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How a Central Indian Town Changed the United States Code of Federal Regulations
March 15, 2018 9:34 am Leave a Comment
On December 3, 1984, at a pesticide ingredient manufacturing facility owned by Union Carbide, a leak occurred in the Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) plant. Due to the toxic nature of the gases released and the plant’s proximity to local residences, the death toll was in the thousands; both plant workers and nearby residents. The first recorded public meeting in response to this incident was on December 9^th, in Institute, WV, the site of Union Carbide’s only US MIC production unit. Full disclosure: my father was a research & development chemist for Union Carbide and Institute is about 10 miles down the Kanawha River from my hometown of Charleston, WV. (more…)
Commercial Gas-Fired Cookers Can Do More Than Burn
August 29, 2017 10:00 am Leave a Comment
The first hazard that comes to mind when thinking about large scale ovens and steam kettles is burning or scalding injury. Carbon monoxide poisoning is just as dangerous but less understood, so oftentimes proper prevention methods are not followed. In the United States, this results in over 20,000 emergency room visits and over 400 deaths a year. Before we get to the case study and poisoning prevention methods, we need to know what CO is, where it comes from, and why it is poisonous. (more…)
The Impact of Technology on Slip and Fall Incidents
June 19, 2017 11:17 am Leave a Comment
I have investigated hundreds of slip and fall incidents in my career. Today, we have new tools and technology available to assist investigators in conducting forensic investigations to determine the cause or causes of these incidents and to assist owners and operators in loss preventions efforts to minimize the potential of slip and fall incidents. (more…)
Timber – Falling Beam Strikes Worker
February 6, 2017 10:41 am Leave a Comment
As an experienced safety consultant, I have investigated many serious injuries and deaths at construction sites over the past 39 years. The United States Department of Labor reports that the fatal injury rate for the construction industry is highest of all industries in the nation. Out of 4,386 worker fatalities in private industry in calendar year 2014, 899 or 20.5% were in construction i.e., one in five worker deaths were in construction. (more…)
Improper Fireplace Construction: Testing the Impact of Non-Compliant Clearance to Combustibles
January 12, 2017 9:47 am Leave a Comment
As the weather turns cold, many people use fireplaces to provide supplemental heat. The warmth from a fireplace is a comfort and the aesthetics of a glowing fire are a pleasure. However, there is nothing pleasurable about a residential house fire that results from an improperly built or used fireplace or chimney. (more…)
Painting of Handicap Ramps
August 12, 2016 9:11 am Leave a Comment
As an experienced safety consultant, I’m called on to investigate a wide range of premises liability incidents. One common premises liability incident that often results in serious injury is a fall on a handicap ramp. There are at least four types of handicap ramps – flare side, parallel, returned curb and built-up. (more…)
A Steep Price: Improperly sloped curb ramps increase the potential of serious pedestrian injury
May 24, 2016 8:32 am Leave a Comment
As an experienced safety consultant, I’m called to investigate a wide range of premises liability incidents. One common premises incident that often results in serious injury is a fall on a curb ramp. There are at least four types of curb ramps: flare side, parallel, returned curb and built-up. This post will focus primarily on flare side curb ramps which are the most common type constructed today. (more…)
Who is Responsible for a “Booby Trap” Opening on a Roof Top? Part 3
March 11, 2016 8:27 am Leave a Comment
As an experienced safety consultant, I have investigated many incidents in my career in which a worker “falls through an opening.” The majority of these incidents have occurred at construction sites and most resulted in serious injury or death. (more…)
Analysis of Double Fatality Fire Allegedly Caused by a Portable Electric Heater
January 12, 2016 4:37 pm Leave a Comment
When fires occur, the effect on people’s lives is often devastating. This is especially true with fires that cause the death of a child. Clearly it is important to try and find the causes of such fires so that they can be prevented in the future. In such circumstances, it is especially important to follow a rigorous methodology in investigating the origin and cause of a fire. Investigators following a less than rigorous methodology may reach improper conclusions. Such was the case in a devastating fire investigated by Warren that was improperly alleged to have been caused by a supposedly defective product, a small electric space heater.
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Manufacturer Settles with Operator Injured by a Flying Tool Fragment from Milling Machine
September 29, 2015 1:23 am Leave a Comment
In my June 2015 blog, I discussed a personal injury case where the jury decided that the lack of interlocks on the covers of a swamp cooler did not render it defective, even though it was technologically feasible to do so and their existence would have prevented the amputation. Conversely, in another interesting personal injury case involving a computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling machine, a large settlement was made by the manufacturer with the injured operator because the machine did not have adequate interlocks on its enclosure doors. (more…)

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