Recently, a building in Bangladesh housing five garment factories made worldwide headlines when it collapsed. According to the New York Times, the number of workers who died in the Bangladesh collapse now exceeds 1,100 and the collapse was the worst in industrial history. Following the disaster, there were immediate calls to improve working conditions, and ABC reported that some companies in the U.S. were facing protests intended to encourage improved worker safety regulations.

Our Jefferson City work accident attorneys know that there are more worker protection laws in the United States than there are in Bangladesh where the factory collapse took place. Yet, even with the increased regulations in the United States, it is not necessarily a given that workplaces are all that much safer than those in Bangladesh.

Workers in the U.S. at Risk

When comparing working conditions from the United States to Bangladesh, there are some safety rules and regulations in both places. In the U.S., however, there is a longer history of worker safety laws and there are more protections available to workers.

The U.S. labor movement has been around for a long time and has been effective at winning battles for worker safety as far back as 1911 when a devastating fire called the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire occurred. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire resulted in 146 workers dying because they were locked in a factory when fire broke out. It also resulted in the rise of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, which was instrumental in fighting for the rights of sweatshop workers.

In 1970, workers won a major victory in the U.S. with the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to enforce safety standards. With the protections in place and an agency dedicated to enforcing them, it seems easy to say that conditions are much better in the U.S. for workers than in Bangladesh or in other parts of the world.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the whole story. The AFL-CIO’s 2013 report entitled “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect paints a different picture of the level of protection that workers in the U.S. enjoy. According to the report:

• OSHA inspectors have to oversee more than 8 million workplaces. Unfortunately, there are only 837 federal inspectors. This means that each workplace could be inspected about once every 131 years… hardly enough to enforce safety rules.
• OSHA penalties are limited. Criminal charges are filed only when willful violations lead to employee death and prosecutions have happened only 84 times since 1970. Fines are also small, with the median amount paid after settlement by an employer after a worker dies at work equal to just $5,715 and the average fine for a citation just $2,156.

The worker safety laws exist, therefore, but are not necessarily being enforced and there is not necessarily a lot of incentive for employers to obey them. The sad reality of the lack of effectiveness of worker protections can be seen in the tragic explosion of the West Texas fertilizer plant that recently occurred, causing 14 deaths and 200 injuries. The fertilizer plant had not been inspected since 1985.

If you’ve been hurt at work, contact our Jefferson City personal injury lawyers by calling toll-free at 1-800-877-4030.

Potential life-threatening infections could have resulted from injection of fungus-laden compounding drugs distributed by New Jersey specialty pharmacy Med Prep Consulting Inc.

Our Springfield product liability attorneys know that there is still the strong possibility that these substances may have been used or distributed prior to the voluntary recall issued recently.

Thankfully, none of these products had been dispensed directly to patients from retail pharmacies or for direct injection in home care use. That means that hospitals and doctor’s offices, which may have more rigid protocols with regard to tracking and distributing medication lot numbers have a better likelihood of catching the drugs before they are used.

Of course, that’s not full-proof, and these drugs – all compounded products, including magnesium sulfate in dextrose – had a wide range of uses. Those include compounded substances that are created for the purpose of use in antibiotics, general and local anesthesia, cardiac emergencies, labor and delivery and pain management.

So we’re talking about a potentially large group of people who could have been affected – perhaps fatally – by this contamination error.

The presence of the mold and fungus was first discovered by health care providers in Connecticut. According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, a number of baggies containing magnesium sulfate intravenous solution were discovered to contain floating particles. The substances were tested and returned positive for fungus.

As of yet, the FDA says there haven’t been any reports of adverse side effects, but the potential for a fatality is very real.

In addition to the recall, the New Jersey State Board of Pharmacy has issued a temporary Interim Voluntary Consent Order that has resulted in the temporary halting of all production operations, and that includes processing and shipping of all products manufactured by the firm.

This is not the first time a compounding pharmacy has been cited for issues with mold.

Late last year, both the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were called in to oversee a massive, multi-state outbreak of fungal meningitis stemming from contamination issues at a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts producing steroid injections.

