- Charlotte Construction Worker’s Death is Third Work Accident Involving Wachovia Project in a Month
A North Carolina construction worker died on December 2 after he was struck by a tool that fell from the 11th Floor in an elevator shaft located in the Wachovia tower. Jonathan Beatty, an elevator installer employed by Thyssenkrupp Elevator Corp., was 24. The work accident that caused his death is the third accident to occur at the Wachovia construction site, located at Tryon and Stonewall, within a month.
On November 10, steel beams dropped from a crane, smashing into windows before hitting the ground. Shards of glass fell toward motorists and pedestrians below. No one was injured in this second construction accident.
On November 4, Leslie Hopper sustained damage to her property when glass from the Wachovia construction site fell onto her vehicle, flattening her tires, breaking her windshield, and damaging her sunroof. Hopper and her daughter were headed out of town when the accident happened. Hopper has expressed frustration that the construction company didn’t do more to ensure motorist and pedestrian safety.
North Carolina Construction Accidents
Construction accidents can result in serious injuries for construction workers and others, such as pedestrians and motorists passing by the site, and other parties that may be on or around the work premise. For the year ending in September 2008, 18 construction-related fatalities occurred in North Carolina.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers do not have to report a work accident unless three or more people end up in the hospital or one person is killed. An OSHA investigation usually takes at least four weeks. During this time, OSHA employees will inspect the accident scene, gather evidence, and interview witnesses to determine the cause of the work accident and find out whether any safety standards were violated.
Wachovia tower incident provides window into worksite rules, Creative Loafing, December 9, 2008
Job at tower gave worker new hope for his dream, Charlotte.com, December 4, 2008
Related Web Resources:
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Wachovia Condominium Tower, Emporis.com
- FMCSA Approves New Rule Targeting Medically Unfit Truck and Bus Drivers
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has approved a new rule requiring that the licenses and medical examination certificates of bus drivers and commercial truckers be combined in a single electronic record. This will make it easier to determine whether drivers meet the medical criteria to drive a commercial vehicle. US states have three years to comply with this new rule.
The FMCSA is also proposing creating a medical examiners registry made up of people qualified to medically certify bus drivers and commercial truckers. The administration hopes that making sure that only qualified individuals are allowed to operate such large vehicles will result in greater safety and less truck accidents on US roads.
Unfortunately there are bus operators and tractor-trailer drivers who have suffer from a heart attack, a seizure, lost consciousness, or experienced another serious health emergency while driving. The repercussions of these health problems can be catastrophic for the driver and anyone else involved in the bus or truck accident. Thousands of serious motor vehicle crashes have happened because a bus operator or trucker who shouldn’t have been allowed to operate a commercial vehicle was behind the wheel.
In 1999, 22 people died in a New Orleans bus crash when driver Frank Bedell experienced life-threatening heart and kidney conditions. Despite his poor health, Bedell, 46, had a valid commercial driver’s license and a certificate declaring him medically fit to drive.
Based on a May 2007 - June 2008 study, the Government Accountability Office reported that 536,000 truckers and bus drivers had been issued licenses to operate commercial vehicles even though they qualified for federal medical disability payments. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee also determined that it is very easy for commercial bus operators and truck drivers to obtain a forged medical certificate and that this is a common practice.
2007 Large Truck Facts from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
• Out of the 2,224 deadly North Carolina motor vehicle crashes that occurred last year, 151 of the collisions involved large trucks.
• In South Carolina, there were 80 deadly large truck crashes in 2007.
• Nationally, more than 100,000 people were injured in large truck collisions.
Rules Target Medically Unfit Truck, Bus Drivers, AP/CBS, December 2, 2008
Rule seeks to help identify unfit truckers, Business Insurance, December 4, 2008
FMCSA Improves Medical Requirements for Commercial Truck and Bus Drivers, FMCSA, December 1, 2008
Related Web Resources:
Final Rule: Medical Certification Requirements as part of CDL Part of the CDL, FMSCA, December 1, 2008
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- North Carolina Inspectors Say Patient Abuse and Neglect Make Butner Mental Hospital Unsafe
A North Carolina mental hospital in Butner is considered unsafe for patients. North Carolina inspectors who had evaluated the conditions and quality of care at Central Regional Hospital say their findings show an “immediate jeopardy” identification. This means that the hospital’s patients could be in imminent danger if the problems that were identified are not remedied. Already, the new $138 million facility has been cited with multiple violations and is in danger of losing its federal funding.
Inspectors cited the hospital staff for its failure to prevent patient abuse and neglect and failure to provide the proper care in a safe environment. A 131-page report even noted that there is video footage showing workers falsifying records to indicate that they had closely monitored a patient with schizophrenia when this, in fact, was not the case.
The inspectors also criticized the mental hospital for improperly restraining an 8-year-old for two hours. Another problem noted at Central Regional Hospital was that a stairwell door at the home could not be unlocked from the inside, which could potentially trap hospital staffers and patients in the facility during an emergency.
Federal regulators say the hospital has until December 14 to correct all violations. The state of North Carolina had hoped to transfer patients at a Raleigh hospital it was planning to shut down to the Butner facility. Now, these plans will likely have to be modified.
In a little over 12 months, four of North Carolina’s state-run mental hospitals have either lost or have been on the verge of losing their accreditation because of patient abuse and neglect incidents, as well as patient deaths. This summer, a fifth North Carolina mental facility was shut down after workers strapped down a female patient and beat her.
There is no excuse for patient abuse or neglect, whether at a hospital, a nursing home, in the sick person’s home, or anywhere else. If you believe that your loved one is the victim of patient abuse or neglect, it is important that you take steps to remove them from the unsafe environment immediately. Failure to provide the proper patient care at a hospital could be grounds for a North Carolina medical malpractice or wrongful death lawsuit.
Mental hospital deemed unsafe, News & Observer, December 3, 2008
Central Regional another signal of troubled system, WRAL.com, December 3, 2008
Related Web Resources:
CMS Report 1
