Tampa Florida Worker Injured at Pepsi Plant

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on September 13, 2011

The investigation into the workplace accident is still underway, but authorities say that a worker got his leg caught in a conveyor at a Pepsi-Cola plant in Tampa and was critically injured. Employees at the plant called 911 around 11:30 a.m. on August 28 and told the operator that the man’s leg had been caught in a conveyor rail system at the plant. Accident investigators say the man had been cleaning the equipment when co-workers heard him start screaming. The machinery crushed his leg, and workers said it took Tampa Fire Rescue’s heavy equipment team nearly 90 minutes to free the man so he could be taken to Tampa General Hospital.

This is the third serious accident at the plant in the last six months. Last March, a worker was killed and another seriously injured when a lift in the plant’s warehouse failed. There are many important details about this workplace accident that investigators have yet to discover, but if this is the third serious accident at the plant in the last six months, it’s fair to assume that this is a very dangerous place to work. Despite advances in safety awareness, OSHA safety guidelines, training protocols and other advances in workplace safety, thousands of people are seriously injured while on the job every year in this country.

In many cases, accident investigators find that an employer has cut corners, removed safety equipment, failed to properly maintain equipment and failed to properly train employees near dangerous equipment. These and other acts of negligence endanger workers’ lives and livelihoods and seriously impair their quality of life. If this worker’s leg was crushed so severely that it took trained personnel nearly 90 minutes to remove him from the machine, at worst, he will lose that leg. At best, he will have to undergo multiple surgeries, endure incredibly painful physical rehabilitation, have reduced mobility for the rest of his life and suffer other hardships.

Have you been injured in a workplace accident? If so, you may be entitled to damages to help pay medical bills, provide for your family while you can’t work and compensate you for pain and suffering and other damages. Before you sign anything offered by your employer or their insurance company, call Orlando personal injury attorney James O. Cunningham at 888-425-2004 or 407-425-2000. Mr. Cunningham has a proven record of success helping injured workers receive the fair and just compensation they deserve from negligent employers and has the resources and experience to help you and your family. Call him today, and let an experienced, aggressive Orlando personal injury lawyer deal with the details while you focus on healing.

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.