Peoria, IL — A construction worker was hospitalized after falling about 30 feet from scaffolding that had been set up at Unity Point Methodist hospital in Peoria, Illinois. The accident happened on Thursday, May 28, 2015.
The man’s name hasn’t been released. Reports say that the man — an employee of East Moline Glass Company — was working as part of a crew to put up a new exterior on one of the hospital buildings. The man hit landscaping as well as a retaining wall, which caused him serious internal injuries.
The man was taken to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center.
Reports say that East Moline was fined by OSHA in 2010 for substandard scaffolding practices.
The accident is currently being investigated by local authorities as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Scene of the Accident
View from the Road
Commentary
Typically, workers comp laws won’t allow an employee to file a claim against their employer. However, there are circumstances which will allow it, such as gross negligence. In a nutshell, gross negligence means that a company was aware of a problem, aware of the danger that it posed to employees, and aware that they needed to fix it, yet did nothing about it. This isn’t the first time this company has had this specific problem. Now, I wasn’t there so I can’t say for certain what caused the accident, but that seems like one big coincidence. I’d say that if nothing else, this is certainly worthy of a deeper investigation — preferably independently-run, unlike OSHA investigations, which can take months to complete — because the company could potentially be held liable for what’s happened here.
— Grossman Law Offices