Workplace Accidents

December 21, 2023

Crane Crashes Into Clearwater Building – No Injuries Reported | Clearwater Construction Accident Lawyers Whittel & Melton

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

Officials say no one was hurt when a crane collided with a structure in Clearwater on Tuesday morning.

According to officials, the incident took place on Feather Sound Drive just before 10 a.m.

The crane was taken down by Wednesday afternoon.

Reports indicate that the crane was raising new roof sections to the top of the structure when it overreached its safe lifting capacity and toppled over.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported.

The building will be inspected for any damage soon.

It is unknown at this time if the weight of the material was the culprit of the crash, or if the wind contributed to the collapse.

Cranes are an essential piece of equipment on many construction sites. Cranes are a helpful tool for finishing challenging construction projects when they are operated and maintained correctly. They can result in fatalities or severe injuries when used carelessly or when they malfunction.

Cranes are responsible for more significant accidents than any other kind of heavy construction equipment, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Unfortunately, crane-related injuries do not only affect construction workers. Since cranes are frequently found in heavy populated cities, accidents involving them may have an impact not just on the workers but also on pedestrians or other nearby residents.

After a crane accident occurs and you have suffered injuries, there are a few steps you should take, including:

Get medical care right away. Even if you think you are fine, you could be experiencing an adrenaline high that is masking the severity of your injuries. Get checked out by a doctor so that you have a record of your injuries.
Report the incident. If you are a construction worker, you need to report this to your supervisor. This is crucial if you are going to file a worker’s compensation claim. If you are a resident of a building being worked on or a pedestrian or passerby, then the injury needs to be reported to the site manager or supervisor. Please take note of who you speak to as well as the date of the conversation as this will prove useful if you need to take legal action later.
Speak with an attorney who understands personal injury and worker’s compensation claims. Construction sites can be fast-paced and unpredictable environments. It is in your best interest to contact a Clearwater Construction Accident Attorney and find out your legal alternatives before any evidence vanishes or is destroyed and before your employer or the insurance company involved can try and flip the narrative on what happened and potentially blame you.

December 21, 2017

Tree Trimmer in Critical Condition after Being Shocked in Clearwater

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A tree trimmer was in critical condition after being shocked by a power line while working Monday morning.

Clearwater Fire & Rescue identified the 38-year-old victim and confirmed he is being treated at Tampa General Hospital.

Authorities said the man was trimming trees while on a ladder on Milton Street when the incident occurred.

It happened just before 11 a.m.

Work accidents involving electric shocks can be deadly. In most cases, workers who are exposed to electricity suffer catastrophic or fatal injuries, such as severe internal injuries and heart failure or cardiac arrest. Workers who are working at dangerous heights when they come into contact with electricity often suffer other serious injuries. Once they are shocked, the worker is likely to fall to the ground, and could easily suffer severe personal injuries including spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries and fractures.

Tree trimmers regularly work at heights, so they are especially at risk for being injured or killed in electric accidents. In fact, dozens of workers are injured or killed in work accidents involving contact with an overhead line every year. Tree trimmers, roof workers, and construction workers working on cranes are likely to come into contact with an electrical line.

July 27, 2016

St. Pete Tree Trimmer Survives Electric Shock

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A St. Petersburg tree trimmer is lucky to be alive after he was shocked by 7,200 volts of electricity.

In June, the man was working at a home on 25th Avenue North when his pole hit a power line.

The man was knocked unconscious and when he woke up he was still being shocked. He could not move his arms or legs so he used his mouth to get down to safety.

Firefighters airlifted the man to Tampa General Hospital.

The man spent a month in the hospital. He has had multiple surgeries and the shock has left him almost blind in one eye and unable to feel some of his fingers and his left leg.

Doctors say it’s a miracle he survived.

The man said he has emptied his savings to pay his medical bills and has more surgeries ahead of him. He is his family’s sole provider and will not be able to work again for at least another nine months.

A gofundme account has been set up to help with expenses.

Electrical injuries are particularly frightening because they are unexpected. These accidents happen when there is contact between any part of the human body with a high enough level of electrical current to penetrate through skin and hair. This can be caused by faulty wiring anywhere, such as your house, construction and industrial work sites, landscaping, public buildings and tree trimming sites. Electrical injuries, as this case highlights, can cause burns, central nervous system damage, brain damage, and even death.

December 21, 2015

Holiday Slips, Trips & Falls: Who’s To Blame?

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

Who is responsible for your injury after a slip and fall or trip and fall accident? That depends. There are numerous factors when it comes to determining fault, but most importantly is where you fell, and whether it is public property, a business, or a residence.

