Electrical Accidents Rank Sixth Among All Causes of U.S. Work-Related Deaths
Electrical accidents rank sixth among all causes of work-related deaths in the United States and are both fatal and costly. Recently, the Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) has taken actions to improve the safety of its workers through its new safety procedures. But the company's actions have come under scrutiny, as the new measure has increased customer outages by 5 percent a year. According to Newsday, company officials have defended the practice as the reduced risk of serious on-the-job injuries and fatalities to its employees outweighs the minimal impact to efficiency.
Last June, PSEG enacted its new safety feature that temporarily disables equipment that allows the electric grid to automatically restore power when an electrical problem occurs on a section of line. To ensure that workers are not in danger, power will remain off on these circuits until the employees are out of harm's way and can reset the equipment to restore power.
Since the procedure was implemented on December 31, 2015, there have been 27 outages that have affected tens of thousands of customers. Although the outages are quickly fixed, they are not contained to small areas. PSEG officials recognize that this drawback leaves the company vulnerable to lower customer satisfaction and reliability ratings, but stands by its actions to improve its employee safety measures.
According to the Center of Disease Control's National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH), electrical hazards cause more than 300 deaths and 4,000 injuries in the workplace each year.
If you have suffered severe burns as the result of electric shock, you may be entitled to financial compensation for damages. Contact a New York personal injury attorney who is experienced in representing victims of these incidents. The personal injury attorneys at Levine and Slavit, PLLC have been helping clients recover the compensation they deserve for their injuries for over 45 years. Contact (888) LAW-8088 for a consultation today.
