Fall From Height at Work Results in Compensable Personal Injuries

Atlanta, GA (Law Firm Newswire) April 29, 2011 – More often than not, injury accidents happen when they are least expected. In this case, a worker fell at work, sustaining soft tissue damage.

“No one knows when they may wind up having an accident at work that will cause them continuing problems later,” said Robert Webb, an Atlanta personal injury attorney with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law.

“That’s the thing with personal injury accidents; they tend to happen without warning. However, if they happen at work as a result of poor safety rules and regulations, the victim is often able to file a lawsuit to claim compensation for their medical bills, etc., particularly if there is third party negligence involved,” Webb said.

In this instance, an employee in a small store that sold educational supplies and toys for children was asked to get a toy from the stock room. It was quite high up on the shelves and she could not reach the item without using a ladder. While the ladder worked and the toy was retrieved, the worker slipped on the way down and fell, sustaining soft tissue damage to her lower back, calf and elbow.

The worker required hospital care and lost time off work. She continued, despite healing, to have difficulty walking or driving if it involved any long distance. Her inability to walk properly prompted her to leave her job and find work elsewhere. In the meantime, she chose to file a personal injury lawsuit stating that the ladder she was told to use was faulty.

Subsequently, the employer admitted they had breached the rules and regulations relating to workers needing to deal with things at a height. They did not provide the proper safety ladder for her to retrieve the toy and the jury awarded her $15,606.08.

This case could possibly have gone either way, depending on how the jury regarded the safe workplace rules and regulations and whether or not the ladder provided was safe and suitable for workers to use to reach objects in high locations.

“As it turned out, the employer admitted the ladder was not the proper kind and owned up to having an unsafe workplace. If you have been in a similar situation and aren’t sure what legal issues are involved in your potential case, give my office a call. That’s our job, to help you by taking a look at your situation and determining if there is cause to file a lawsuit,” Webb said.

Webb & D’Orazio are Atlanta personal injury lawyers practicing personal injury law, business law, and criminal defense in Atlanta Georgia.

Webb & D’Orazio
2551 Roswell Road
Suite 201
Marietta, GA 30062
Call: (800) 275-9144

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