Spring, Texas — A worker died last year and his name was later released as Pedro Sanchez, 42 years old. Authorities said that Sanchez was “on the job” last March 1, 2014 was working at an unknown elevation (perhaps a roof) when an accident happened and he fell to the ground.
He was fatally injured by the fall and died a short time later. The OSHA report for this accident says that he was working for a person/business named “Renee LaPaz” at the time in Spring.
That company can’t be located at the moment, but it does appear as though OSHA charged LaPaz with three serious violations. The investigation by OSHA was opened on March 13 and hasn’t been closed as of February 2015.
LaPaz’s violations included ladder safety infractions, failure to provide fall protection, and failure to train and educate.
Commentary:
What do you do when you’re working for a simple contractor or someone who runs their business out of their house and you’re in an accident? Well, the rules are pretty straightforward. If that employer/boss is covered by workers’ comp insurance, then you would file for those benefits through the state-run program. If not, if he is self-insured or has no insurance, then you would be forced to file a negligence-based claim (lawsuit) against him. Unfortunately, some of these smaller businesses tend not to have enough resources to fund that kind of thing. It’s always worth looking into, however, even though I’m not quite sure what even caused this accident.
— Grossman Law Offices