Georgia Injury Law Blog
Every day in the United States, an average of two workers are killed as a result of workplace violence.In fact, the risk of suffering a personal injury in the workplace through assault or other acts of violence by a fellow worker, may have increased during these troubled economic times. Unfortunately for the families whose loved ones are killed, the workers comp system is not setup in a manner to provide an appropriate level of compensation.
Data suggests that the number of persons actually killed as a result of workplace violence has stayed more or less consistent over the past 14 years.According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 500 people died in 2010 due to workplace violence.There has been a lot of focus on preventing specific types of injuries in the workplace, like fall accidents or accidents involving machinery.Atlanta Workers’ Compensation lawyers find that there is little attention paid to the issue of workplace violence, and ways to prevent it.
Last month a workplace violence incident in California drew attention to this very serious safety issue.The incident occurred at the LehighSouthwest Cement Permanente Plant, where an employee opened fire on coworkers at a meeting.They were about 15 people at the meeting.Three of them were killed.At least six other people sustained injuries.There is no information yet about what caused this rampage.