That situation resulted in hundreds of adverse effects, including dozens of deaths.

The first of what will assuredly be many more lawsuits was filed March 18, by a woman claiming she suffered irreversible damage as a result of receiving the contaminated injections meant to treat chronic pain. She reportedly has had to undergo numerous, invasive tests as a result as well as endure 10 days in a hospital. Additionally, her infection has rendered her no longer a suitable candidate for a medical device treatment she was hoping to get to treat her chronic pain condition.

She’s seeking damages in excess of $50,000.

In the MedPrep Consulting recall, the products were packaged in plastic infusion bags, plastic syringes, plastic infusion devices and some were in glass vials.

All facilities that receive any compounding product from this company should stop using it immediately, return it to the company and notify the FDA.

Any patient who may have suffered ill side effects as a result of being given these products should contact a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible.

Contact our Springfield, Missouri product liability lawyers by calling toll-free at 1-800-877-4030.

In the state of Missouri, ten young drivers ages 16 or 17 were killed during the first six months of 2011. According to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), eight young drivers of the same ages were killed during the first half of 2012. This decrease in the number of teen car accident deaths was good news, especially as auto accidents are the top cause of death for people ages 16-19.

Unfortunately, the news from the GHSA was not all positive. In fact, the nationwide data on deaths for drivers ages 16 and 17 shows a 19 percent increase in fatalities in the first half of 2012 as compared with the same time period in 2011. Our Springfield accident lawyers know that this is the second year in a row that the number of teen car accident deaths has increased on a national level, suggesting that the rising tide of car accident deaths may be a disturbing trend.

Car Accident Deaths on the Rise

The GHSA provided the troubling information on teen car accident deaths after assembling data from members in all 50 states. The GHSA acknowledge that the data is based on preliminary numbers. However, if the final numbers show the same upward trend, safety advocates will have to redouble their efforts when it comes to preventing these tragedies.

This is troubling not just because more kids died in 2012 than in 2011, but because there were also more deaths in 2011 than in 2010. These two years of rising death rates follow eight years of declining rates. Ongoing increases in the number of teens killed each year in car accidents is a tragedy, and it is very important for law enforcement, lawmakers and parents to take the necessary steps to stop more teens from getting killed in car wrecks. This means that parents should talk to their teens about driver safety; that lawmakers should consider driver safety laws and educational programs; and that police should enforce existing laws on speeding, reckless driving, and driving without a seat belt.

Even just focusing on seat belt enforcement could potentially save many lives, as a recent CNN article indicated that only 54 percent of high schoolers surveyed in 2011 said they wear their belts all the time. This is a smaller percentage than drivers in any other age group.

GHSA also provided some possible explanations for why the number of car accident deaths among teenagers is on the rise. One issue is that the eight years of declines in the death rate came at a time when states were instituting or improving their graduated driver’s license programs. These made the roads safer, but the programs are already in place now and many states aren’t making any more improvements to these laws.

GHSA also indicated that improved economic conditions might be a contributing factor in increasing the death toll. More jobs and more money in the economy means that more people are driving, and more people on the road means that there is a greater accident risk.

Unfortunately, with the boost in traffic, teens face particularly high risk as we head into spring, a season of proms and graduations.

If you’ve been hurt in a car accident, contact our Springfield, Missouri personal injury lawyers by calling toll-free at 1-800-877-4030.

Three children perished in a Springfield residential fire back in 2010.

It was a gut-wrenching tragedy that their mother now says didn’t have to happen, and save for the negligence of the landlord, she claims, it probably wouldn’t have.

Our Missouri wrongful death lawyers understand that the mother of the three is seeking damages against the landlord, saying they failed to maintain a safe property for residents who lived in the structure.

The landlord liability lawsuit was filed nearly three years to the day of the incident.

The case has taken numerous twists and turns since the nightmare unfolded that March evening on West Olive Street. The day after the fire, the mother’s fiance was arrested on arson charges, after a trained law enforcement K-9 reportedly indicated traces of accelerant (such as gasoline) on the man’s pants.

