Workers renovating the Metro’s Farragut North and Union Station stops discovered asbestos, and they are working during off hours to remove the hazardous asbestos fibers. Workers found the asbestos in the duct jointwork in mechanical rooms, under platforms and above suspended ceilings, according to a Metro...
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Virginia Man Gets Workers Comp for “Horseplay”
A workers’ compensation rule known as the “horseplay doctrine” allowed Virginia’s highest court to rule that a worker injured while lifting his arm to block ice thrown by a co-worker can receive workers comp benefits. The claimant worked at a Ruby Tuesday restaurant when co-workers began throwing ice at him. He lifted his...
Read MoreRedskins Kicker Receives Maryland Workers Comp Benefits
The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that the Washington Redskins football team has to pay workers’ compensation benefits to its former kicker, Tom Tupa. The appellate ruling upholds a 2009 jury award in Prince George County Circuit Court. The jury awarded Tupa a little over one year’s worth of disability benefits. In 2005, Tupa injured...
Read MoreMetro Pipes May be Subpar for Fire Safety
A spokesperson from the D.C. Fire and EMS said the Metro standpipes that firefighters hook into during emergencies are too small. The result is that they do not carry enough water pressure, which could be a problem if a major fire started in a Metro tunnel. Fire crews carry a secondary water supply for...
Read MoreConsumer Advocacy Group Public Citizen Reports on State Discipline of Doctors
The nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen released its report on state medical boards and their failure to discipline doctors. The results may shock you. The results showed that 32 states let more than half the doctors off without any reprimand after hospitals revoked or restricted their privileges. The study examined the National Practitioner Data...
Read MoreDC Government Fails to Pay Injured Workers’ Premiums for Nearly a Decade
For nearly a decade, the District of Columbia neglected to pay health and life insurance premiums for city workers injured or killed on the job. A DC auditor found that the city stopped making a majority of the payments in 2001. The city recently paid the...
Read MoreDrunk Driver Injures DC Police Officer
A drunk driver struck and injured a DC police officer last month while the officer was investigating a separate fatal hit-and-run incident involving a drunk driver. The incident occurred on Key Bridge around midnight. The injured officer is a 9-year-veteran of the Washington, D.C. Police Department. The officer was investigating a
Read MoreWorker Survives 80 Foot Fall from Virginia Water Tower
A 38-year-old worker fell approximately 80 feet while painting a water tower in Culpeper, Virginia, last month. Rescue workers airlifted the man to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville. A second worker was hanging from a safety harness, but responders were able to rescue him and he was not injured. The
Read MoreSUV Kills Two State Highway Workers
An SUV struck and killed two Maryland highway workers who were picking up trash on the State Route 225 median in Charles County, about six miles west of Waldorf. A police spokesperson said three workers were on the median when a 2004 Volkswagen Touareg veered from the highway and struck two of the men....
Read MoreDC Fire Injures Four-Year-Old
Earlier this month, a fire in Northeast DC injured a four-year-old boy in the 1700 block of Benning Road. Firefighters found the boy unconscious in a first-floor apartment, and he was in critical condition after suffering smoke inhalation, according to a spokesperson for the DC Fire and EMS Department. The blaze occurred at approximately...
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