Premises liability law establishes when residential and business owners are responsible for injuries that occur on their property. If you fall in a store or on some area of their property, like the parking lot, then the store could be liable for your injury if the injury was caused through its negligence. On that same note, if you are a guest in someone’s home and you suffer an injury as a result of the owner’s negligence, the homeowner may be liable.

How To Prove Your Claim

In order to be successful in a slip and fall or trip and fall case, you must show that there was a dangerous condition that the property owner was aware of or should have been aware of. The owner failing to remedy the dangerous condition caused you harm and it was foreseeable that someone could get hurt from it. In other words, there has to be a negligent party. If you just happened to slip, trip or fall for no apparent reason, then there may not be a responsible party other than yourself, which obviously creates an impossible burden for your claim. In the end, our job as lawyers is to investigate not only the mechanism of injury, learn how it could be avoided and determine if an insurance policy was paid for with the intent of compensating you for your injuries. Unfortunately, all the “good hands” in the world won’t start dialing your house most likely unless we call them first.

However, if you were harmed due to a real hazard, who you name in your lawsuit will depend on the details of your slip, trip or fall. If you were hurt at a retail store in the mall, there may be multiple parties, including the store, mall management, a security company, and possibly other entities.

When you fall at a residential property, the liable party is usually the property owner. If you are hurt in a rental and the tenant is responsible for handling repairs, then that person could be to blame.

When it comes to injuries on municipal properties, sidewalks and parks, it can be tricky to establish fault, but there is sometimes someone to blame for it, possible even the city or state.

Call A Tampa Bay Premises Liability Lawyer at Whittel & Melton – 727-823-0000

November 27, 2015

Avoid Black Friday Shopping Hazards

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

After a day spent with family and friends feasting and watching football, many Americans will head out for a day filled with holiday shopping, better known these days as Black Friday. Stores throughout the Tampa Bay area have been advertising deals for weeks, and many shoppers will start lining up outside the stores after Thanksgiving dinner is finished. Some stores have special deals that start on Thanksgiving night.

Black Friday often results in an increased risk of accidents and injuries. Mall parking lots will be crowded with pedestrians, shopping carts, drivers searching for parking spots, and children of all ages and sizes. According to Progressive Insurance, parking lot related accidents increase 36.5 percent on Black Friday. Progressive also reports that rear-end collisions account for 12.57 percent of claims. Hitting a parked car or having your parked car hit by someone else accounts for 11.13 percent of claims. Backing into another car or having your car backed into accounts for 7.68 percent of claims.

When stores first open on Thanksgiving evening or Black Friday, there is the risk of overly enthusiastic shoppers to stampede to get to the special sale items. Be aware of your surroundings so that you can avoid any accidents. Slip and fall accidents can also happen inside stores quite easily. Wet floors, large crowds, pushing and shoving can all lead to slip and fall or trip and fall accidents. Head and other bodily injuries from falling merchandise or careless customers can be serious and ruin the holidays.

Shopping cart injuries are also becoming more common on Black Friday. Shoppers should be overly cautious to make sure their carts do not tip over and that small children are properly secured. According to reports, nearly 24,000 children are treated in U.S. emergency rooms for accidents related to shopping carts every year. While falls from the shopping cart are the most common injuries, injuries from running into or falling over the cart, cart tip-overs and entrapment of extremities in the cart are also common. Always pay attention to children when shopping, and pay special mind to the potential for accidents when it comes to shopping carts.

July 16, 2014

Contractor Dies in Slip and Fall Accident at TECO Power Plant

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A Tampa contractor died Monday after officials believe he slipped and fell while working at a TECO power plant in Tampa.

Reports indicate that the 31-year-old was dismantling an old unit at the Bayside TECO power plant when he slipped and fell through a grate located on the catwalk.

According to officials, the man fell about 50 feet to the ground. The Hillsborough County Fire Rescue pronounced the man dead at the scene.

January 21, 2014

Pinellas County Workplace Injury Attorney :: Construction worker falls to his death at Eckerd College

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A 60-year-old construction worker fell to his death Thursday morning inside an Eckerd College auditorium in St. Petersburg.

The St. Petersburg Wrongful Death Attorneys are here to help you through this difficult time

The St. Petersburg Wrongful Death Attorneys can help you through this difficult time.

Police report that the Brooksville man was employed by Universal Control, a electrical contracting company, and was working on the air-conditioning system at Eckerd’s Bininger Performing Arts Building. News reports indicate that he was working on a catwalk when he fell 30 to 40 feet to his death.

