Jamestown, PA — One person was injured in a work accident at a munitions plant in Jamestown, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, April 2, 2015. The accident took place at Combined System, which makes nonlethal munitions, and it located on Kinsman Road.
Reports say that the 25-year-old employee was taken to a hospital in Erie with shrapnel that had become lodged in his shoulder. What caused the accident is not known at this time. There’s no information on the complete extent of the man’s injuries, although reports say that he was talking to emergency personnel at the scene.
The accident happened around 11:15 in the morning.
Reports say that accidents such as these are a regular occurrence at the facility, and that in the past few years, there have been several instances of fires and ambulances visiting the facility.
The accident is currently under investigation.
Scene of the Accident
View from the Road
Commentary
Liability in an accident like is really going to depend on a few things. Typically, something like this is handled through an employer’s workers’ comp policy. A many know, workers’ comp pays out benefits to those injured in on-the-job accidents. Except in very few cases, workers’ comp also prohibits an employee from bringing a claim against their employer for this sort of thing. However, reports say that accidents like this have happened more than a few times at this facility in the past couple of years. States such as Texas have a gross negligence exception in their workers’ comp laws that say that if an employer is found guilty of gross negligence, then their protection would be waived and the injured employee would be able to bring a claim against them.
What is gross negligence? Well, in a case like this that’s going to depend on the nature of the previous accidents that have taken place at this facility, and what the company did to remedy them. If there were problems that the company knew about, and they did nothing about them, knowing that they could potentially cause their employees further harm, that would be gross negligence, and that’s something the company could be held liable for. More information is needed. In these case, an independently-run investigation is always going to be the best course of action. OSHA will undoubtedly investigate this, but their investigations can take up to six months to complete. That, together with the fact that injured parties only have a limited amount of time to do anything about an accident like this after it’s happened, and those months of waiting begin to look like a lot of wasted time. The company will also look into the accident, but I wouldn’t trust them to come up with anything that doesn’t make them look good. An independent investigation is going to be able to cut through a lot of noise, and get victims the answers they need, as well as provide their years of experience in helping them plan their next move.
— Grossman Law Offices
