Articles Tagged with personal injury

andrew-branch-126761-copy-300x212Anyone in Oceanside who has used Roundup weed killer and developed cancer should know that this pesticide may be linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. According to a recent article in The New York Times, the active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, might be a cause of cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is a branch of the World Health Organization (WHO), reported recently that glyphosate is “a probable carcinogen,” and it cited links between its use and the development of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

A number of individuals who have developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma have filed a lawsuit against Monsanto, the maker of the pesticide. The product liability lawsuit alleges that Monsanto failed to warn consumers about the risks associated with using Roundup. What else should Oceanside residents know about the risks of Roundup and the possibility of a product defect claim?

Disagreement Over the Effects of Glyphosate

louis-moncouyoux-3620-copy-300x200If you are working at a job site in San Clemente, what kinds of protections can you expect from your employer to prevent a workplace injury? According to a recent article in Bloomberg BNA, there is a new safety rule in California that is designed to protect employees “from high heat in indoor workplaces.” What does the new rule require, and are employers currently obligated to abide by it?

Cal/OSHA Proposal Targets High Heat Workplaces and Heat Illness Prevention

Workplaces in San Clemente and throughout Southern California can be extremely hot in terms of temperature. Even in the winter months when the weather is slightly cooler, workers in many different industries still can be exposed to high temperatures that could result in heat illnesses, which can lead to more debilitating injuries. As the article explains, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has proposed a new rule that would require state employers to “implement a written heat illness prevention plan.” This heat illness prevention plan “could be part of a workplace’s already required illness and injury prevention program, which covers all types of risks.”


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Over the last several years in areas around San Clemente, tour bus accidents have resulted in serious and fatal injuries. In most—if not all—of these bus crashes, investigators have suggested that the accidents could have been prevented. What are cities in Orange County and San Diego County doing to prevent similar crashes in the future? According to a recent article in The Mercury News, there is a new law in California allowing cities and counties to request tour bus inspections from the California Highway Patrol, yet most cities and counties in the state simply are not using the rule to help avoid tour bus collisions.

Using Assembly Bill 1677 to Prevent Tour Bus Crashes in California

As of January 2017, Assembly Bill 1677 has been in effect. What does this law do? The text of the bill explains that it requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol (CHP), “upon request of, and in consultation with, representatives of a local government in a jurisdiction where tour buses operate, [to] develop protocols for entering into memoranda of understanding with local governments to allow the department to increase the number of the locally operating tour buses that are being inspected by the department.”

800px-BladeCuisinart-300x198For any San Marcos residents who regularly use a Cuisinart food processor in the kitchen, it is extremely important to be aware of a recent product recall that could impact your family’s safety. In most households, we have come to expect that high-end kitchen appliances are safe for use. In particular, devices made by companies like Kitchenaid, Vitamix, and Cuisinart are supposed to provide decades of use as long as they are properly cared for by their owners. However, according to a recent article from ABC 10 News, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), along with Conair (the maker of Cuisinart kitchen appliances), has issued a recall for millions of Cuisinart food processors.

What is wrong with these small kitchen appliances? They pose a risk of laceration, and dozens of consumers across the country have already reported suffering serious mouth injuries as a result of the product defect.

Defective Riveted Blade in Cuisinart Food Processors Results in Massive Recall

d9xx3cjoh2s-manu-adan-300x200Residents of San Diego County should be aware that dog bite injuries have been on the rise in California this year. According to a report from CBS News, emergency department visits connected to dog bite injuries have risen by 44% over the last decade in the state. Between 2015 and 2016, dog bite injuries requiring emergency treatment have gone up by about 10%, according to an article in the Modesto Bee. Animal attacks can cause serious and sometimes fatal injuries, especially to young children. What has caused the recent rise in dog bite injuries in California? Who is liable for dog bites in our state?

