On Saturday night, December 24, a Maryland State Police trooper, was injured while in the course of his duties.

The police trooper from the North East barracks was investigating a fatal accident in Cecil County, Maryland, where a two vehicle crash on Pulaski Highway, resulted in the death of 74 year old Estel Privett, of Cecil County.

Also present at the scene were Maryland State Police and the Maryland State Highway Administration who closed the roadway in order that the investigators could work the scene.

As the investigators were doing their job, about 90 minutes after the original accident took place, 56 year old Kevin Roberts of Cecil County drove through the closed area, ran over several cones and flares and hit a State Highway Administration Vehicle.

He then continued and hit a Police cruiser which was pushed into the investigator.

The investigator and Roberts were transported to Christiana Hospital in Delaware.

Police said impairment by alcohol and controlled dangerous substance were contributing factors to the second collision.

No charges have yet been filed in either collision.

To learn more about your rights and potential compensation after a work-related accident, please call the Cumberland work accident attorneys of Dolina Hobbs, LLC, at (301) 739-1013 or contact us online today.

Two bus drivers were killed in Baltimore along with five other people during a horrific crash.

The accident happened when a school bus first hit a silver Ford Mustang, crushing its rear and forcing its nose into the pavement. Then it hit a pillar at a cemetery entrance hundreds of feet down the street. Veering across the center line, the yellow school bus slammed into the front driver side of the MTA bus, ending about 100 yards from the pillar.

According to Baltimore police, the school bus driver was killed, along with at least five people on the Maryland Transit Administration bus including the driver. Several others were injured.

The accident is being investigated, by the National Transportation Safety Board and in addition it is hoped that survivors, witnesses and the autopsy report on the school bus driver will help to ascertain the cause of the accident.

Investigators say that the lack of skid marks at the site, is leading them to believe that the school bus driver suffered a medical emergency.

To learn more about your rights and potential compensation after a work-related accident, please call the Cumberland work accident attorneys of Dolina Hobbs, LLC, at (301) 739-1013 or contact us online today.

Workers’ compensation laws require automatic drug testing following workplace accidents but according to the Occupation Health and Safety Administration, employers must establish reasonable procedures for employees to report work-related injuries and illnesses in a manner that must not “deter or discourage” employees from making such reports. Obviously if employees have to undertake mandatory drug testing it may deter them from reporting any illness or injury.

However, most employers insist on such testing in the event of work place injuries to ensure the workers’ compensation coverage.

It appears that the way to reconcile it is that, according to OSHA the new Rule only prohibits drug testing of employees if they report work-related injuries or illnesses without an objectively reasonable basis for doing so. In other words there needs to be a reasonable basis for testing for drugs and if the employer had a reasonable basis for believing that drug use by the reporting employee could have contributed to the injury or illness. If so, it would be objectively reasonable to subject the employee to a drug test.

To learn more about your rights and potential compensation after a work-related accident, please call the Cumberland work accident attorneys of Dolina Hobbs, LLC, at (301) 739-1013 or contact us online today.

Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) is an organization which works to improve the safety and health of Maryland’s working men and women in both the public and private sector.

It provides consultation services, outreach and educational programs, and sets and enforces standards, as well as encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. MOSH develops and proposes rules and regulations which are designed to prevent accidents and occupational diseases in every occupation or place of employment in Maryland.

Across the country there are 28 OSHA (Occupational safety and Health) approved State Plans and MOSH is one of these. State Plans are OSHA approved job safety and health programs operated by individual states instead of federal OSHA and MOSH is funded with federal and special funds.

MOSH has jurisdiction over all public and private sector workplaces in Maryland with the exception of federal employees as well as the United States Postal Service; most private sector maritime activities which includes shipyard employment and marine terminals, and military bases which are covered under OSHA jurisdiction.

To learn more about your rights and potential compensation after a work-related accident, please call the Cumberland work accident attorneys of Dolina Hobbs, LLC, at (301) 739-1013 or contact us online today.

Throughout the world a worker dies from a work related accident or disease every 15 seconds. In addition, 153 workers have non fatal work related accident every 15 seconds.

These figures translate to 6,300 people dying every day as a result of occupational accidents or work-related diseases which is more than 2.3 million deaths per year. Every year there are 317 million accidents which occur on the job and many of these mean that workers have to have a long period of time away from their job leading to a major economic burden on the worker as well as the company.

In the United States, the Occupational Safety and health Administration was created over 40 years ago to try and reduce the number of work related accidents and injuries. Before its creation it is estimated that 14,000 workers were killed at work each year but nowadays instead of 38 fatal injuries a day there are 12. While this is a major decrease there is still much work to be done to ensure that less workers are killed or injured on the job.

