Poll of the Day > My dad got run over by a forklift at work

(+) Yeah! (+)

Broke his leg right at the ball joint where it connects to the hip.

It doesn't sound like my mom wants to get lawyers involved as she thinks the company will handle everything.

slacker03150 posted...

It doesn't sound like my mom wants to get lawyers involved as she thinks the company will handle everything.

that's corpo-fascism talk, if he's not unionized ALWAYS get super lawyers

slacker03150 posted...

It doesn't sound like my mom wants to get lawyers involved as she thinks the company will handle everything.

That sounds like a very bad idea, unless they've already signed a compensation cheque that can be reasonably expected to cover all current and future costs of this incident.

Yeah I wouldn't trust the company. Hire a lawyer to cover his ass if anything.

That sounds really awful, sorry to hear that

Damn, forklift safety is no joke

but really, when my dad was working there were 2 forklift related fatalities over the decades... idk your exact dad's workplace but here forklifts have major regulations; an accident with a forklift is like an accident with a gun, it can result in criminal felony charges against the owners

That really sucks! Well wishes to your dad.

Were they fork lift racing

Lokarin posted...

but really, when my dad was working there were 2 forklift related fatalities over the decades... idk your exact dad's workplace but here forklifts have major regulations; an accident with a forklift is like an accident with a gun, it can result in criminal felony charges against the owners

Assuming it's the US, they don't give a fuck lol. Hell, like 95% of dudes in warehouses aren't even certified. They might say they are though

When you say "run over", do you mean like "pinned against something"? Or just "struck very hard"?

Wow! I hope dad is doing OK! Workplace related injuries have been on the rise across the board across the country and they especially tick up in Right To Work states so well when you deregulate workplaces injuries tend to increase sadly.

Ouch he may be crippled for life.

Sorry to hear that. Hope he recovers soon. My grandmother got run over by a reindeer one Christmas and it was a tough recovery.

As someone who frequently operates a forklift at work, I can't help but wonder how it happened. Did they do it on purpose?

Ouch! I hope he gets better.

never let the company handle shit, they will lie out their ass to avoidany fault and leave you with as much cost as possible.

Update: he is recovering ok so far. We will need to wait and see if the ball joint is getting blood and in the mean time doctors don't want him to put any weight on his leg for the next 6 weeks minimum. Possibly longer depending on how recovery goes.

slacker03150 posted...

Update: he is recovering ok so far. We will need to wait and see if the ball joint is getting blood and in the mean time doctors don't want him to put any weight on his leg for the next 6 weeks minimum. Possibly longer depending on how recovery goes.

How did it happen?

Revelation34 posted...

How did it happen?

It was an electric forklift, so quieter than a regular one. It was a loud environment so my dad had earplugs in and there are no lights or safety features on the forklift to alert people. So my dad wasn't facing it and didn't hear it. I'm not clear if the guy driving it made a mistake or just didn't see my dad but either way ended up running into him with the forks up.

The driver is also in his mid- late 60's. So hard to say if that was a factor.

This is why safety is important

OhhhJa posted...

Assuming it's the US, they don't give a fuck lol. Hell, like 95% of dudes in warehouses aren't even certified. They might say they are though

no, osha doesn't fuck around and they will pursue action

see? they don't fuck around

An unlicensed forklift operator here carries a $30'000 PER DAY penalty with an additional $25k fine to both the operator and their employer as well as up to a year in prison...

It goes even harder if there's an accident, that's just for getting caught without a license.

Man I thought the title said dog at first and got confused halfways through before I looked again.

Lokarin posted...

An unlicensed forklift operator here carries a $30'000 PER DAY penalty with an additional $25k fine to both the operator and their employer as well as up to a year in prison...

It goes even harder if there's an accident, that's just for getting caught without a license.

Holy shit. Yeah it's definitely not that serious in my state. Employee basically can't get in trouble unless you lie to the employer about being certified. Employer has all the liability and the fines definitely aren't anywhere close to that. In fact, I believe there's a max penalty for any length of time and it's like less than 15k

He gets out of the hospital today. It turns out my dad is the one trying to avoid a lawsuit. He is trying to downplay the injury and doesn't want to deal with the lawsuit or cause problems for something he sees as just an accident. Even to the point where he didn't want to bother the nurse asking for pain medication.

