Two men recently died in unrelated but tragically similar Tennessee workplace accidents in two Middle Tennessee counties, according to The Tennessean. The fatal first incident involved a 50-year-old worker at the Nissan Plant in Rutherford County. The victim was a driver for a company that delivers materials to Nissan Motor Company, and while making a delivery to a nearby storage yard, his truck’s gears engaged and rolled the truck toward him, ultimately pinning him between his truck and a set of parked trailers. No other employees were involved in the incident, and it is currently unknown why the truck’s gears engaged.
The second industrial accident involved a 52-year-old Prospect man who was a driver with Venture Express. The worker was hit with a 40,000-pound coil of steel being removed from his truck by a crane operator at Steel Summit in South Nashville. Regrettably, the crane operator did not realize the victim was outside of his truck until a few minutes before the coil swung from the crane attachment, subsequently hitting the victim and pinning him against the trailer of the truck. The victim was taken to a local hospital for medical care but later died. The Metro Police Department is expecting to rule the death accidental.
Investigators with TOSHA, the Tennessee Division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, were called to both accidents and a thorough investigation will be conducted. Officials with both companies involved, Nissan and Steel Summit, have agreed to work with investigators.
Both of these very tragic accidents highlight the dangers workers may face on the job, particularly those in industrial or construction-related fields. It is important for any workers in Tennessee to understand they have the right to receive compensation if they are injured at work. At Massey & Associates, P.C., our Chattanooga workers’ compensation lawyers are committed to helping injured workers get the compensation they need to recover from a workplace accident or help surviving members of a deceased victim’s family obtain compensation to help them with costs like funeral expenses. For assistance with a workers’ compensation claim, please call (423) 396-0720.
Gary Massey, Jr., is a well-known courtroom advocate practicing law in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Gary is a native of Tennessee who began practicing law in 1998. He graduated from Cumberland School of Law where he was ranked in the top 3% of his class and was an editor of the Cumberland Law Review.
