Employees Treated after Accidents on Job

Southfield, CA (WorkersCompensation.com) – Workers celebrated both the end of the year and the beginning of the new one in hospitals due to accidents on the job. 

A Boulder Barnes & Noble employee was hospitalized on Jan. 6 after he was stabbed by a customer, police said. 

Officials said the 52-year-old employee confronted a customer, Scott Schwelling, 42, about stealing a package of gummy bears. The victim told police after he confronted Schwelling outside of the store, the assailant became “aggressive” and got “in his face.” The employee said he tried to back away and shoved Schwelling away, but Schwelling came back and stabbed the employee twice – once in the stomach and once on a belt.

The employee was taken to a nearby hospital with a puncture wound nearly an inch long. Doctors stapled the wound closed and released the employee later that day.

Schwelling was taken into custody where he told police he was in the Barnes & Noble, but didn’t take anything. Additionally, he told police that the employee put his hands around Schwelling’s neck and that he “hit” the victim with some wire cutters in self-defense. Schwelling faces one count of first-degree assault.

“I appreciate the quick response to this scary situation outside popular retail stores here in Boulder,” Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty said. “Fortunately, the victim was treated and released from the hospital; it is obviously a concerning and serious case. The District Attorney’s Office will work hard to reach the right result.”

In East New Market, Md., three people were injured Jan. 5 in a construction accident.

Around 10:35 a.m., the workers were constructing a pole building when the incident happened, officials said. All three of the workers were transferred to a nearby hospital via helicopters, police said.

In Quincy, Fla., an employee at a marijuana processing plant is recovering after being burned.

Officials with Trulieve said an employee was injured after a machine malfunctioned on Tuesday, Jan. 3. The employee suffered non-life threatening injuries and was treated at the hospital and released.

In Southfield, Calif., a worker doing maintenance on a building was treated for his injuries after he fell off a ladder, officials said. Fire fighters had to use a pulley and basket system in order to get the worker off of the roof, however. 

Southfield Fire Chief Johnny Menifee said the man, who has not been identified, was working on the roof when he was injured on Dec. 29. While the worker was treated on site for his injuries, he was not ambulatory and had to be extracted from the roof, Menifee said. Using ropes, pulleys and a device called a Stokes basked, the worker was harnessed to another firefighter and transported down the side of the building to the ground.

A spokesman for the processing plant said the fire happened at the company’s Higdon facility and the cause of the malfunction is still being investigated.

On Dec. 27, a teen cleaning supply store employee was injured when an SUV crashed through the corner of the San Antonio, Texas store.

Officials said that just before 2:30 p.m., the driver of a white Suburban lost control of his vehicle while turning right onto Burton Avenue and drove into a retail parking lot. The driver then crashed into the corner of two retail businesses.

The teen employee suffered only minor injuries, officials said, and was taken to the hospital as a precaution. No one else was injured in the crash.

A preliminary report did not indicate that any charges against the driver would be filed.

In Grand County, Colo., two Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) employees were injured in an industrial incident, officials said. On Dec. 23, around 1:20 p.m., the two employees were working at the CDOT patrol camp, when they were hit by a snow cat, officials with Colorado State Patrol. 

“A snow cat working in the CDOT yard was backing near the sand shed when two CDOT employees walked around the corner of the building and were struck by the snow cat,” the state patrol said in a press release. “Both employees were transported to the hospital; one with minor injuries, the other with serious injuries.” 

Investigators said the incident appeared to be an accident, and that no charges would be filed. However, CDOT said its safety officers would continue to investigate.

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