In the mean time the company has already tried to get his complete medical history instead of just the medical information pertaining to the injury. My mom thought that sounded fishy and consulted with a lawyer who told her not to sign it and to instead request a different form that only gives them relevant medical information.

So now we have to find a way to keep him entertained for the next 8 weeks. The problem is he has no hobbies and actually looks down on most hobbies. He won't touch video games, he hates to read, he doesn't like computers, he does like day time television, but is already getting sick of it after having nothing else to do but watch it in the hospital. Anyone have a suggestion for something an old guy who doesn't like things could do for 8 weeks?

How does he feel about puzzles? Like crosswords or sudoku?

slacker03150 posted...

He gets out of the hospital today. It turns out my dad is the one trying to avoid a lawsuit. He is trying to downplay the injury and doesn't want to deal with the lawsuit or cause problems for something he sees as just an accident. Even to the point where he didn't want to bother the nurse asking for pain medication.

Meanwhile, the company's made it abundantly clear that they're willing to throw him under the bus in any way possible if it means they can get away with paying less. His loyalty is sorely misplaced.

There are very few "just accidents" when it comes to incidents like this. You've already identified some fundamental design flaws in the worksite that led to this: The site's too loud to hear the forklift coming and the forklift has no lights, alarms, or other features to draw attention to it. The former's hard to fix without completely changing the nature of the work, but you can mitigate the problem by adding attention-grabbing features to the forklift and clearly delineating lanes to separate forklift traffic from foot traffic as much as possible. It's very, very unlikely that the company couldn't have reasonably done more to prevent this, and that failure of due diligence is something they should be held liable for. You can't necessarily prevent human error, but you can very often design systems that reduce the impact of that inevitable human error, and this is 100% one such case. Take them for everything they've got and let that be a lesson to spend $20 on a flashing light next time.

adjl posted...

clearly delineating lanes to separate forklift traffic from foot traffic

That part they have. And he was in the foot traffic area not the forklift lane. So yeah, the company should be screwed. And personally I would take them for everything they're worth. My ex was friends with one of the owners kids and they have the kind of money where they forget what is actually considered a lot of money.

evilpresident posted...

How does he feel about puzzles? Like crosswords or sudoku?

I don't think I have ever seen him touch a puzzle before.

slacker03150 posted...

That part they have. And he was in the foot traffic area not the forklift lane. So yeah, the company should be screwed.

They'll probably try to pass it off as "operator error," then, since the forklift shouldn't have been there, but there's probably still plenty of room to scrutinize the operator's training, whatever policies they have around forklift operation (and, more applicably, how they're enforced), and the failure to stick a flashing light on something they know nobody can hear coming.

slacker03150 posted...

Anyone have a suggestion for something an old guy who doesn't like things could do for 8 weeks?

Tell him to rewrite the lyrics to Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer to make the song relevant to his situation.

adjl posted...

probably still plenty of room to scrutinize the operator's training, whatever policies they have around forklift operation (and, more applicably, how they're enforced),

Apparently they are shown how to use a fork lift when they start and never again. My dad said he has never recertified after he was hired and never had any refresher training courses.

Cacciato posted...

Tell him to rewrite the lyrics to Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer to make the song relevant to his situation.

I passed that one on. He laughed.

Cacciato posted...

Tell him to rewrite the lyrics to Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer to make the song relevant to his situation.

Every time I see this topic on the list, I read it to that tune, which is terrible but also kind of funny.

slacker03150 posted...

Apparently they are shown how to use a fork lift when they start and never again. My dad said he has never recertified after he was hired and never had any refresher training courses.

I'm not surprised the company went on a fishing expedition, then.

So, the lawyer said specifically to not sign the HIPPA release allowing them to see his medical history. Now the insurance company says they will not cover workman's comp without the release and told him if he doesn't get the paperwork back to them right away they can't pay the hospital or give him workman's comp amd the bill will be sent to collections where it will hurt my parents credit and they will be stuck with the bill. My parents want to sign and send the paperwork so they don't risk any bills and they dont think they can do much with it since he has a mostly clean history. I think they should go to the nice lawyer they found and got a free consultation from and pay him to handle everything. If he specifically said not to sign a full release there must be a reason for it.

slacker03150 posted...

