Some workplace accidents end in minor injuries that require a bandage and nothing more. Others may require a short break, but an employee is ready and able to return to work after that moment of rest. There are other accidents in Denver, however, that end with a worker’s death. An on-the-job death is not only tragic because of the loss of a life, but it is also extremely difficult on the family that depended on that employee’s wage and benefits.
When an employee in Colorado dies in a workplace accident, however, his or her family can work with a workers’ compensation attorney to file for death and dependency benefits. These benefits provide a degree of protection to a worker’s husband or wife and children from the financial difficulties that come from losing a major source of household income.
People in Denver may also have heard of a recent industrial accident that left one man dead. The 62-year-old seafood factory worker had been stationed near an industrial oven when, somehow, he fell in. Unfortunately, no one noticed and he died after being cooked alive. State officials are continuing to investigate the accident and the plant’s owner stopped work for several days following the accident.
It is still unclear exactly what happened to this employee and why there was nothing protecting the employee from the oven. Had this accident happened in Colorado, however, it would be fairly clear that the man’s spouse and dependents would be able to file for workers’ compensation and death and dependency benefits.
Source: The Seattle Times, “Seafood-plant worker cooked to death in industrial oven,” Ann M. Simmons, Oct. 13, 2012