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Officials from the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have determined that unsafe working conditions led to the death of a young medical researcher at the Veterans Affairs center in San Francisco, according to the Washington Post. Richard Din, 25, contracted meningitis and eventually died on April 28, 2012 after handling bacteria at the medical center.
OSHA officials inspected the laboratory that Din was working in, as well as other ones in the facility and cited three serious safety violations. Investigators determined that the sanitary conditions in the lab as well as a lack of proper training contributed to Din contracting meningitis.
“Richard Din died because the VA failed to supervise and protect these workers properly,” says Kieth Atha, regional OSHA administrator in San Francisco. “Research hospitals and medical centers have the responsibility as employers to protects workers from exposure to recognized on-the-job hazards such as this.”
Atha is spot on here—laboratories, medical centers, research centers and hospitals cannot afford to be lax with working conditions.
Please contact our firm for a free consultation if you or a loved one has been injured or contacted an illness at work. You may be eligible for workers compensation.
Larrimer & Larrimer, LLC—Columbus Workers Comp Attorneys