New Jersey roofers injured by vat of acid

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The nationally publicized story of the New Jersey roofer trying to save a co-worker who had just fallen into a vat of acid hopefully will bring heightened attention regarding worker safety concerns. Both received work-related injuries as one worker fell through a roof and into a vat of acid, and another worker suffered burns in order to save the first worker. The worker that fell through the roof is now in critical condition. The worker that pulled this individual out of the vat was reported to now be fine while downplaying his rescue attempt. Though the circumstances of this accident are quite unique, there is so activity at any worksite that work-related accidents can occur in a large variety of ways. For roofers in particular there is the possibility of falls, electrocutions, burns from tar and other materials, machinery mishaps and structural collapses. The fortunate aspect of being injured on the job (if there is a fortunate aspect), as opposed to being injured anywhere else, is that workers' compensation laws do not require a proving of fault for an individual to recover. However, workers' compensation law is highly highly complex, meaning that it is often difficult to understand all that is required for recovery to occur. To make a claim often requires the assistance of an experienced workers' compensation attorney that understands this area of the law. Construction workers such as the roofers mentioned above are clearly performing tasks that most of the rest of us would prefer to avoid. Because of this, such workers deserve that worker safety protocol be followed and that such workers be well taken care of when they are injured. Source: The Washington Post, "Wife of roofer injured in acid vat accident: Co-worker's rescue was team effort," May 8, 2012