Seattle Injury Lawyer Blog

Seattle drivers are accident prone, new study says

August 30, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

Seattle drivers are far from the nation’s safest behind the wheel, according to an annual report from Allstate Insurance Company. And they’re getting worse. Among the nation’s 200 largest cities, Seattle drivers ranked 154th in terms of their risk for a collision. Seattle drivers average one crash every 7.9 years, which is 27 percent more likely than the national average.

Seattle also slid seven spots from its 147th-safest driving city rank in the 2011 report, when Emerald City drivers had one crash every eight years. In 2009, they had one crash every 8.3 years.

The report is based on two years of Allstate claims data and ranks cities in terms of the frequency of crashes.

Pair of vicious dogs attack 5 in Everett

August 28, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

A pair of dogs that had bitten at least one person before they ran wild in Everett on Saturday, attacking five people and prompting police to warn residents to stay indoors. Everett police and animal-control officers are investigating the owner of the two dogs.

In the first attack on Saturday, officers were called to the 1300 block of Lombard Avenue around 6:30 a.m. after a 44-year-old man suffered bites to his legs and back. The victim told officers that the two dogs crossed the street and attacked him. The victim was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police tracked down the dogs, a female pit bull and a female boxer, and witnessed one of the animals kill a cat. One officer was bitten on the leg by one of the dogs when he tried to coax the animal into the back of his patrol car. The dogs ran off when the officer used his Taser on them.

Icicle Seafoods Inc. fined $430,000 for air pollution violations

August 27, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

Icicle, which processes seafood throughout Alaska, has agreed to resolve violations of the federal Clean Air Act resulting from leaks of an ozone-depleting refrigerant aboard its seafood vessels and in processing facilities, according to a consent decree lodged by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The company has agreed to repair leaks in its vessels and facilities, according to an Aug. 10 news release from the EPA’s Seattle office.

“There is a clear link between the deterioration of the ozone layer and the release of certain substances used for refrigeration,” said Ed Kowalski, Director of the Office of Compliance and Enforcement at EPA’s Seattle office. “Companies using these chemicals in the course of business must do so responsibly by repairing leaks and preventing releases into the atmosphere.”

The settlement concerns the improper release and management of R-22, an ozone-depleting refrigerant used on the company’s vessels and at its seafood processing facilities. The consent decree, which includes Seattle-based Icicle Seafoods Inc. and several of its subsidiaries, was lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle.

Fishing Industry Ranks High for Traumatic Brain Injuries

August 27, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

The American Journal of Preventative Medicine released a study last year assessing the risk for traumatic brain injury in the workplace. Although traumatic brain injury is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the U.S., work-related traumatic brain injury had not been well documented prior to the study. The study titled The Epidemiology of Fatal Occupational Traumatic Brain Injury in the U.S. looked at the epidemiologic characteristics and temporal trends of fatal occupational traumatic brain injury in the U.S between 2003 and 2008.

The researchers concluded that the construction industry had the highest number of traumatic brain injuries, and the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry had the highest rates. The leading causes of occupational traumatic brain injury death were as follows: motor vehicle (31%); falls (29%); assaults and violent acts (20%); and contact with objects/equipment (18%). Additionally, workers aged 65 years or older in all industries were at higher risk for traumatic brain injuries and would be a good target for future prevention efforts.

The report suggests that U.S. employers should take more precautions to prevent work-related traumatic brain injuries through the use of safety equipment such as hard hats and fall protection. Researchers based their findings on data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injury (CFOI). The leading causes of fatal traumatic brain injuries on worksites were motor vehicle accidents and falls.

Traffic Fatalities Up in First Quarter of 2012

August 27, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that highway traffic deaths increased by 13.5 percent during the first quarter of 2012. This increase is the largest jump in traffic fatalities since 1979. Given that traffic deaths in 2011 were at their lowest since 1949, this recent increase in car accident fatalities is especially concerning.

However, the NHTSA warned that the first quarter results should not be used to draw conclusions about the traffic death rate for the rest of the year. It is not clear why the rate increased, but the weather and a slowly resurging economy are being considered as factors.

Regardless of the cause of the recent increase in traffic fatalities, there are steps you can take as a motorist to protect yourself on the road. The National Safety Council suggests the following:

Disease cluster in town of Northport, Washington linked to pollutants released by smelter in British Columbia

August 22, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

Harvard Medical School researchers have determined Northport, Washington, a tiny 296-resident border town, has 10 to 15 times the normal rates of the inflammatory bowel disease. The town is located downwind and downriver of a smelter in Trail, British Columbia run by Teck Resources, which for nearly a century funneled pollution through the narrow canyon of the Columbia River. Residents have long suspected a link between pollution from the smelter and their high incidence of inflammatory bowel disease.

