Machines / Tools
There are over 105 million workers employed in the United States by some 7 million employers. The equipment used on a work site is governed by laws and regulations designed to protect workers and others at the site. These laws require that established safety procedures be adhered to so that injuries and fatalities are prevented.
There are three key factors used to determine of a product is defective:
- a product malfunctions when it was made improperly
- There is a design defect with a product
- The manufacturer fails to instruct and warn users on how to properly use a product
It is the manufacturer's and supplier's responsibility to protect and warn the use of their product against injuries. Manufacturers must:
- Eliminate known defects and create a new product design
- Guard against problems and provide safety devices (such as the handlebar latches on push lawnmowers that have to be constantly squeezed for the lawn mower to work. If a person removes their hands from the handlebar, the lawnmower stops working)
- Give adequate instructions about how to use the product and warning stickers about potentially dangerous situations with the product
- Defective saws
- Defective drills
- Defective staple guns
- Defective woodworking equipment
- Defective air compressor
- Badly designed hand tools, such as screwdrivers, handsaws, drills, and knives which strain wrists and cause carpal tunnel, etc.
- Air powered machine tools that do not have fail-safe cut offs
- Unguarded power tools or machine tools
- Badly organized and ergonomically incorrect workstations
- Assembly lines running at incorrect speeds
- Sewing machines with elbow operated speed controls that cause Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI)
- Printing machines causing unnecessary bending of the wrists to load the card/paper feed-hoppers
Examples of dangerous work equipment and defective repair devices include:
Robert D. Erney has handled several cases involving dangerous work equipment and defective repair devices.
