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PennDOT truck rolls off road injuring 3 workers

On Behalf of | Sep 25, 2014 | Workers' Compensation

Around 1:15 p.m. on Sept. 18, a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation trucked rolled off the side of a road about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, injuring three workers. The driver explained to the Brighton Township police that the truck rolled off the side of the road after the road collapsed underneath it.

Investigators are attempting to determine what caused the accident. They will examine the road to see if it collapsed as reported or the worker drove the truck too close to the edge of the road.

Medics flew one badly injured worker to a Pittsburgh hospital for treatment. He was in the back of the truck operating the painting apparatus at the time of the accident. A local hospital treated and released two other workers involved in the accident.

In any workplace injury where the injury occurred during the worker’s normal function, the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance will pay for all necessary medical care. It is important to note that if the employee files a claim with the employer and accepts the offer, that employee cannot file a lawsuit against the employer at a later time. In most cases, though, the workers’ compensation benefits will cover all relevant expenses from the accident.

If an employee must miss work for an extended period of time as the result of a work-related accident, that employee may be able to receive temporary disability benefits to cover living expenses until he or she can return to work, but these benefits have a limit to their duration and payment amounts. Employers usually provide the necessary workers’ compensation benefit information to their employees to ensure that no misunderstandings occur that could prevent some payments.

Source: The Republic, “3 workers hurt when PennDOT line-painting truck rolls off side of western Pennsylvania road”, September 19, 2014

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