However, when the garments were tested in a lab, there were actually no traces of such a substance.

Little more than a month after he’d been arrested, the charges against the fiance were dropped.

From there, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took up its own investigation. By April 2011, the final report was in. The cause: undetermined.

However, officials said they could not rule out the possibility that the television was the cause of an accidental fire.

The lawsuit indicates that the husband-and-wife landlords of the property had a duty to lease a residence that was safe and absent any defects. However, the landlords allegedly neglected to inspect and repair the home before it was leased to the mother.

It appears the home may have not only been equipped with faulty wiring, it was also lacking the appropriate number of functioning smoke detectors.

The mother is seeking compensation for medical and burial expenses, as well as for the emotional loss of her three young children.

While this case is especially scarring in that it involves children, it is far from the first time that landlords have been pursued in wrongful death proceedings.

Back in  March 1993, a 35-year-old woman died of smoke inhalation after a fire broke out in her fiance’s three-story apartment complex. Her father later filed a lawsuit on behalf of the woman’s eight-year-old son. The claim was that the landlords were aware that the structure had numerous building, zoning and fire regulation code violations. To start, the smoke detector inside the unit wasn’t working. There was no exit from the second floor and the stairways were narrower than they should have been to allow safe egress in the event of a blaze.

The apartment operators reportedly had an agreement with the city not to rent out the third-level apartment until those issues were fixed. They were never fixed and yet, the unit was rented out.

The source of the fire was determined to be an improperly spliced wire that short-circuited after the landlord reportedly put a faulty heater in the third story apartment.

Landlords have a responsibility to their tenants to ensure that the properties they are leasing are safe and free from foreseeable dangers. When they fail in this regard, it’s negligence.

Contact our Springfield, Missouri wrongful death lawyers by calling toll-free at 1-800-877-4030.

In the state of Missouri, drivers 21 and under are banned from using a handheld device to text while they drive. As for adults over 21, however, they are free to send and receive text messages at will since there is no comprehensive ban. Missouri Rep. Michele Kratky is trying to change that. According to The Pitch News, Representative Kratky has introduced House Bill 394 which would institute a statewide ban on texting and driving for all drivers.

Our Springfield, MO personal injury lawyers are in strong support of HB 394 and believe that a widespread ban on texting and driving would be a significant improvement to Missouri’s existing driving-safety laws. We also urge drivers to make the smart decision on texting and driving even if the bill does not pass.

Texting and Driving Dangers

The new Missouri bill is not the first effort that lawmakers have made to institute a ban that would prevent all drivers from texting while operating their vehicles. However, proposed laws that tackle this important distracted driving issue have not been successful in the past. In fact, Rep. Kratky had proposed a very similar bill to HB 394 last year and the bill did not get a hearing. Several other distracted driving bills in the last legislative session also never got a hearing.

Unfortunately, there is nothing to indicate that the bill will fare any better this legislative session. While we hope that Rep. Kratky will be able to make progress on getting the law passed, drivers can still make the commitment today to avoid texting and driving even if the law doesn’t require it.

There are plenty of reasons why every driver should just say no to texting and driving. Distraction.gov, for instance, indicates that the chances of becoming involved in an auto accident when texting and driving are 23 times as great as the risk of becoming involved in a crash when actually paying attention.

Distraction.gov also points out that when you send or receive a text message, your eyes are on your phone for a full 4.6 seconds. During this time, you obviously aren’t paying attention to – or even looking at – the road or the cars around you. Looking away for 4.6 seconds is a very long time when driving. If you are going 55 miles per hour, you could drive the full length of a football field in 4.6 seconds.

Tragically, despite the clear dangers of texting and driving, many people continue to engage in the risky practice. This is especially true of teens. According to Distraction.gov, 40 percent of teenagers reported being in a car with someone that was using a cell phone in a dangerous way. Parents, therefore, need to be sure that they are setting a good example for their teens and that they talk to their teenagers about why texting and driving is bad news.

