Slidell Workers' Compensation Law Blog

Many workers in Louisiana neglect to consider the danger of eye accidents in the workplace. However, eye injuries take a major economic and personal toll on workers across the country. Every year, over 20,000 workers suffer damage to their eyes while on the job. While the cost in productivity is often estimated at $300 million, the personal cost can be far greater. Employees who suffer workplace injuries that involve eye damage can suffer pain, loss of vision or even blindness.

Safety experts estimate that the vast majority of workplace eye injuries are preventable -- up to 90 percent of these accidents could be avoided through the use of protective eyewear. Some of the most severe eye injuries take place in jobs that involve heavy objects and intense physical work, including mining, manufacturing and construction. These industries account for 40 percent of all workplace eye injuries. At these jobs, workers' eyes are at risk from hot metal, toxic substances, chemical gases and airborne particles.

Although Louisiana does not have an extensive coal mining history, people around the country who are in this industry should be aware that a rising number of black lung cases have been reported. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has discovered that there were 416 instances of complicated black lung, or progressive massive fibrosis, from 2013 to 2017 in just three clinics.

Black lung is used to refer to one of any number of respiratory diseases that are caused by exposure to coal mine dust. By the close of the 20th century, the occurrence of the condition had fallen to an all-time low, as only 31 cases were reported. However, it is now on the rise.

Louisiana workers may be interested to learn that workplace fatalities jumped by 7 percent in 2016, according to a new report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the third consecutive year that work-related deaths have increased.

The BLS reports that 5,190 workers died in work-related accidents in 2016, which is 354 more than in 2015. The deadly injury rate in 2016 was 3.6 for every 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. In comparison, it was 3.4 per 100,000 in 2015. Transportation accidents were the No. 1 cause of death for workers, accounting for about 20 percent of all fatalities. The second most common cause of worker deaths was workplace violence, which spiked by 23 percent last year.

Data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration reveals that about 2 million workers in Louisiana and around the country have jobs that expose them to silica. The federal workplace safety watchdog took action to protect these workers in March by reducing the permissible levels of silica to 50 micrograms in each cubic meter of air during an eight-hour shift, but the revised Crystalline Silica Rule was quickly challenged by trade groups and labor advocates.

Silica crystals can penetrate lungs and have been linked with potentially deadly diseases including lung cancer and silicosis, but trade groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce challenged the revised OSHA silica standard in court claiming that the medical evidence supporting it was unconvincing. The lawsuit also alleged that the revised rule violated the Administrative Procedure Act and that meeting the stricter standard would not be feasible for many businesses.