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    $350,000 Settlement for Production Operator in Conveyor Belt Accident

    Irvin v. Jacobs Engineering Group; Jacobs Constructing, Inc.; McKamish Chesapeake Inc.; and Atlas Industrial Contractors

    Case Summary:

    Our client was a 50-year-old production operator who was overseeing operation of a conveyor belt.  On the date of the accident, the conveyor’s discharge door opened and spilled production material onto the floor.  Our client began to sweep the material away from underneath the inline screw of the conveyor so that he could close the door.  While sweeping the material away, the tips of our client’s fingers on his right hand came into contact with the screw auger inside the conveyor and were crushed.

    The conveyor belt was redesigned and rebuilt by defendant Jacobs Constructing approximately one year before the accident.   Jacobs Constructing was negligent as the general contractor in charge of overseeing the rebuild and design of the conveyor as the conveyor did not have a safety guard put in place to ensure that operators’ fingers could not come into contact with the screw auger.   Defendant Jacobs Engineering was liable for hiring defendant subcontractors McKamish Chesapeake Inc. and Atlas Industrial Contractors to build and install the door on the conveyor.  Defendants McKamish Chesapeake Inc. and Atlas Industrial Contractors failed to place the safety guard on the door in the location specified by the contract between Jacobs Engineering and our client’s employer.   Additionally, a punch list inspection performed by Jacob’s Engineering following the inspection failed to detect that an access door guard had not been installed for the inline screw conveyor.

    Our client underwent surgical amputation of the tips of his right middle, index and ring fingers as a result of the accident.

    Outcome:

    This hand injury case settled with all defendants before trial for a total amount of $350,000.  The case was handled by Philadelphia products liability attorney, Richard M. Jurewicz, of Galfand Berger. For more information on this case, please contact Mr. Jurewicz at [email protected] or call the law firm at 1-800-222-USWA (8792).