Although the warm weather may not make it seem so, Christmas is just around the corner. Store windows feature rosy cheeked Santas, detailed frosty snowflakes and silver belled ornaments. City officials have begun their own holiday decoration planning. Akron, Ohio officials planned for a blue spruce to adorn the city in their downtown holiday celebration. What they did not plan for was a work-related injury.
A worker was injured when the donated tree was being loaded onto a transportation vehicle. A large piece of construction equipment fell during the loading process. When a worker attempted to save himself from being injured by the equipment, his flight from the utility vehicle caused him to injure his ankle.
The fallen equipment not only caused the workplace injury, but also damaged a number of electrical wires in the city. Utility crews were called to the scene to repair the fallen wires.
The Wednesday accident was not the first trouble the city had experienced in their attempt to decorate the holiday exhibit with blue spruces. On Tuesday, another tree broke in half when the workers attempted to move it onto the display.
Even an injury that seems as small as an wounded ankle can put a person out of work for a number of days. Workers’ compensation not only covers those extreme workplace accidents that result in life-threatening injuries. Injured workers can obtain not only permanent disability benefits, but temporary ones as well to help them through a shorter period of time before they are able to return to work.
Source: Dayton Daily News “Oh, Christmas tree! Tree troubles dog Ohio city” 11/10/10