Courts in Florida are starting to realize that some employers are risking the safety and even the lives of their workers by failing to meet the OSHA standards. The rules that have been outlined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration allow workers to remove safety guards when they need to. As well, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration demands that workers must be trained in the use of dangerous tools and equipment before they are permitted to use them. Because workers have not been trained and have not regulated the use of safety guards in many construction jobs, Florida has been jeopardizing the lives of their citizens for years. Now, the government is calling for reform and stating that those who have been treated unfairly may have the right to seek compensation, especially if they were injured.
If you work for an employer who did not focus on your safety and did not teach you how to competently operate equipment or work with a safety guard in place, and this negligence resulted in an injury, then you may be able to seek compensation as a result. The courts began to take special attention to occupational safety guidelines after a worker was injured by a punch press machine. The worker’s arm was crushed in the accident, partially because he removed the safety guard. His employer demanded that this man dislodge a piece of metal that as in the machine and wanted him to perform the feat while the large punch press was still working. The employee did as he was told, but his arm was thrashed under the heavy metal as a result. The courts determined that he deserved worker’s compensation for his pain and suffering because the company did not put safety first in the incident. Contact a lawyer today if you have been injured at work because you were told to remove a safety guard or operate equipment in a reckless and dangerous way.