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.

Last week, a worker was injured in an industrial accident in Quarryville, Pennsylvania.  The accident occurred at Steel Systems Installation on Tuesday at around 6 a.m.

According to sources, the worker suffered serious, but not life-threatening, injuries to his leg when something went wrong in a welding shop at the business.  A piece of steel hit the worker’s leg, but investigators are currently unsure of what caused this to happen.

Other workers in the shop called 9-1-1, and emergency paramedics transported the victim to Lancaster General Hospital.  The worker is expected to recover, but officials are still withholding the man’s identity.

If you or someone you love has suffered an injury to the leg or knee in a workplace accident, contact the Philadelphia leg and knee injury attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 to learn more about how we can help you.

Yesterday, students from Belmont Hills Elementary School spent their day off volunteering at Borough Hall in Narbeth.  The Martin Luther King Day event was coordinated by members of the school’s Home and School Association.

Throughout the school year, students at Belmont Hills have raised money to be used on food donations to the Narbeth Community Food Bank.  At the event, students and parents helped package and organize 450 meals worth of food donations before they were delivered to the food bank.

The event also had other ways to give back to the community.  A bake sale and coat, book, and food donations also helped support organizations in the area like Roxborough’s Northern Home for Children, ElderNet of Lower Merion and Narbeth, and Philadelphia’s Leidy Elementary School.

The Philadelphia workers’ compensation lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. would like to thanks Belmont Elementary School and other participants in the event for their efforts to better Philadelphia and surrounding communities in recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  To read more about the event, click here.

Last month, an appellate court in Pennsylvania determined that a workers’ compensation judge and appeals board were wrong to not award a former restaurant chef, manager, and smoker of 30 years workers’ compensation benefits.

The claimant filed for workers’ compensation after suffering a heart attack and needing quintuple bypass surgery.  According to court documents, in 2008, the worker suffered chest pains while moving beer kegs.  Three days later, the worker once again suffered chest pains, this time while lifting a heavy pot of chili.  He was subsequently hospitalized for multiple days and needed surgery.

The worker argued that the heavy lifting caused his injuries, heart attack, and disability.  A workers’ compensation judge and appeals board felt that testimony from the worker’s cardiologist was not sufficient to link his injury to the heavy lifting he performed at work.  However, the claimant appealed to the Commonwealth Court, which ruled that there was sufficient evidence linking his injury to the duties of his job.

If you or someone you know has questions about what constitutes a workplace injury or illness, contact the Philadelphia workers’ compensation attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. by calling 215-238-110 today.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau has reported that in 2010, the most common type of fraud reported in the state of Pennsylvania was workers’ compensation fraud.

Workers’ compensation fraud involves an employed individual lying to their insurance company to earn wages that they are not actually entitled to due to an injury that did not occur at the workplace.

In Pennsylvania, workers’ compensation fraud is considered a felony and carries with it a possible sentence of seven years in prison. If convicted, a fine of $15,000 per charge can also be enforced.

If you or someone you know has been injured as a result of employment conditions, please contact the Philadelphia workers’ compensation lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. by calling by calling 215-238-1130 today.

Rapper Jay-Z is being sued by the Workers Compensation Board of New York for allegedly failing to pay three months in workers’ compensation insurance in 2009.

A court has ordered Jay-Z to pay the $18,000 he owes for the three months he failed to make payments.  The insurance covered domestic employees such as chefs, maids, drivers, etc. According to court documents, the rapper only neglected to pay those three months and has since continued to pay his employees workers’ compensation. However, he never repaid the outstanding $18,000.

Sources say that Jay-Z denies these allegations and blames the the bill on a clerical error.

If you or someone you love has suffered an injury on the job, contact the Philadelphia workers’ compensation attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., at 215-238-1130.