Florida Accident Attorney Blog

The U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the national rates of fatal work injuries are down, including in Florida. Preliminary data released for The National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries showed that 5,071 work injury fatalities were reported in the United States in 2008 -- down from 5,657 work deaths reported in 2007.

Florida work related deaths declined from 363 in 2007 to 290 in 2008. Of those deaths,

107 were due to transportation accidents
56 were caused by assaults and violent acts
41 resulted from "contact with objects and equipment"
Fall accidents caused 39 deaths
Exposure to harmful substances or environments caused 38 workers to perish
6 workers died in fires or explosions

Nationally, construction accidents causing death declined by 20 percent, in the private construction sector, and fatal falls were down. However rates of workplace suicides rose by 28% (though workplace homicides decreased), and fatal workplace injuries in the forestry, farming, and fishing industries also saw an increase. The BLS will release the final statistics in April 2010.

The National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2008 (PDF file)
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Aug. 20, 2009

Related Web Resources

Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI): Current and Revised Data

Florida Safety Council: OSHA Training

Florida Atlantic University: Institute for Design and Construction: Safety Science

As South Florida mesothelioma lawyers, we have seen our fair share of work injury and wrongful death cases related to asbestos exposure at work -- usually people who've worked in construction, manufacturing, and the automotive industries. All of the asbestos cases we've seen are sad and maddening, as the deadly diseases caused by asbestos exposure including asbestosis, lung cancer, and the incurable mesothelioma are preventable.

This week we lost a legal colleague to this terrible disease, when Attorney Milton Ferrell Jr. of Miami died from mesothelioma at just 57 years of age. The asbestos-related cancer had cost him a lung in May, and though it had spread to his stomach, hip, brain, and his remaining lung, he fought to stay lucid long enough to give one final deposition. He died less than a day later.

Attorney Ferrell was a former Miami Dade County Assistant State's Attorney who later became a lawyer, Democratic Party activist, and philanthropist. He funded projects such as a Miami AIDS ministry and an orphanage in Honduras. He offered legal counsel to billionaires and foreign governments including Saudi Arabia, and he enjoyed great professional success and respect from his colleagues. Worth magazine named him one of the country's top 100 lawyers in 2006.

But as is the cruel reality with most asbestos cancer cases, Mr. Ferrell's exposure to the deadly asbestos fibers occurred much earlier in his life when he worked on cars, including doing break jobs, as a youth. Automotive breaks are known to contain asbestos.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Attorney Ferrell's family.

Attorney Milton Ferrell Jr. dies of mesothelioma MiamiHerald.com Nov. 18, 2008

Related Web Resource

Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization

A Broward County Jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, awarded a local couple $3,606,000 in a lawsuit alleging secondhand work-related exposure to asbestos. Lynda Daly, 57, a resident of Broward County, Florida since 1998, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in May 2007—a deadly form of lung cancer directly linked to asbestos exposure.

Mrs. Daly's exposure to asbestos occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, when she worked for two Ford dealerships in Wisconsin for about two years. The lawsuit blamed secondhand exposure to asbestos found in auto brakes made by Ford Motor Co. and Pneumo Abex. Mrs. Daly says she was further exposed to asbestos when she assisted her husband, Michael Daly, with repairs to brakes on their personal vehicles around the same time.

As in Mrs. Daly's case, mesothelioma is known to lie dormant in the body for decades. But once the cancer is diagnosed, the victim often has less than a year to live. Though Ford and Abex denied responsibility in this case, the Broward County Jury rejected their defense and instead relied on expert testimony presented by doctors from cancer centers in Florida and Massachusetts.

Mesothelioma has been medically proven to be directly linked to exposure to asbestos. The exposure may be firsthand, when someone works directly in or around materials containing asbestos. Secondhand exposure may occur when a person working in or around asbestos unknowingly brings home fibers on their clothing and exposes their families, or when someone works in proximity to others who work in or around asbestos.

Prior to the 1980s, asbestos used in manufacturing, construction, automotive and other industries was not subject to the same U.S. government safety regulations as it is today. (Asbestos was banned from use in new buildings in 1988.) Sadly, because the cancer may lie dormant for decades, people with work-related asbestos exposure, and their families who have secondhand exposure, continue to get sick and perish.

Ft. Lauderdale Jury Awards Couple over $3 Million in Secondhand Asbestos Exposure Case The Wall Street Journal MarketWatch Nov. 4, 2008

Related Web Resources

OSHA Safety and Health Topics: Asbestos

EPA.gov: Asbestos