So, the lawyer said specifically to not sign the HIPPA release allowing them to see his medical history. Now the insurance company says they will not cover workman's comp without the release and told him if he doesn't get the paperwork back to them right away they can't pay the hospital or give him workman's comp amd the bill will be sent to collections where it will hurt my parents credit and they will be stuck with the bill. My parents want to sign and send the paperwork so they don't risk any bills and they dont think they can do much with it since he has a mostly clean history. I think they should go to the nice lawyer they found and got a free consultation from and pay him to handle everything. If he specifically said not to sign a full release there must be a reason for it.

Lawyer up yesterday. If a lawyer specifically told them not to sign the full release form, they don't have to sign the full release form and the insurance company is banking on them not knowing that so they can be intimidated into a smaller payout. Any further communication with the company and/or insurance should be through a lawyer at this point.

Sorry about that. Hopefully things get better for your family.

The doctor just approved my dad to go back to work. Wtf? He still needs to keep all weight off his leg for another month and a half and they don't know for sure if it is healing properly for another 3 weeks. He still can't move without a walker. He has very limited range before he has to rest again. If a fire happens he's fucked.

slacker03150 posted...

The doctor just approved my dad to go back to work. Wtf? He still needs to keep all weight off his leg for another month and a half and they don't know for sure if it is healing properly for another 3 weeks. He still can't move without a walker. He has very limited range before he has to rest again. If a fire happens he's fucked.

sounds like that doctor is in the same 'network' as his workplace insurance... thanks 'murica

So his work doesn't have any work for him to do that is within his limitations, but instead of putting that down on paper and continuing the workman's comp, he is suggesting my dad get a second opinion to have his paperwork reflect that he isn't ready to come back to work.

Which he was going to do anyway because he still has physical therapy home visits he needs to be home for and he still needs to keep his leg elevated and iced which would be hard to do at work. But the phone call sounded weird.

that's good, it sounds like your dad's work is like "bruh, your doctor is a dum dum, go home"

Lokarin posted...

that's good, it sounds like your dad's work is like "bruh, your doctor is a dum dum, go home"

Quite the opposite. It was more, "if you don't have a note telling you to stay home you have to come in, even though we have nothing for you to do. And even though I could say we have nothing for you to do and keep you at home I won't do that, so get a doctor to write a better note."

actually it sounds like they're trying to help him without directly saying so

their comp policies might have some strange stipulation that you need to repeatedly have updated notes specifying why they are still eligible for workmans comp and they could very easily just not even have to say it since it's on some random line in some paperwork that was signed somewhere. malicious compliance, if you will. so that's why it sounds like the guy is saying "hey get this done to ensure you still get your due because otherwise they gonna cut yo ass off dog" but in a way that he's not technically violating whatever internal policy that says he can't directly tell people this

it's dumb, and i might just not know how it works, but that's just what it sounds like to me.

My dad had to use vacation time to not go in this week as he has 4 blood clots in his leg and is finding it quite painful. The doctor says his hands are tied because his company is telling the hospital they have work that he can do with his restrictions, so the doctor has to give the ok as long as the work can accommodate.

So he has like a page and a half of restrictions. One of them being he can't wear shoes. He works in a concrete factory. It is an osha violation to be in the building without steel toed shoes. Another is that he must be in a wheel chair. They are not wheelchair accessible. The ramps he would have to use are the same ramps that the forklifts use. I am curious at what they are going to have him do.

if your doc is saying go to work with a blood clot in your leg... sue for malpractice, that is NOT ok

Lokarin posted...

if your doc is saying go to work with a blood clot in your leg... sue for malpractice, that is NOT ok

That's what I said. Also the surgeon told my dad he was going to get some shots to avoid clots and he was never given any shots and his original release paperwork had no restrictions with continuing to work. So I think the hospital fucked up somewhere.

Doctor says if he can remain seated with foot elevated and avoid anything strenuous he can work. Work says they can meet those standards. So doctor says his hands are tied.

Sounds like work is trying to minimize the number of days of time lost to the injury, presumably to minimize the amount by which their workers comp premiums go up. If the doctor has only cleared him to return to work with conditions, then unless the company can meet those conditions (and the shoe thing alone means they can't), he should be off work. If they say they can meet those conditions, and he shows up and they can't, he can turn around and go home.