If all drivers, young and old, make a commitment to save the texting for after they’ve stopped driving, then hopefully more lives can be saved and more accidents can be avoided. A ban to make drivers do the responsible thing would be a step in the right direction toward avoiding texting-and-driving crashes, but drivers should also take personal responsibility to avoid this unnecessarily dangerous act.

If you’ve been in an accident, contact our Springfield, Missouri personal injury lawyers toll-free at 1-800-877-4030.

On January 24th, Ozarks First.com reported that Missouri lawmakers are considering a bill that would quadruple fines for failure to wear a seat belt.  The bill, Senate Bill 62, has been proposed by Senator Joseph Keaveny to be considered during the 2013 legislative season.

Our Columbia, MO personal injury attorneys believe that wearing a seat belt is very important and can save lives. We support efforts of lawmakers to try to encourage seat belt use and we urge all drivers to take the initiative and buckle up every single time they are driving. Parents should also talk to their kids about the importance of buckling up, and every driver should make sure that passengers in his or her vehicle are belted in before starting the trip.

Missouri Proposing Tougher Penalties for seat Belt Violations

In Missouri, the current fine for failure to wear a seat belt is just $10.00. This is an extremely low fine and is unlikely to serve as a deterrent to those who choose to drive without buckling up.

The proposed Senate Bill 62 aims to increase the fine for the violation up to $50.00. This would hopefully help to encourage people to think twice about not complying with seat belt rules and could save many lives.

The Superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol indicated that a full 63 percent of the people who died in Missouri crashes during 2011 were not wearing their seat belts. Unfortunately, there were 829 deaths during 2012, up from 786 fatalities in 2011 Missouri auto accidents. This means hundreds of people are dying from auto accidents each year. Many of these people could perhaps have been saved if they had only worn a seat belt.

Would Tougher Seat Belt Penalties Save Lives?

The Missouri Senate’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has held a hearing on the proposed Senate Bill 62, and it remains to be seen whether the proposed bill will actually become law. A similar bill has been suggested and considered each year for the past three years but has not been successful in making it through the legislature.

If the bill does make it through and become law, it may be able to reduce the number of fatalities that occur in Missouri accidents. The Superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol indicated that Missouri’s seat-belt use rate is lower than the national average. Throughout the U.S., 83 percent of people in cars buckle up while only 75 percent of Missourians do.

If fines are increased for failure to wear a seat belt, the Superintendent predicts that compliance would increase and that the state could get closer to the national average. One proponent of the seat belt law also indicated that Missouri could have as many as 100 fewer deaths each year if more people complied with seat belt laws.

However, failure to wear a seat belt will continue to be a secondary violation in Missouri even if the bill is passed. This means that law enforcement cannot pull someone over just for failing to wear a seat belt; some other traffic offense must be committed. Drivers therefore, may not be as deterred by the increased fines as they could be since drivers know they can’t get pulled over and face increased fines if they aren’t doing something else wrong.

If you’ve been in an accident, contact our Columbia, Missouri personal injury lawyers toll-free at 1-800-877-4030.

KSDK.com reported on February 1st that a Jefferson County accident on Highway 110 west of Upper Plattin Road led to an auto accident fatality. According to Missouri Highway Patrol troopers, a car going west crossed the center line on the highway. The vehicle crashed into a pick-up truck head-on and the driver of the vehicle that had crossed the center line was killed.

This tragic auto accident illustrates the serious dangers of head-on crashes. Our Jefferson City, MO personal injury lawyers urge all drivers to be aware of these serious risks. Head-on crashes are some of the most dangerous of all collisions, and serious injury or death are very common results of these types of accidents.

The Dangers of Head-on Accidents

KDSK did not report on why the Missouri man crossed the center line in his vehicle before the crash. Crossing the center line or going the wrong way on a highway or divided road is one of the most common reasons for a head-on crash to occur, and there are a few common reasons why people cross over the line. Some of the reasons include:

• A driver falling asleep at the wheel.
• A driver who is driving while intoxicated.
• A driver who loses control of the vehicle has a result of speeding.
• A driver who skids into the wrong lane as a result of ice or bad weather.
• A driver who is texting or distracted while driving and who veers into the wrong lane.

