Earlier this month, three construction workers were injured when a car drove through the construction site where they were working. The workers had closed off the Platt Bridge to perform construction work in the middle of the night.

At around 1:25 a.m., a driver ignored signs indicating that the bridge was closed and drove into the construction site, hitting the three workers and a piece of construction equipment. The driver was killed in the accident.

The three construction workers were treated at the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania after the accident. Their injuries were described as minor and not life-threatening.

Last week, construction work at the World Trade Center building site in New York City was stopped after steel beams fell 40 stories. A crane working on the future 72-story tower dropped the steel beams onto the truck that delivered them.

The beams fell at around 10 a.m. on Thursday. Officials at the construction site reported that the accident occurred when a cable on the crane snapped. Debris from the accident stayed in the construction site, and nearby activities at the 9/11 Memorial and another construction site continued.

Thankfully, no workers were injured in this accident, but accidents at construction sites can be extremely dangerous. If you or someone you love has been injured in a construction accident, contact the Philadelphia workers’ compensation attorneys at 215-238-1130 to learn more about receiving compensation for work-related injuries.

A couple of weeks ago, at least 20 construction workers were injured when a 60-foot by 60-foot area of floor they were working on on the second-floor of a casino construction site in Cincinnati collapsed. Officials believe that a metal beam holding up the floor fell, causing the accident.

When the beam fell, a corner of the second-floor area collapsed, and workers were sent sliding down onto the first-floor. 14 workers who were pouring concrete into the second-floor area were taken to the hospital. None of the construction workers’ injuries were said to be life-threatening.

The other injured workers suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene of the accident. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been at the construction site to investigate the cause of the accident.

Contact the Philadelphia construction injury lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130, if you or someone you love has suffered injuries in a construction accident.

Recently, an appellate court in Arkansas sided with a lower court’s earlier ruling, denying an extension of workers’ compensation benefits to a worker because pictures posted on the Internet were evidence that he had recovered from his work-related injury.

The worker first began receiving workers’ compensation after he was injured while working for an appliance retailer; the man suffered a hernia when a refrigerator at his workplace fell on him.  In addition to the workers’ compensation, he was provided compensation for medical expenses related to the accident that occurred about 3 years ago.

In the worker’s case to receive an extension on his benefits, his employer presented pictures taken from Facebook and MySpace that show him partying and drinking.  The court ruled that this photographic evidence proved that the worker had successfully recovered from his injury, which he claimed still caused him “excruciating pain.”

The plaintiff appealed the lower court’s decision, but an Arkansas Court of Appeals also ruled that the pictures were sufficient evidence that he had recovered, and he was denied an extension to his benefits.

If you have been injured on the job and need assistance filing for workers’ compensation benefits, contact the Philadelphia workers’ compensation attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 to speak with one of our lawyers today.

An agenda recently released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration suggests that officials will be reevaluating the administration’s permissible exposure limits, or PELs.

PELs are regulations that state the amount of time before chemical exposure becomes harmful to a person.  Some PELs were established as long as 40-years ago and have never been updated.

OSHA’s Fall 2011 semi-annual regulatory agenda shows that the agency is working on a Request for Information (RFI) to be released in August.  This will gather input from the public on how to limit occupational hazards associated with chemical exposure, and is expected to be a starting point from which OSHA will reevaluate and update their PELs.

To speak with an attorney about getting the workers’ compensation you deserve, contact the Philadelphia workers’ compensation lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. by calling 215-238-1130 today.