Rise in Dog Attacks Leaves Experts Confused

As the Modesto Bee article underscores, local animal services employees simply are not certain what has led to the increase in dog attacks in California, particularly the sharp uptick between 2015-2016. The animals services director of Stanislaus County indicated that she “had contacted fellow animal services directors in the state, who had no observations about the data.” Local residents, according to the CBS News report, believe more dog owners are failing to properly train their dogs, which is resulting in more animal attacks across the state. But is there any data to support that conclusion? Currently, the only data we know for certain is that more dog bite injuries are happening in rural counties in California in comparison with urban counties.

rmwtvqn5rzu-jesse-orrico-300x199For quite some time now, UC San Diego has been a “widely acclaimed hub for neuroscience exploration,” according to a recent article in the San Diego Union-Tribune. The university “consistently ranks in the top tier of graduate neuroscience and neurobiology programs in the United States and nationally.” Now, with a donation from the Junior Seau Foundation, traumatic brain injury (TBI) research will expand dramatically at UC San Diego, with a specific focus on sports-related concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

The Junior Seau Foundation was formed back in 1992 by the NFL linebacker who played for the San Diego Chargers from 1990-2002. Seau died as a result of suicide in 2012, and researchers determined that he had been suffering from CTE at the time of his death. How will the donation expand brain injury research at UC San Diego and help to prevent deaths like Seau’s?

Additional Donors Will Match Donation and Will Endow a Faculty Fellowship

800px-Motorcycle_AccidentGenerally speaking, the rate of deadly motorcycle accidents has been declining in the United States over the last decade. However, the rate of fatal motorcycle accidents actually has been rising in California, according to a recent article in Health Canal. While the cumulative rate of motorcycle accidents declined by about 7% in 2013, the rate of motorcycle deaths actually rose by 13% in California. Concerned about the spike in crashes and deaths, Southern California Public Radio (SCPR) looked at motorcycle accident rates between 2003-2012 and determined that fatal crashes increased by 23% across the state.

Why do the numbers make it seem as though motorcycling is more dangerous in California? Are motorcyclists at greater risk of suffering a serious or fatal injury in an accident in our state?

Highest Increases in Motorcycle Accident Fatalities in Southern California

4104830230_8176dd136fWhether you are feeling tired on your drive home from work or are fatigued from having been on the highway for hours, drowsy driving can lead to serious and fatal car accidents. Many residents of San Diego get behind the wheel of an automobile when they are too sleepy to concentrate properly, and this practice can be hazardous to other drivers and passengers on the roads, as well as to cyclists and pedestrians.

According to a press release from the National Sleep Foundation, about 96% of Americans surveyed believe that “it is unacceptable for someone to drive when they are so sleepy they have trouble keeping their eyes open,” but more of us drive in such a state than you might think. Around 33% of those surveyed admitted to having driven when they were extremely fatigued at least once in the last 30 days. What else should you know about drowsy driving and how to prevent it?

Learning More About Sleep Safety

Moving-2When we are on neighborhood roads or highways in Southern California, should we be concerned about the risk of a car accident caused by road debris? Most of us are typically on the lookout for other drivers who are not obeying the rules of the road or distracted pedestrians who might inadvertently step into traffic, but according to a recent report from CBS News, dangerous road debris causes far more car crashes than you might expect. Between 2011 and 2014, more than 200,000 collisions have been attributed to debris already in the road or to debris falling from unsecured truck loads. What else should you know about crashes caused by debris, and what can you do to prevent them?

AAA Study Highlights Severity of Crashes Caused by Debris and Unsecured Loads

The CBS News report cites a recent study conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which determined that approximately 39,000 injuries and 500 deaths on the road between 2011 and 2014 resulted from debris. According to Tamra Johnson, a spokesperson for the AAA Foundation, “the really troublesome thing about all this is a majority of these crashes are preventable, if drivers would just take the necessary precautions to secure their load or maintain their vehicle properly.”

waterbottlesFor many San Diego residents, ensuring that our children stay properly hydrated during a day at the beach is a top priority. But are the water bottles our kids are using actually safe? According to a recent article in Fortune Magazine, the federal government has issued a recall for a number of water bottles designed for children and sold by the popular company L.L. Bean because of the lead content in these dangerous products. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reported the product defect and indicated that five styles of L.L. Bean’s water bottles were not safe for children to continue using.

What else do you need to know about this recent product recall? What are signs of lead poisoning that can result from the type of dangerous product involved in the recall?

Learning More About the L.L. Bean Recall

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