Injury Accident Lawyers Serving Lexington, KY

Many jobs in Kentucky carry the risk of a workplace accident causing serious injury or death. Workplace fatality records from the Kentucky Labor Cabinet’s Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Program show dozens of fatal jobsite accidents in each of the last several years.

In October 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said private industry employers across the country reported almost 3 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2011. More than half were serious enough to require days away from work, transfer to a different job or restricted work duties.

When a worker in Kentucky is injured on the job or dies in a job site accident, workers’ compensation benefits are supposed to assist the worker and/or the worker’s family during recovery. But many find it difficult to secure the compensation they deserve to adequately meet their needs.

That’s where we can help. For more than 15 years,the workers’ compensation lawyers at the Frank Jenkins Law Office in Lexington, Kentucky, have helped injured workers obtain the benefits they need and deserve. Contact the Frank Jenkins Law Office today at 859-389-9344 or through our online contact form. Your initial consultation is free and confidential.

Workplace Injuries in Kentucky

Employers in Kentucky are required to report workplace fatalities, amputations and hospitalizations to the Kentucky Labor Cabinet’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health Compliance. The Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Program reported 28 workplace fatalities caused by accidents in the state in 2012, 33 in 2011 and an average of 32 each year since 2003. A fatal accident can occur at virtually any kind of job site, the state’s reports show.

Kentucky industries reporting fatal accidents from 2010 to 2012, from industries with the most fatal accidents to those with the fewest, include:

• Construction
• Agriculture and landscaping
• Electric, gas and sanitary services
• Services
• Public administration, government
• Paper, printing and publishing manufacturing
• Transportation and warehousing
• Retail trade
• Wholesale trade
• Logging, lumber and wood products
• Retail trade
• Chemicals and allied products
• Stone, clay, glass and concrete product manufacturing
• Industrial machinery, electronics and instruments
• Fabricated metal product manufacturing
• Food and kindred products manufacturing.

Causes of fatal accidents reported to Kentucky’s OSH Program in 2012 include:

• Car / auto / vehicle accident (multiple reports)
• Run over by truck (multiple reports)
• Forklift overturned
• Skidder rolled
• Pinned between a truck and compactor
• Pinned by trailer
• Caught in conveyer belt and machine frame crushed
• Crushed (no further description)
• Wall collapse
• Trench collapse
• Struck (no further description)
• Struck by tree limb
• Caught in a turning lathe
• Fall from height
• Fall from ladder
• Arc blast
• Electrocution
• Hypothermia
• Homicide.

Common Types of Workplace Injuries in Kentucky

The causes of fatal workplace injuries that are reportedin Kentucky are similar to the most common causes ofnonfatal workplace injuries identified by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company’s annualWorkplace Safety Index. They include:

• Overexertion (from lifting, holding,carrying, pushing, pulling and/or throwing)
• Falls
• Adverse bodily reactions (caused by bending, reaching, climbing, standing, sitting, slipping and/or tripping without falling)
• Struck by object (such as something falling from above)
• Motor vehicle accidents
• Caught in or compressed by objects or machinery
• Struck against objects (including being pushed into walls or doors)
• Repetitive motion injuries (i.e., repeated stress or strain)
• Violence (i.e., assault).

Workplace accidents can lead to serious and costly injuries that require lengthy recoveries.Workplace accidents that are not fatal commonly cause:

• Orthopedic injuries (injury to muscles, bones, joints, tendons, ligaments and surrounding soft tissue)
• Head and brain injury, including concussion and traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• Spinal cord injuries, including paralysis or other loss of function.

Workers’ compensation benefits can assist injured workers by making up for lost wages and helping to pay for medical and rehabilitation expenses. If a fatal workplace accident takes away a family’s breadwinner, workers’ compensation death benefits can replace part of the income the deceased family member provided.

Contact Our Kentucky Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

For more than 15 years, the workers’ comp attorneys at the Frank Jenkins Law Office in Lexington have successfully helped injured workers secure the workers’ compensation benefits they deserve.

If you or a loved one needs legal assistance in the pursuit of a workers’ comp claim, or if you have questions about your appeal of a denied claim, contact one of our experienced Lexington workers’ compensation lawyers today at 859-389-9344 or use our online contact form.

We serve injured workers in Lexington and the surrounding communities of Berea, Georgetown, Nicholasville, Paris, Richmond, Versailles and Winchester, as well as throughout Eastern Kentucky and across the state. We can help you whether you are just starting the process of filing a workers’ compensation claim or are appealing a denied claim for benefits.