavy, or lifting is done improperly.

Sometimes, plumbers must work in areas where water and electricity are present near each other. That is a dangerous combination and can result in severe or fatal injury from electrocution. Plumbers use torches for soldering, and they can get burned by the torch, hot pipes, and even the solder itself. Soldering and working with plastic and metal pipes involves a range of chemical compounds. Some of the chemicals that plumbers use can cause severe damage if they get into eyes, and could contribute to illness or injury if used over the long term or without proper ventilation. Plumbers also come into contact with sewage regularly. Many serious and potentially fatal diseases can occur as the result of contact with raw sewage or soil that is contaminated with sewage. Hepatitis, E. coli, giardiasis, and encephalitis are just some of the illnesses that plumbers could be exposed to through their work.

If you are a plumber who suffered an injury on the job, call the Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC today, at 1 (800) 707-9577.

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys Remind Us To Be Thankful For Whistleblowers

The holiday season is often associated with expressions of gratitude and thankfulness for the things in our lives that are good. Some of the good things in our lives are the result of the efforts of whistleblowers. Over the course of American history, whistleblowers have stepped forward and taken action to protect others by exposing government and corporate misconduct, often at a high cost to themselves and their families. As we give thanks this holiday season, let’s remember some of the ways that whistleblowers have improved the lives of Americans throughout history by standing up to America’s powerful corporations.

In 1974, Karen Silkwood died under mysterious circumstances after she testified before the Atomic Energy Commission regarding plutonium contamination in her body that occurred while she was working in a Kerr- McGee nuclear plant. Silkwood reported health and safety violations and described working conditions that had exposed her and her co-workers to dangerous radiation. At the time of her death, Karen Silkwood was preparing to go public with more evidence of her experience. Other nuclear-plant workers, including the GE-Three, reported unsafe conditions at other nuclear facilities and testified before Congress. The work done by nuclear power plant whistleblowers led to improvements in workplace safety for nuclear power plant workers.

Public knowledge about the dark side of cigarette manufacturing came about because Jeffrey Wigand spoke up despite threats to his life. Wigand appeared on 60 Minutes. During his interview, he said that the tobacco firm where he worked as a VP for research and development, Brown & Williamson, purposefully manipulated the level of nicotine in its cigarettes to make it more likely that smokers would become addicted to their product.

A pair of courageous women, Cynthia Cooper and Sherron Watkins, exposed fraudulent accounting at two giant corporations. As a result of the women’s efforts to expose the accounting frauds that they had witnessed, Worldcom and Enron both ended up in bankruptcy.

Some of the whistleblowers that have exposed fraud are less well known than the more widely publicized whistleblowers who were involved in situations with big-name businesses. Academic fraud threatens the integrity of American school systems, and courageous individuals have stepped forward to expose that fraud. For example, Brian Donlon blew the whistle on fraud within Maryland’s Montgomery County Public School System. Donlon’s situation also paved the way for Maryland to pass legislation protecting whistleblowers in public schools, although the new law does not protect Donlon himself because it is not retroactive. Mary Bozoyan experienced severe retaliation after exposing grade-fixing, cover-ups, stealing, and other misdeeds allegedly committed by the principal of a New York high school where she worked as a math teacher.

To learn more about whistleblower laws and whistleblower protection claims, call the seasoned Mississippi Whistleblower Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC today at 1 (800) 707-9577 to set up an initial consultation.

 

 

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys Say New Orleans Whistleblower Deported to Honduras

Whistleblowers are to be commended for their courage and willingness to come forward with information that can help others and protect them from harm. Unfortunately, between the time a whistleblower first reports a concern and the time the concern becomes publicly evident, tragedies can occur. A construction worker who had reported construction safety violations to his supervisor was seriously injured when the building he was working on collapsed. Many others were wounded in the Hard Rock hotel collapse in New Orleans, and three people perished.

