A bicycle rider while peddling down a sidewalk in a road construction site was injured.
A bicycle rider was peddling down a side walk next to a road construction site. While riding his bicycle he struck a severe deformation in the sidewalk and sustained injury when he went over the handlebars onto the concrete sidewalk. My review of the MUTCD rules showed general contractor need not only generate a traffic control plan for vehicular traffic but for that of pedestrian/bicyclists as well, inspect such travel paths and deploy appropriate warning signage. The MUTCD required safety signage which was missing from the bicycle path.
Oil and gas.
Pumper hired a contractor to repair a well pump that was not functioning. After the completion of the repair, the pumper, at the direction of the contractor, walked over to the power switch for the pump turning it on. An employee of a contractor crew grasped a drive belt to push it to “help” start rotation of the newly repaired pump when it started injuring his hand. Injured employee sued the pumper. The issue was whether or not the pumper was responsible for contractor employees injuries.
Construction.
The injured party was a high school student working part time in mechanic’s shop. His employer, who hired a contractor to expand his mechanic’s shop, directed Plaintiff to assist the contractor. The student employee fell from ladder during construction work. At issue was the responsibility of employer and contractor to student.
Mining.
Mine operator sold material to a trucking company. One of trucking company’s trucks struck a car while on a very dusty public road. At issue was whether mine operator had a duty to maintain a public road.
An experienced skilled tradesman struck by a fork lift operator on a major construction project.
An experienced skilled tradesman was working a major construction project. The skilled tradesman was responsible for concrete form setting on a new construction project. While walking to his job post at the start of the day he was severely injured when a fork lift operator struck him from behind. My review of pleadings, depositions and exhibits produced in discovery (based in part from questions I recommended at the beginning of the case) showed the fork lift operator and his employer failed to follow the OSHA required safety rules for fork lift operation. One of the defenses raised by the fork lift operator was the lack of “sun light”. My research in the U.S. Naval Observatory showed there was in fact sufficient “sun light” at the time and location of the incident for the fork lift operator to have clearly seen the injured employee.
Oil and gas.
An employee of a petroleum tank service contractor was assigned a pump out and service of a petroleum storage tank. He was told the facility was prepped for his work, meaning the electrical power was off at the site. However, the electrical power to the storage tank facility had in fact not been turned off resulting in a storage tank heating element remaining on. As the plaintiff lowered the oil level in the tank, resulting in exposing a heating element which overheated and ignited the flammable petroleum fumes. The issue was whether well owner, the pumper/company man and other contractors were responsible for the site condition at time of explosion.