Workplace injuries are frighteningly common. Unfortunately, they're also frustratingly easy to avoid, provided that the owners of the business take measures to protect their employees. There are some types of hazards in workplaces that you're more likely to face than others.

Falls

Violations of fall protection regulations were the most commonly-cited violations in workplaces by OSHA in 2012. Falling from an elevation causes some of the most devastating injuries imaginable and, of course, these falls all too often end up killing the victim. If you work at an establishment that expects you to ascend heights without fall protection, you should tip off OSHA about it before someone gets hurt or killed. Scaffolding violations were the 3rd most common type of OSHA violation in 2012, so remember to keep an eye out for employers who don’t live up to standards in this regard, as well.

Communication

One of the most overlooked sources of injury in workplaces is simple communication. According to OHSA, violations related to not living up the standards for communicating hazards were the 2nd most common types of violations in 2012. When an employer asks you to do 100% of a job with less than 100% of the information about the dangers involved, they're asking you to risk your life and limb. Report it and don't take on jobs when you're not given thorough information about the hazards involved.

A lawsuit has been filed by two teenage boys who were injured in their workplace. The lawsuit alleges that the Oklahoma teenagers, who were working on a grain auger, were injured by the machinery due to unsafe conditions in their workplace.

The defendant has been fined by OSHA due to not having workers compensation in place at the time of the accident, according to the Enid News and Eagle. The company is being sued for over $75,000 in damages. According to the reporting, the lawsuits in total alleged that there were five separate counts of negligence on the part of the employer.

Each of the boys lost a leg in the incident. One of the boys was working on the machinery when his leg got caught in it. The other boy attempted to help the boy who was stuck and ended up getting caught in the auger himself. In addition to losing a leg, both of them sustained critical injuries during the incident.

Training and Negligence

Among the allegations made in the lawsuit is that the boys were not provided with adequate training. There are strict OSHA requirements for training for working on certain types of machinery. There are also age restrictions for working on particular types of machinery in the workplace. If an employer violates age limits or if they fail to provide proper training, they may well be held to be negligent if one of their workers becomes injured.

BP Products North America, Inc. has agreed to settle citations issued against them for a sum total of $13 million. The citations were issued against the Texas City refinery. According to reporting on BLR, the refinery had a slew of issues with safety, resulting in an investigation that saw them received 270 failure to abate notices in 2009. In addition, a $30 million fine was levied in 2009 and, in 2010, the company agreed to pay a fine of $50.6 million to resolve the notices.

In September of 2005, an incident at the refinery ended up killing 15 workers and injuring many more. As a result of that, BP was cited for $21 million, according to the reporting. The additional fines were the results of failures to correct the deficiencies found after the investigation into the deaths.

EHSToday.com recently ran an article that will be of interest to some employers. The article comes after a construction company was cleared of charges that they did not properly record some accidents. There are specific regulations that apply to how injuries in the workplace have to be recorded. Unfortunately, many employers don't realize the actual nature of these laws and regulations and skirt them without being aware of it.

When to Record

Generally speaking, employers tend to misinterpret the fact that OSHA has a six-month statute of limitations on certain actions related to workplace injuries. One of the mistakes employers make is failing to record injuries that were not reported until more than six months after they actually occurred. This is not actually how the statue limitations works. If you receive information that a workplace injury has occurred, according to the article, you have to log the injury and properly recorded within seven days. OSHA has six months to issue a citation if you fail to record it but, simply because the injury occurred six months earlier does not mean it doesn't need to be recorded.

National Young Worker Safety Day was held on June 25 in College Station. The event is the kickoff of a campaign being undertaken by CareerSafe Online that has the goal of educating 1 million students by December 31, 2015. Younger workers are disproportionally likely to be injured in the workplace. In fact, compared to the risk that workers 25 years of age and older face, workers between 16 and 24 are twice as likely to be injured at work.

The Outreach

The idea behind the campaign is to create an opportunity for people between 16 and 24 years of age to learn about how they can stay safe in the workplace. The benefits of this, of course, include making the people who go through the program more employable and more aware of the dangers posed in their workplaces. Organizers hope that those benefits will affect employers, as well.

The current media and government frenzy over pit bulls can be observed all over the Internet, television and in other news sources. Legislative measures have resulted from the popular perception that pit bulls are more dangerous than other dogs. In Maricopa County Arizona 750 pit bulls were scheduled to be put to death in May. Breed hysteria has struck before. In the 1970s, Doberman pincers were regarded as the most dangerous dog. In the 1980s, it was German shepherds. In the 1990s, it was Rottweilers. The fact remains that, without the proper training and discipline, any dog can be dangerous. Avoiding dog bites is oftentimes something that requires you to take a look at the owner more than the breed of dog.

Bad Owners

Advocates for pit bulls and other breeds emphasize that properly training dogs and properly caring for them is the best way to avoid situations where the dog ends up biting someone. Sometimes, you can tell a lot more about a dog by taking a look at how its owner treats it than by looking at the breed. In fact, if you're getting your information from the media about breeds of dogs, you probably have a lot of misconceptions. For example, pit bulls do not have the highest bite strength of any dog, German shepherds do.

A new treatment that stimulates the occipital nerve may bring relief to some migraine sufferers. According to a press release, the treatment may provide relief when other types of treatments fail.

The Treatment

The treatment involves implanting a device in the body that delivers a small electrical current to the occipital nerves. The device is rather like a pacemaker, according to the press release. In fact, it is implanted in the chest, though the device actually stimulates nerves in the skull. They can be programmed by the doctor.

When you get into a car wreck, there are plenty of things that can go wrong after the wreck is over. Even if everyone is physically okay and there is no threat of being out on the road in a destroyed vehicle, there are ways that these situations can go from bad to worse. To make sure that you don't end up making things much worse than they have to be, you can remember to avoid a few common mistakes.

Slip and fall injuries become significant hazards during the springtime. In some areas, a mix of mud, water and sometimes sleet and snow create a very dangerous situation on certain types of flooring. Some of the most dangerous floors, in this regard, are found in restaurants and retail establishments. The owners of these establishments have a responsibility to make sure that their floors are reasonably safe for their customers.

If you happen to be injured because you take a spill on the floor at a retail establishment, know that you do have the option of hiring a personal injury attorney to represent you in court. These attorneys will take every case. In fact, many of them will offer you a free consultation where you can sit down with them and discuss your case and determine whether or not it's worth pushing forward with a lawsuit. If the attorney does determine that it was the fault of the store owner and that there was negligence involved, they may want to take your case. There are ways that you can have them take your case without having to pay any upfront legal fees.

In some cases, an attorney may offer to represent you on a contingency agreement. This means that they’re staking their pay on their ability to win your case. If they don't win your case, the attorney doesn't get paid and you walk away without owing them anything. If they do win your case, however, their legal fees will come out of the jury award or settlement.