Workplace accident results in hand amputation

On behalf of Jeffrey Frederick of Frederick & Hagle posted in Workplace Accidents on Sunday, January 11, 2015.

The use of both hands is critical and required for most Illinois workers to be able to complete their job duties. The loss of one or both hands in a workplace accident can be more than devastating; it can seriously compromise a person’s ability to earn a livelihood or care for his or her family. An out-of-state worker may be struggling to come to grips with these types of issues after a tragic accident at work cost him his left hand. 

The victim was a sanitation worker who was in a sanitation vehicle’s cab at the time of the incident. Although the exact details of what occurred are still unclear at this time, it appears that the sanitation truck began to move and caused the victim to fall. When he landed, the truck ran over his left hand, crushing it. Ultimately, it had to be amputated.

As both an employee and an artist well-known to his local community, the loss of his hand may have hit the victim particularly hard. The accident is still being investigated, and the driver of the sanitation truck was asked to submit to alcohol testing. It does not appear that he was intoxicated at the time, but testing is typical incidents such as this.

Although as both a 21 year veteran of the sanitation system and an avid artist, there is likely nothing that can ever truly replace his hand, workers’ compensation benefits can help address related damages. In instances when an Illinois worker has lost the use of a body party in a workplace accident, he or she is typically entitled to permanent partial disability through workers’ compensation benefits. These benefits are often critical in returning to a life as normal as possible.

Source: New York Daily News, “Artist who works for NYC Sanitation Department has drawing hand amputated after on-the-job injury“, Barry Paddock and Thomas Tracy, Dec. 31, 2014