Workplace accidents are common in New York. They will often result in injuries to workers — in both private and public jobs. A lot of the time the injuries are not severe and only require minimum treatment. However, in other cases, workers and their families are not so lucky and the accident results in a fatality.
Fatal workplace accidents are a tragedy. While sometimes they can be avoided with proper safety precautions, other times the jobs carry inherent risk that cannot be avoided. In cases where a New York worker is killed, the worker’s family may be entitled to workers’ compensation to recover some compensation for their loss.
Workers’ compensation is available even when government workers are killed on the job. Recently, for example, a New York firefighter was killed while on duty. In this case, a fire was started in an apartment building when an air-conditioner cord was trapped and frayed between a bed frame and a wall.
According to reports, the 14-year veteran firefighter had gone into the apartment in hopes of finding any victims that had been trapped by the flames. However, the firefighter was unable to make it out of the crowded apartment alive. Two other firefighter were also injured fighting the blaze.
When a family loses a member to a fatal workplace accident, that family needs to explore their legal rights. While compensation will never be able to make up for what the family has lost, workers’ compensation can help to ensure that the family does not suffer financially. Medical costs, lost wages and more could be covered and help the family move toward healing.
Source: Yahoo News, “Electric cord sparked fire that killed firefighter” Michael R. Sisak and Jennifer Peltz, July 6, 2014