Failure to Train and Injury Claims in West Virginia

Cause of Safety and Health Hazards in the Workplace

Training is the essential component of an employer's safety and health program. Many standards issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) clearly require an employer to train employees in the safety and health aspects of their jobs. More than 100 OSHA standards contain training requirements. Other OSHA standards direct an employer to limit job assignments that have a high degree of complexity or risk, to employees who are certified, competent or qualified.

It is no light matter for an employer to fail to train an employee or to assign a person to a job for which he is not certified, qualified or competent to perform. Every year violations of training requirements result in thousands of preventable construction accidents, instances of chemical exposure, scaffolding accidents and more. Under West Virginia law, employers and owners can be held liable for injuries sustained due to a failure to train their employees. In fact, in the aftermath of the Olympic Pipeline explosion in 2002, owners were criminally prosecuted for knowingly and willfully violating "minimum safety standards" including a failure to train employees.

When you have suffered serious injury due to safety and OSHA violations, including failure to adequately train you or other employees, you owe it to yourself to consult a West Virginia Workers' Compensation Lawyer for help in obtaining the compensation you deserve.

Workers' Compensation Lawyer in West Virginia

Limiting job assignments to employees certified, competent or qualified for the job is the responsibility of the employer. OSHA standards established a designated person is one selected or assigned by the employer as being certified, competent or qualified for the job. Specifically defined:

• A certified worker is one who meets nationally recognized certification requirements applicable to the task being performed.
• A competent worker is one who is capable of identifying and predicting hazardous, unsanitary or dangerous working conditions, and is authorized to eliminate them.
• A qualified worker is a person who possesses a recognized degree, certificate or professional standing, or who has the knowledge, training and experience to successfully resolve problems relating to the field of work or work project.

As with a failure to train an employee adequately for a job, when an employer assigns a job to someone who can't perform it, many can suffer when accidents cause injury. Both can be difficult to prove.

In these complex cases, it is important to contact a West Virginia workers' compensation lawyer. We have the skills and experience to find all negligent parties.