Charlotte Personal Injury Law Blog

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) is reporting that the number of North Carolina workers that died on-the-job last year may be much higher than reported by the Department of Labor for our state. The Department of Labor reported that there were approximately 35 deaths in 2012 attributed to workplace injuries. COSH puts that number somewhere around 150.

The report issued by COSH specifically discussed the death of one worker that died while digging a trench at North Carolina State University. According to COSH, the state repeatedly failed to make the company he worked for comply with safety regulations prior to the worker's death. The report also pointed out that the state's fines are substantially below amounts of federal penalties issued by OSHA.

Three cars were involved in an accident on North Carolina Highway 109 recently. One car accident victim did not survive and was pronounced dead at the scene. One other person had to be taken to an area hospital by helicopter and is still listed as being in critical condition.

The accident occurred when a vehicle traveling south on North Carolina Highway 109 drifted into oncoming traffic and slammed head-on into another vehicle. After those vehicles came to a rest, a third vehicle heading south on the highway struck the other southbound vehicle before emergency personnel could arrive at the scene. The driver and passenger of that vehicle suffered injuries that were treatable at the scene.

In the aftermath of a serious car crash, North Carolina investigators begin attempting to piece together the series of events that led to the incident. This process begins as soon as emergency responders arrive at the scene, and can continue for many months after the auto accident. The period of waiting can be difficult for the survivors of a crash, as well as for friends and family left behind in the wake of a fatal auto accident.

Such is the case with a recent car crash that claimed the life of one woman and left two other individuals injured. Upon early investigation, police believe that a 35-year-old woman was driving a Honda Accord on Highway 73 in Huntersville when she allowed her vehicle to cross the center line. At that point, the driver of a pickup truck heading in the opposite direction attempted to brake and maneuver off the road to avoid a collision.

Nurse fatigue can wreak havoc on patient safety in North Carolina and a new survey found that many nurses suffer from fatigue and have an increased risk of making a medical mistake.

The survey found that two-thirds of nurses in U.S. hospitals reported that they almost made a fatigue-related error and one-fourth of nurses said that they had made an error because they were fatigued, according to a survey by Kronos Incorporated. Their survey found that in addition to the increased risk of medical errors by nurses, fatigue can also impact a hospital's costs and patient and employee satisfaction.