June 25, 2013

Tarpon Springs Wrongful Death Lawyer :: Tampa Bay Area Man Killed in Forklift Accident

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A 25-year-old Tarpon Springs man was killed Tuesday afternoon after a massive roll of steel fell on top of him.

Reports indicate that the man was standing on the tines of a forklift next to a flatbed truck, preparing to unload rolls of steel when the accident occurred.

According to Pinellas Park Police, the man was trying to unload some rolls of steel when he cut a band that was holding the bundle together, causing one of the rolls to fall and crush him against the forklift.

The man was a three-year employee of USP Structural Connectors.

Accidents involving industrial vehicles like forklifts may not be as frequent as car or motorcycle accidents, but they can occur, and when they do they are often fatal or cause serious injuries due to the weight of the machinery involved. In the United States alone, industrial accidents account for more than 1,000 deaths each year. These dangerous accidents usually happen because of the serious safety issues that often surround industrial and construction sites. More than 7 million people across the U.S. work in industries or on construction sites, and there are numerous different types of accidents that can deliver serious injuries or even death to workers.

Industries and construction sites are notorious for causing severe injuries or death to workers and contractors because of the possibility of explosions, faulty machinery, electric shock and other workplace hazards. If you or a member of your family has been injured or killed in an industrial accident due to negligence by an employer or company, you must protect your legal rights and contact a Tarpon Springs Wrongful Death Lawyer at Whittel & Melton for complete assistance filing your personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.

April 24, 2013

Tampa Bay Wrongful Death Lawyer :: Worker Crushed By Elevator at St. Pete Beach Resort

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A 45-year-old Tampa Bay area man working on an elevator shaft was crushed to death Wednesday morning at the TradeWinds Island Resorts.

The man was vacuuming water from the bottom of the elevator shaft at the Jacaranda Beach Villas, condominiums on the grounds of the resort with another worker when the elevator fell from the second floor and killed him. The accident occurred around 10:30 a.m. The other man was working outside the shaft and was not injured.

At this time, no one is entirely sure what caused the elevator to fall. According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, hotel maintenance locked the elevator in place with a key, and the power was supposed to have been cut.

Hotel officials could not explain the tragedy.

Sadly, this man is not the first to have been killed in an elevator-related accident this year. Last month, a man was found inside an elevator shaft at Tampa International Airport after he apparently fell to his death. This particular accident remains under investigation.

State law does require elevators to be inspected annually. In Florida, inspections are conducted by private companies certified by the state.

The TradeWinds Islands Resorts’ elevators were inspected Monday, and all of them passed. No reports of any violations were found on the elevator that killed the worker.

The inspector’s report did note water at the bottom of the elevator shaft. Officials claim that this can happen naturally as the ground water table rises.

TradeWinds hired an environmental cleanup company to remove the water. The deceased and another worker from the company came Wednesday. The men had filled two barrels with water from the elevator before 10:30 a.m. when the elevator fell.

St. Pete Beach firefighters were called to the scene at 10:37 a.m. Not long after, the St. Petersburg Technical Rescue Team recovered the man’s body.

February 15, 2013

Tampa Bay Injury Lawyer :: New York Mother Files Injury Lawsuit Against Wendy’s for Negligence with Safety Measures

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A New York mother and daughter team has filed a personal injury lawsuit against Wendy’s International Inc. and Westbury Properties, LLC, after sustaining serious injuries at their local fast-food restaurant.

The mother and her 11-year-old daughter were exiting the restaurant on Dec. 4 when they were struck by the vehicle of an elderly driver. The pair was pinned to the wall of the restaurant, crushing their legs and resulting in multiple fractures, excruciating pain and costly medical treatment.

Two months later, the mother is still confined to a wheelchair while the daughter is able to walk again.

Now, the mother has filed a multimillion dollar personal injury lawsuit against Wendy’s and the driver of the car with the hopes of recovering just financial compensation for the damages suffered from this life changing accident.

The woman’s claim not only names the cause of the accident as the driver’s negligence, but also claims that the restaurant was careless with their safety precautions. The fast-food location only installed curb stops and signs after the accident occurred.

While Wendy’s did issue a statement of regret following the accident, they did not address any specifics associated with the pending lawsuit.

Personal injury lawsuits can be filed by victims who were injured as a direct result of another person or entity’s negligence. The mother and daughter team in this case are seeking full and fair compensation for their pain and suffering, which is entitled to them by law. When filing a personal injury claim, victims may recover for various damages including lost wages, costs associated with all medical treatments and physical and emotional pain and suffering. If you or a loved one has suffered personal injuries due to someone else’s reckless actions or negligent behavior, a personal injury attorney can help you understand your rights.