Of course, as in the case of the tragic accident in Jefferson County, death is often a result of head-on crashes. The other driver involved in the accident who was in the pick-up truck was also reportedly seriously injured as well, although KSDK did not report on the specifics of the injuries he suffered.

If you’ve been in an accident, contact our Columbia, Missouri personal injury lawyers toll-free at 1-800-877-4030.

Driving safety laws have a major influence on people’s behavior because they indicate what is and is not acceptable. Comprehensive driver safety laws can lead to fewer accidents and can provide more protection for drivers, pedestrians and motorcycle riders while lax safety laws can contribute to crashes. This is why an evaluation of the safety laws in each state is so important.

Fortunately, such an evaluation does exist. The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety have, for 10 years, released a “roadmap” of the highway safety laws in different states and have assigned each state a rating based on whether its laws do enough to protect drivers. This year, Missouri earned a “yellow” rating, which means that the state is advancing its lawmaking but has “numerous gaps” in the existing safety laws.

Our Springfield injury attorneys were glad to see that Missouri earned a yellow and not a red rating, which is given to states that fall dangerously behind in passing key safety regulations. We hope that lawmakers can continue to make strides in protecting drivers and that in next year’s report we can earn a green rating given to states that have adopted all recommended highway safety laws.

Where Does Missouri Fall Short?

The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety define 15 different laws that a state should have in order to encourage and promote highway safety. While Missouri has some of those laws, it is lacking in others. According to the report:

• Missouri is lacking in a primary seat belt law, which would allow for police to pull someone over and ticket them just because they have no seat belt on even though they haven’t done anything specifically wrong in their driving.
• Missouri does have a law requiring all motorcycle riders to wear helmets, as well as a booster seat law requiring kids to be in boosters. Both of these laws are considered “optimal” and Missouri was awarded full credit for their legislation.
• Missouri doesn’t require drivers to be 16 before they get a learner’s permit, and thus gets no credit on this issue.  They also don’t make drivers wait until they are 18 for a full license, so they get no credit here either.
• Full credit was awarded to Missouri for some of their teen driving laws including a requirement of a six month holding period; limitations on passengers in the car with teen drivers; as well as driver supervision requirements that mandate a teen driver with a permit have between 30 and 50 hours of supervised driving practice before getting a license.
• While Missouri has a law imposing restrictions on nighttime driving for teens, their law is not considered optimal so they were not awarded any credit for it. They also weren’t awarded any credit for their cell phone restriction laws, although some restrictions do exist.
• Missouri both requires a mandatory blood alcohol content test for drivers if there is a reasonable suspicion of intoxication and has a rule requiring all drunk driving offenders to use an ignition interlock device. For both of these policies, Missouri was given full credit.
• Missouri has no child endangerment law, no open container law, and no restrictions on texting. No credit was given on these issues.

As these grades show, Missouri has done a lot to protect drivers but there is still much more that they could do.

If you’ve been in a car accident, contact our Springfield, Missouri personal injury lawyers by calling toll-free at 1-800-877-4030.

In 2008, 136 young adults ages 16-20 died in Missouri car accidents. Teenage drivers are at great risk of being involved in fatal car wrecks or in wrecks that cause injury. In fact, U.S. News reported that car crashes are the number one killer of teens in the U.S. and that teen drivers are three times as likely to get into a fatal wreck as an adult driver.

These statistics are enough to frighten any parent and to get every parent asking questions about how to help reduce the risk of teen car accidents and keep their kids safe. Our Springfield injury attorneys want parents to be aware that their own behavior and actions can make a big difference in how their kids drive.  For parents who want to do everything possible to stop teen car accidents, this means being actively involved and modeling good behavior.

Teens Take Cues From Their Parents on Safe Driving

According to a University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute study, a parent’s behavior when driving can have a very significant impact on how a teen behaves. The study revealed, for example, that parents who:

• Always wear their seat belts
• Refrain from texting and driving
• Follow safe driving rules

are much more likely to have teenagers who do the same. In fact, a CSRC principal engineer and teen driving safety expert indicated that parents should always set a good example for their child when driving from the time their child is young.

