A 28-year-old worker died in a construction accident on August 14th just north of New Prague, Minnesota. Also injured in the accident was a 37-year-old worker who was treated at the hospital and then released.
The two were performing subcontracting work which considered of the digging of 50 foot holes for the placement of power poles. The two were placing a round bale into one of the holes for support, but a strap broke on the suspension in which they were riding and both workers then fell 20 or 30 feet.
A variety of officials are now investigating the workplace accident including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Scott County Sheriff’s Department, the Minnesota State Patrol and agencies located in the New Prague area.
Such jobs are inherently risky. However, as these workers are also performing a great service for other residents in Minnesota every precaution needs to be taken to keep them safe.
We will have to await the results of investigations that are taking place. From the description of the accident, it appears that there could be several possible causes for this accident. There could have been a problem with the strap in the way it was designed. The employer may have failed to examine the strap to insure it was still in good condition to be used on a project such as this. Or it’s possible that other safety procedures were not followed by the supervisors in the manner in which the work proceeded.
Attorneys that represent workers in incidents such as this will need to be proficient in trying personal injury, workers’ compensation and products liability cases to figure out precisely what occurred. In any case, we need to discover what has happened so that accidents like this never occur again.
Source: KSTP Eyewitness News, “Victim of Scott Co. Construction Accident Died of Head Injuries,” Jennie Olson, Aug. 15, 2013
