Limerick, PA — A woman had to be taken to the hospital after being burned with cooking grease at a Dickey’s Barbecue Pit in Limerick, Pennsylvania, on Monday, May 5, 2014.
Reports say that the 18-year old had cooking grease either dumped or splashed on her. The burns she sustained covered at least 30% of her body, including parts of her head.
After the accident, emergency workers took her to a field next to Brooke Elementary School, where she was then flown to a local hospital.
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration is looking into the accident, and that agency has up to six months to complete its investigation.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary
I remember a recent accident in which a woman who worked for a food catering service suffered severe burns all over her upper body when she picked up a food service tray from off of a high shelf and scalding hot water spilled out all over her. Now the employer tried to make it sound like the accident was her fault, but the truth was that she wasn’t given adequate training and didn’t know how dangerous what she was doing could be. That woman ended up getting fired from her job and was having a hard time getting medical care because she no longer had insurance.
I don’t know much about Pennsylvania’s work accident laws, but I’m going to assume they’ve got workers’ comp. The thing about that, however, is that it isn’t the godsend a lot of people believe it to be. Does it take care of the employee? Yes, by offering them a bare minimum of coverage. Actually, it does more for the employer than it will ever do for the employee. Hopefully, if this accident happened as a result of carelessness or a failure to take proper safety precautions, the restaurant will be able to step up to make things right.
— Grossman Law Offices