Delmer Joel Ramirez Palma is a citizen of Honduras. He and his family have lived in New Orleans for eighteen years. When the Hard Rock hotel collapsed, Ramirez suffered trauma to his head and an eye injury that will require surgery, in addition to internal inflammation and injury. Several days after the hotel collapse, after Ramirez had been released from the hospital, he was fishing with his family when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials arrested him because he did not have identification documents. He was recently deported, and the timing of his arrest raises concerns that his deportation is retaliation against Ramirez Palma for reporting safety violations before the hotel collapse and for speaking with the media after the collapse occurred. He and his family had been fishing several times before, always with a valid fishing license, and they report that the October encounter with ICE officials is the first time they were asked for personal identification.

The hotel collapse is under investigation by the New Orleans Police Department and the United States Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). The investigating agencies need information from Ramirez Palma and other workers about what they saw and experienced at the hotel site before the collapse, especially safety violations they may have witnessed. Some of the safety concerns that Ramirez Palma reported to his supervisors include uncured concrete that was too weak to support weight and asymmetry within the structure that could impact its stability. He states that upon voicing his concerns to his supervisors, he was told to continue working. He also says that he was threatened with replacement on the job site.

Workplace safety advocates, immigration advocates, and others urged ICE to delay or stop Ramirez Palma’s deportation, to no avail. Deportation could make Ramirez Palma unavailable to the investigating agencies, possibly depriving them of critical information that could assist them in determining the cause of the deadly collapse. It is also reported that other undocumented workers may have information that could help investigators. They are reluctant to speak about the accident because they fear that they, too, could be deported. Multiple undocumented workers had reported safety concerns while working at the Hard Rock hotel site, and it is crucial that the investigating agencies not lose access to them.

A whistleblower protection attorney is a powerful ally in the face of painful retaliation. If you have experienced retaliation as the result of reporting safety, health, financial, or other concerns, call the Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC today at 1 (800) 707-9577 for an initial consultation.

 

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Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney Talks About Accidents on Rural Roads

This past summer, an early morning head-on collision between a box truck and a van turned into a catastrophic wreck that claimed the lives of eight people. The eight people who lost their lives in the crash were in the van, riding to work. The van is owned by a Mississippi forestry company, and the workers were on their way to a job site in Alabama to cut trees. The passengers in the van were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the collision. The truck was owned by an Alabama company whose ninety-one commercial drivers operate a fleet of eighty-five trucks. Nine crashes involving trucks owned by that same company were reported during the past two years. The van driver received a ticket for not having a driver’s license. At the time of the writing of this article, no other charges were filed in connection with the accident.

The driver of the van survived, as did the driver of the truck. The van driver claims that although he swerved to avoid the box truck, it hit his van. An official investigation into the accident validated the van driver’s claim with a finding that the box truck crossed the center line before colliding with the van on June 3, near Scooba. The truck came to rest on the van, which it had pushed backwards into a guardrail.

Rescue workers who responded to the wreck say that the road where it happened is in a rural area and that drivers must use caution when driving on country roads late at night or in the early morning. The roads in much of rural Mississippi are very dark, and they are two-lane highways with one lane traveling in each direction, separated in most places only by a centerline. That’s not the only danger present on Mississippi’s rural roads, where higher speeds can lead to more forceful collisions than occur in areas where there is more traffic and lower speed limits.

Accident investigation data from across the nation shows that rural roadways like the one where this crash happened are four times as deadly as city streets. Mississippi often tops lists of the most dangerous places to drive, and the amount of rural roads in the state is a major contributing factor. Law enforcement agencies do what they can to keep the road safe, but the number of officers is small, considering the number of miles of roadway that they are responsible for policing. When motor vehicle wrecks occur on Mississippi’s rural roads, there may be a significant delay between the time of the crash and the time someone sees it and reports it, if the driver or passengers cannot report the accident themselves. It may also take rescue workers a while to get from where they are to the site of the wreck, which could be miles and miles away from where they are when they get the call. The crash scene could also be many miles from a hospital, which could mean the difference between life and death in some cases.

To learn about how you can file a claim for damages that you suffered in a Mississippi truck crash, call the knowledgeable Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC, at 1 (800) 707-9577 today.

 

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