To learn more about your rights and potential compensation after a work-related accident, please call the Cumberland work accident attorneys of Dolina Hobbs, LLC, at (301) 739-1013 or contact us online today.

A Corporal from the Carroll County Sheriff Office was seriously injured while at work back in January and is still unable to return to his post.

Corporal Brant Webb was on patrol when his cruiser was hit head on by a speeding car traveling at 95 miles a hour. The crash resulted in him suffering broken ribs, bruised lungs, destroyed leg ligaments, broken feet and toes and split his head open. It took three months before he could walk again and he now needs further surgeries to his foot as he still uses a wheelchair much of the time.

The investigation is still ongoing and charges are being considered against the other driver.

However, not only is Webb unable to work at his job at the Sheriff’s office, he also lost his second job working in security for Safe Haven Shelter in Westminster. It is still not known if he will ever be well enough to work as he did before, but the Sheriff has said he will try and find him some role which would be suitable for him when he is well enough to return to work.

To learn more about your rights and potential compensation after a work-related accident, please call the Cumberland work accident attorneys of Dolina Hobbs, LLC, at (301) 739-1013 or contact us online today.

On Monday, May 2, it was announced that the condition of a man who was injured on April 21 when a pickup truck rolled on top of him near a work zone on Interstate 70 east of Hagerstown has been upgraded.

According to Maryland State Police the accident happened at about 1:30 a.m., when workers were repairing a guardrail on I-70 east at the U.S. 40 interchange. Troopers said a 2007 Chevrolet Colorado being driven by James P. Hill III of Bolivar, Ohio, attempted to change lanes and pulled into the path of a 2014 Ford F350. The impact forced the Chevrolet into the median, where it rolled several times and struck 39 year old Jamey Kamp, of Confluence, Pa.

Kamp was listed as being in critical condition but according to a hospital spokeswoman, he is now listed in good condition Monday at R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

Neither Hill nor the driver of the Ford, Brian Steven Debusk of Elkton, Md., was injured.

To learn more about your rights and potential compensation after a work-related accident, please call the Cumberland work accident attorneys of Dolina Hobbs, LLC, at (301) 739-1013 or contact us online today.

There is no question that welding can be a dangerous activity, but with the right safety precautions, the chances of being injured can be dramatically reduced.

First workers should always wear protective equipment which includes a face protector, along with protective goggles and heavy duty gloves. Also the welder must be aware of the environment and remove any potential combustible objects from the area. Another issue can be vapors in the air so you should always check for any open gas lines, oxygen tanks or fuels lines as it is easy to cause a fire when welding near inflammable vapors.

The welder should also be careful not to get too hot, as heat exhaustion can result and those who are exposed to toxic fumes or materials such as asbestos over a period of time can go on to develop lung and breathing issues.

To learn more about your rights and potential compensation after a work-related accident, please call the Cumberland work accident attorneys of Dolina Hobbs, LLC, at (301) 739-1013 or contact us online today.

Workers’ Compensation is an insurance program that pays medical and disability benefits for work-related injuries and diseases. It is a “no fault” system which means that it covers employees for loss of salary and medical benefits for an injury or illness while they were at work, and does not matter if they or the employer were negligent.

The benefits which will be payable depend on the nature and severity of the injury but may include medical expenses and disability payments. The latter depend on state law and also the policy of the individual employer. You should receive a percentage of your salary or wage while you are off work.

Those employees who have Workers’ Compensation, however, cannot claim damages for pain and suffering, nor can they sue their employer for negligence. The advantage of Workers’ Compensation is that there is no need to wait to file a lawsuit but the benefits can be significantly less if the employer was indeed negligent and the accident or injury is severe.

To learn more about your rights and potential compensation after a work-related accident, please call the Cumberland work accident attorneys of Dolina Hobbs, LLC, at (301) 739-1013 or contact us online today.

Every day in the workplace there are many near misses and accidents are narrowly avoided. Even though no one is injured all near misses should be reported as although an accident was avoided this time, next time might not be as lucky.

However, it is not easy to implement a near miss reporting system as many employees don’t want to report them in case they will be blamed for doing something wrong or not following laid down procedures. Employees should be made aware that they will not be punished for reporting a near miss.

Another problem with making sure that all near misses are reported is that some employees will doubt it was a serious enough situation to be reported but things which are swept under the carpet and thought as not major enough to be reported could in fact one day cause a serious accident so a clear definition of what is a near miss should be communicated to all employees and they should be encouraged to report them.

To learn more about your rights and potential compensation after a work-related accident, please call the Cumberland work accident attorneys of Dolina Hobbs, LLC, at (301) 739-1013 or contact us online today.