Parents who text, speed, talk on cell phones or otherwise behave in an unsafe way are, on the other hand, less likely to have leverage to tell their kids not to do the same. Kids will take cues and learn what is acceptable from watching their parents, and the idea of “Do as a I say, not as a I do,” doesn’t necessarily appear to be very effective at encouraging kids to make safe driving choices.

Talking To Your Kids is Important Too

Setting an example with your own behavior is one key way to encourage your children to be safe and not take dangerous or unnecessary risks when they are driving. There is, however, more that you can do.

US News, for example, reported on a State Farm survey addressing teen car accident risks and dangers. According to the results of the survey, teenagers who indicated that their parents had clear driving rules and that their parents were supportive were about half as likely to become involved in a car wreck than teenagers with parents who didn’t choose to be actively involved in setting limits and supervising driving.

Talk To Your Teen Over the Holiday

These statistics show that what you do can make a real difference and have a big impact on whether your teenager drives safely or not. Since a simple conversation about safe driving may be the thing that saves your child’s life, it is a good idea to have the conversation as soon as possible and to have it often.

For many parents, the holiday break presents an ideal time to discuss safe driving when you and your kids are both home with time on your hands. So, this holiday season, take the time to talk to your teenager about safe driving and about how unnecessary risks put his life and the lives of innocent victims at stake.

Contact our Springfield, Missouri personal injury lawyers by calling toll-free at 1-800-877-4030.

So far this year, city officials say nine people have lost their lives in Springfield bicycle and pedestrian crashes.

Our Springfield bicycle accident attorneys understand this figure represents a sharp spike compared to previous years.

The reason for the uptick isn’t clear.

Traffic engineers quoted by Ozarks First say they analyze each and every crash to determine the contributing factors. They say the recent increase has them questioning whether more can be done on their side to reduce the risk.

In part, with regard to the pedestrian crashes, officials said the problem is people not crossing in designated crosswalks. However, the far bigger issue is drivers who either aren’t paying attention, are impaired or are speeding. In those cases, drivers often don’t have time to stop before they realize a collision is impending.

Most recently, a bicyclist was seriously injured by a motorist near the intersection of Glenstone and St. Louis Streets. Just a week earlier, another bicyclist had been killed near that same location.

Springfield is known for being one of the most bike-friendly cities in the Midwest. But we may not hold onto that title long if this trend continues.

In a recent, timely announcement, the National Transportation Safety Board, a federal accident investigator, called on the auto industry to make certain anti-collision technology standard in all new model vehicles, and further urged the executive branch to issue a mandate to that effect. If accepted, such a measure could go a long way in helping to reduce the number of bicycle accidents in Springfield and throughout the country.

Across the U.S., there is an average of 35,000 traffic fatalities every year. That includes motorists, as well as bicyclists and pedestrians. The NTSB estimates it could as much as half that number if the anti-crash technology was put in every car.

For example, automatic brakes are available in certain luxury vehicles, and will automatically apply when the vehicle senses an impending crash, either with another vehicle or object or person. These can be especially useful in cases where an individual is pulling out or backing out of an obstructed driveway, or when a person is about to hit someone who is crossing the road.

Other features include forward-collision warning systems, adaptive cruise control and lane departure alerts.

The board is also recommending that commercial vehicles be equipped with this same technology, as well as tire-pressure monitoring systems and features that limit speed for larger vehicles.

Of course, these recommendations have no real authority with the auto industry or with the government, except that they can carry a fair amount of weight with Congress and the President. But it remains to be seen whether action will be taken.

The auto industry has countered that such a move would add thousands of dollars to the cost of each vehicle. However, the NTSB argues that when the technologies are wide-spread and mass-produced, they become far less expensive – more like a few extra dollars per vehicle.

Other NTSB recommendations include a call for state regulators throughout the country to ban non-essential cell phone and portable electronic device usage by all motor vehicle operators.

If you’ve been injured in a Springfield bicycle accident, contact our Missouri personal injury lawyers by calling toll-free at 1-800-877-4030.