Multi-Victim Workplace Accident on Italian Railroad Prompts Even the Pope to Speak Out about Workplace Accidents, Calls for Heightened Worker Safety

It is an unfortunate truth that workplace accidents are all-too common these days. In fact, workplace accidents are so common, and can lead to so many needless deaths, that even the Pope has something to say about it. Speaking out about worker safety in early September, in light of a horrific workplace accident involving five railway maintenance workers who were killed by a passing train in the Italian town of Brandizzo, the Pope was firm in his call for employers to implement higher safety standards to protect workers. Indeed, Pope Francis did not mince words as he both admonished “excessive profit-seeking” employers and the “idolatry of the market” that encourages a lack of prioritizing worker safety.

According to reports, Pope Francis was still thinking about the five railway maintenance workers who were killed in Brandizzo when he made his statement. “Tragedies (in the workplace) begin when the focus is no longer on man, but on productivity, and man turns into a production machine,” Pope Francis stated in a speech that he made to the Italian association of people injured at work. He added, “Responsibility towards workers is a priority: life cannot be traded for any reason, especially if it is the (the life of the) poor, precarious and fragile. We are human beings and not machines, unique people and not spare parts.”

Workers Compensation at Home in Louisiana and Abroad

According to the European Commission, Italy, like the United States, has a form of workers’ compensation program that entitles certain workers to benefits if they are injured on the job and are disabled from working. In the United States, and in Louisiana in particular, state workers compensation programs entitle most workers who are injured on the job, and who are unable to return to their regular work as a result, to important workers’ compensation benefits to help get them back on their feet and back to their jobs. In Louisiana, workers’ compensation benefits include wage replacement compensation, medical expense reimbursement for the treatment of the workplace injury, vocational rehabilitation and more. In addition, under Louisiana workers’ compensation laws, if a worker is killed in a workplace accident, certain dependent family members of the deceased worker may be entitled to workers’ compensation death benefits to help them financially after their loved one has passed.

Help for Injured Workers in Louisiana

If you were injured in a workplace accident in Louisiana and you are interested in learning about your entitlement to Louisiana workers’ compensation benefits, it is best to speak with an experienced Louisiana workers’ compensation lawyer as soon as possible about your rights and options. The experienced Louisiana workers’ compensation lawyers at the law firm Lunsford Baskin & Priebe are here to listen to your story and to see if they can help you get workers’ compensation benefits due to you. Contact Lunsford Baskin & Priebe today and speak to an experienced Louisiana workers’ compensation lawyer about your case for free.

Source:

reuters.com/world/europe/pope-blames-workplace-accidents-capitalist-greed-2023-09-11/