An employee at a steel company in Lynchburg, Virginia, suffered a broken leg when a piece of steel hit him as he was operating a crane, the company’s chief operating officer reported.
The Lynchburg Fire Department responded to a call that reported a traumatic injury. He was set to have surgery on his leg but was expected to recover, the company official said.
As a result of the accident, workplace safety officials in Virginia have launched an investigation to figure out how and why it happened.
The Virginia Department of Labor and Industry sent a caseworker to lead the investigation. The company has been cooperative with the state investigation and also is conducting one of its own to determine how it happened and to prevent a similar accident in the future.
“Our investigation will be completely thorough to assess the root causes,” the company official vowed.
This man is fortunate that his injuries were not too severe. In fact, in Virginia in 2016 – the most recent year for which statistics are available – there were 153 fatal workplace injuries, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That was up by 47 from the prior year and the most in the state since 2008.
Nationwide that year, there were 5,190 fatal on-the-job injuries, which was an increase of 7 percent from 2015, according to the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).
Employees should be able to go to work every day knowing they will be doing their jobs in safe working conditions and returning home to their families each night. If you or a loved one is hurt on the job, an attorney with experience in workers’ compensation cases can assist you.