How Industrial Accidents Extend to the Next Generation
Industrial accidents have an immediate and profound impact on employees in the vicinity. Consider the case of Hisashi Ouchi, who was exposed to radiation in a nuclear accident and lived for 83 days in excruciating pain. Or look at the Chernobyl disaster, where the initial steam explosion left two dead and over 100 staff suffered acute radiation syndrome. These types of accidents don’t just cause immediate illness and injury; research shows they can even inflict health issues on future generations. Recent research out of the University of California San Diego explores this tragedy in greater detail. When employees are affected by industrial accidents, it is crucial that they fight for their rights and seek workers’ compensation. Choose the team at Pisegna & Zimmerman for your workplace accident claim—call us at 818-888-8888 to set up a consultation now. Our team is ready to meet over Zoom and handle all of your documents with DocuSign, making it easy for you to start your claim remotely.
The world of workplace safety has a long and tragic list of industrial accidents. When they occur, it’s frontline workers who pay the highest price. In August 2015, explosions in a chemical warehouse in Tianjin left more than 170 victims dead and caused hundreds of injuries. A little closer to home, a coal mine in the Illinois town of Centralia exploded and left 111 dead. BP’s Texas City Refinery suffered a fire and explosion in 2005 that killed and injured dozens.
Industrial Accidents Have Profound Effects on Victims
The photos and news reports that come out of industrial accidents are like scenes from a nightmare. In a sugar refinery explosion, 100-foot sugar silos burned for over a week because of the intense blaze of burning sugar. Nearly all of the on-site employees suffered severe burns. The Bhopal disaster of 1984, which is the subject of the UCSD research, involved over 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas leaking out of a pesticide plant. No one disputes the immediate effects of this tragedy; the leak spread to a radius of seven kilometers. Roughly 30,000 people died as a result of this, and over half a million were exposed to this chemical. Nearly 4,000 deaths occurred immediately. The hours following the disaster left human corpses and animal carcasses sprawled on the streets of Bhopal.
The Effects Extend Further Than Previously Thought
The devastation of the Bhopal disaster would go on to affect future generations. Men who were in-utero at the time of the Bhopal disaster were more likely to have a disability serious enough to affect their employability when they became teenagers. These men were also eight times more likely to develop cancer.
The leak spread to groundwater in the Bhopal area, multiplying the effects of the disaster. Research shows that the risk of miscarriage was four times higher after the leak, and stillbirth and neonatal deaths also spiked. The UCSD paper looked at people living in the area in 2015 and 2016 and found serious health discrepancies, highlighting the long-term effects of chemical exposure.
What This Means for Injured Workers
The response to the Bhopal disaster was all too predictable. The company immediately attempted to distance itself from the accident, denying culpability and attempting to pin the blame elsewhere. They went so far as to blame uninvolved extremist groups and unhappy employees, both of whom were cleared in subsequent investigations.
Companies will go to extraordinary lengths to protect themselves when an industrial accident happens. Even companies that profess to be “like a family” will ultimately circle the wagons and protect their own best interests when their unsafe work environment causes preventable deaths and injuries.
This means that you need to advocate for yourself when a workplace accident leaves you injured—especially when the company tries to silence your experience or keep you from fighting for compensation. Do not expect your employer to do what is best for you; have a plan and know how you can fight for your best interests.
Fight for Your Rights After an Industrial Accident—Choose Pisegna & Zimmerman
At Pisegna & Zimmerman, we know that a workplace injury can affect you for years to come. We believe in fighting for workers across Southern California and helping you get what you’re owed. Call us at 818-888-8888 or contact us online to set up your consultation now. With our Zoom meetings and DocuSign document handling, you don’t even have to leave home.
William Zimmerman is an experienced Los Angeles work injury attorney at Pisegna & Zimmerman. He offers invaluable advice and assistance when dealing with the often complicated workers’ compensation system. As part of Pisgena & Zimmerman, he and his team are a full-service law firm that is dedicated to obtaining the maximum amount of compensation from all available sources.