Safety should be the number one priority for New York employers. In some cases, employees are risking their lives to complete their jobs. Without safety rules and regulations in place, deadly accidents can happen again and again.
Recently, some have questioned whether a New York commuter rail line is focusing enough on workplace safety. After four deadly accidents in the last few months, some have questioned if the rail line is putting on-time performance above the safety of its workers and the passengers.
Even after the railroad’s president vowed to make safety a priority, another deadly workplace accident has very recently occurred on the rail line. In this case, an early morning train carrying around 50 people hit a railway worker. The worker had worked for the power department of the railroad company for the past eight years and was hit around 12:54 a.m. Despite being taken to a local hospital following the accident, the 58-year-old man died as a result of his workplace injuries.
Federal investigators are now investigating the accident to try and determine what happened and why. These types of investigations can be important for workers and their families so that they can understand the tragedy of a workplace accident, and hopefully prevent a similar accident in the future.
But for the family of someone killed in a workplace accident an investigation might be too little, too late. These people may now be reeling from the shock of losing a loved one, while questioning how they are going to make ends meet without that person’s income. In these cases, families should consider their legal options, including their right to file for workers’ compensation. Workers’ compensation may be able to pay for expenses that arise as a result of the workers’ death.
Source: The Journal News, “Metro-North worker fatally struck by train identified as Yonkers man,” March 10, 2014