For nearly a century, the Canadian smelter pumped slag, a byproduct of metals refining, directly into the river. More than 10 million tons of the granular slag created the “black sand” beaches of the upper Columbia, a 150-mile reach of the river between the Canadian border and Grand Coulee Dam. The slag contains 25 compounds that include lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury. Liquid mercury and other metals also flowed from the smelter’s sewer systems into the river. More pollutants came out of the plant’s smokestacks.

In the 1980s, the state placed air monitors in Northport which detected elevated levels of arsenic and cadmium. In the early 1990s, anglers in the upper Columbia River reported seeing beads of liquid mercury floating in the water. “When we were kids walking to school, we could smell it in the air,” said a 56-year-old resident of Northport who grew up about 15 miles from the smelter’s stacks.

Most luxury cars fail new frontal crash test

August 21, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently introduced a new crash test which revealed disturbing safety deficiencies in many luxury cars. Most luxury-model cars tested failed the new crash test despite high overall safety ratings. Of 11 midsize luxury cars tested only two vehicles, the Acura TL and the Volvo S60, earned good ratings, while the Infiniti G was rated as acceptable

The new test mimics crashes in which the front driver-side corner of a car collides with another vehicle or an object such as a tree or utility pole. A 2009 institute study found these “small overlap frontal” collisions accounted for nearly 25 percent of frontal crashes that result in serious or fatal injury to occupants in the front seat. Another 24 percent of frontal crashes were “moderate overlap crashes, although they likely occurred at much higher speeds than the Institute’s moderate overlap test,” according to the report.

All of the models passed the institute’s standard moderate overlap frontal test in which the impact is spread out over a larger area of the vehicle’s front end.

Sightseeing vessel grounded in Glacier Bay, 76 rescued

August 20, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

The 79-foot sightseeing vessel Baranof Wind struck a rock in Glacier Bay, Alaska and began taking on water yesterday. The Coast Guard, National Park Service, and the Holland America Line cruise vessel Volendam responded to the scene and rescued the 76 passengers. The passengers are believed to have been on an eight-hour cruise aboard the high-speed catamaran which can accommodate up to 149 people. Glacier Bay, at the northern end of southeastern Alaska’s Inside Passage, is a major tourist destination known for its spectacular scenery and marine life.

The Volendam crew transferred 70 people from the Baranof Wind to their vessel, two people were taken aboard a National Park Service boat and four crewmembers remained aboard the Baranof Wind to maintain pumps and to ensure it stays afloat. The Coast Guard launched an Air Station Sitka MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew with a dewatering pump and diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa to assist the Baranof Wind crew. Coast Guard Sector Juneau is sending response personnel to investigate the cause of the grounding and pollution potential. They are also working with Allen Marine to develop a towing plan to deliver the Baranof Wind to Sitka, Alaska.

None of the passengers were seriously hurt, though reports state that two were treated for minor injuries. The crew of the Volendam will transport the Baranof Wind’s passengers to Bartlett Cove where they will be transferred to another Allen Marine vessel and returned to Juneau.

Worker Left Dangling From Side of Washington State Capitol Building After Scaffolding Gives Way

August 10, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

Cleaning of the Legislative Building was suspended indefinitely yesterday after a platform similar to that used by window washers gave way, leaving one worker suspended by his life line 40 feet above the ground for about two minutes. There had been two workers in the rectangular mobile platform preparing to pressure-wash a portion of the building when the platform gave way. It was not immediately clear how the second worker reached safety.

The employee of Seattle-based Western Waterproofing Co. was pulled to safety on the fourth-floor roof by a co-worker just as Olympia Fire Department personnel arrived on the scene about 7:10 a.m. to assist.

Work on the $1.148 million project has been halted until all the scaffolding and equipment are checked, and the dozen or so employees assigned to the job go through additional safety training.

Crewmember falls overboard into Colombia river near Rainier, OR

August 8, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

The Coast Guard suspended its search yesterday at 8:35 a.m. for the man who fell from the sternwheeler Queen of the West on the Columbia River near Rainier, Ore., Tuesday.

Crewmembers aboard the Queen of the West contacted Coast Guard Sector Columbia River at approximately 1:10 a.m. via Vhf channel 16 to report a male member of their crew had fallen from the stern of the vessel while the boat was moored at a dock in Rainier. Witnesses saw the man surface once before losing sight of him.

A Coast Guard MH-60 helicopter crew from Air Station Astoria, Ore., and a 25-foot response boat crew from Station Portland, Ore., were dispatched to search for the man with the assistance of Columbia County marine assets. Coast Guard investigators from Marine Safety Unit Portland have also been notified. The Coast Guard, Columbia County marine assets, and the crew of the tug boat Maverick searched approximately 10 square miles for a combined six hours before suspending the search.