President Obama signed an order last week for federal workplaces to improve employee safety within the next four years.  By 2014, he hopes that all government agencies will have reduced the number of injuries and illnesses to employees, reduced the time spent to review a claim, and sped up injured employees' returns to the workplace.

"Many of these work-related injuries and illnesses are preventable, and executive departments and agencies can and should do even more to improve workplace safety and health, reduce the financial burden of injury on taxpayers, and relieve unnecessary suffering by workers and their families," stated Obama.

Agencies will be responsible for any costs related to improving safety in the workplace.

If you or someone you love is seeking workers' compensation, contact the Charleston workers' compensation lawyers of The Steinberg Law Firm at 843-720-2800 to learn more about your rights. 

According to The Sun News, "Former 'Operation Lost Trust' figure Bob Kohn went on trial for mail fraud Monday, accused of helping a maritime welding firm plot to get lower worker's compensation rates."

Kohn served in the House of Representatives in 1990 for North Charleston. The FBI suspected him of membership in a corruption wing. In a plea bargain, Kohn gave up his cohorts in exchange for 15 months in jail.

Current charges suspect that, "as a private insurance consultant, [he] helped fabricate payroll records involving Knight's Services of Summerville for pipefitting and other maritime work it conducted here," reports the Sun News. He allegedly underreported the company's size of staff and payroll. This allowed them to save thousands in insurance costs.

The Sun News writes, "The fraud allegation came to light after an 18-year-old employee of Knight's was killed in December 2005 during a below-decks sewer tank accident while he was working on a ship-refit inside Detyens Shipyard. Four others were hospitalized." The insurers realized that the company's numbers weren't adding up.

If you or someone you know has been injured on the job, call a Charleston Workers' Compensation Lawyer at the Steinberg Law Firm for help collecting your Workers' Compensation.

In Lewisville, Texas, 20 miles outside of Dallas, a park-and-ride transit area was under construction. Early Thursday morning, according to The Dallas Morning News, the Denton County Transportation Authority says, "says the boom on aconcrete pumping truck collapsed onto the four workers." 

The collapse killed two workers. The other two were injured, but their injuries were reportedly not life-threatening. The Transportation Authority has halted construction. They say the area will remain closed until a thorough investigation into this deadly construction accident is conducted.

A West Virginia man is pursuing a nursing home malpractice claim after losing his mother. Opal Estep's son is suing Manor Care and HCR Manor Care Services in the wake of his mother's death. According to the West Virginia Record, "Health Care and Retirement Corporation of America, Heartland Employment Services, Danny Davis and Vivian Kiraly were also named as defendants inthe suit."

Opal Estep lived at the facility, Heartland of Charleston, from 2003 to 2008, when she died.  The West Virginia Record reports, "Dwight Johnson claims the defendants accelerated the deterioration of Estep's health and physical condition beyond that caused by the normal aging process and resulted in physical and emotional trauma, including urinary tract infections, dehydration, malnutrition, fractured bones, infections and eventual death."

There were alleged staffing problems at the facility during Estep's stay that may have contributed to these problems. 

A trench collapse partly buried a South Carolina construction worker from Moorhead Construction. Independent Mail reports that the man, "had been installing a 6-inch water line near the intersection of Hopewell Road and Wilson Road just south of S.C. 81 in Anderson."

Emergency responders were able to rescue the man quickly and were partly aided by his fellow construction workers who began digging him out immediately. The man appeared to suffer from life-threatening injuries according to EMS. Chuck Cortez, manager of the water district, said that the worker suffered from broken ribs. 

The Independent Mail reports that Cortez is thrilled the incident was not any worse.

Construction sites can be dangerous. If you or someone you know was injured in a Charleston construction accident on the job, contact The Steinberg Law Firm at 843-720-2800.