The California branch of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has begun an investigation into a fatal trench collapse accident in Los Angeles last week. A worker was killed at a home in Studio City, when the 8 foot x 2 foot trench that he was working in collapsed, effectively burying him under tons of soil.

The accident occurred on Tuesday afternoon, while the worker was engaged in the construction of a sewer line at a residential site. There were no witnesses to the collapse, and when emergency personnel from the Los Angeles Fire Department arrived at the scene, they found the worker buried under the soil, unconscious. He was not breathing. Fire crews used vacuum cleaners to remove the soil from the worker, but it soon became clear that this was going to be a recovery operation, and not a rescue effort.

There is not much information about the construction company or contractors that were involved on the site, and the kind of safety regulations that may have been violated. However, it's very clear that this was an accident that was entirely preventable. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has safety regulations in place precisely to prevent trench collapse accidents like this one. For instance, the walls of the trench can be shored or benched in order to prevent a collapse. Besides, a trench must be deemed safe before a worker can be allowed into it.

It is highly likely that none of these regulations were followed here. Unfortunately, renting shoring and benching equipment costs money. Los Angeles construction accident lawyers have noticed that the number of construction companies in California that are willing to forgo worker safety in favor of cost savings, seem to have increased.

California drunk driving accident lawyers may soon see the day when sensors in a car automatically detect a driver’s blood alcohol level, and prevent him from driving if his alcohol levels are too high. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently attended a demonstration of an alcohol detection device prototype that can automatically detect blood alcohol levels of the person attempting to drive the car. If the person has an alcohol level that is .08 or above, the vehicle will not start, preventing the motorist from driving.

The demonstration was held at QinetiQ North America, a Massachusetts-based research and development facility. During the demonstration, a young woman consumed two one and a half ounce glasses of vodka and orange juice. In order to make the woman's alcohol consumption as close to a social setting as possible, the woman, who was in her 20s and weighed about 120 pounds, ate some cheese and crackers too.  She then used touch and breath sensor prototypes, which showed her blood alcohol level was at .06 and she was able to start the car.

Transportation Sec. LaHood believes that vehicles equipped with such alcohol detection sensors are the next frontier in automotive safety. However, federal officials also insist that any such systems are purely voluntary, and will not be mandated in all vehicles. Any such device will only be commercially available after a period of at least eight years.

Where these alcohol detection devices score over traditional breathalyzers is that these devices are quite unobtrusive. Unlike with traditional ignition interlock devices that have been available for many years now, motorists are not required to blow into a breathalyzer device to detect intoxication levels. Because of this, motorists may be more accepting of such devices than they are of ignition interlock systems. It is reasonable to assume that if these devices are found to be successful and reliable, insurance companies may offer low premiums to motorists who get these devices installed in their vehicles.

Blame it on a lack of will to crack down on repeat drunk driving offenders, or drinking establishments that have no qualms about over serving patrons. Whatever the reason, it is no surprise to Los Angeles car accident attorneys that Huntington Beach has the highest DUI accident rates in California.

According to data released by the California Office of Traffic Safety, 195 people were killed or injured by intoxicated motorists in Huntington Beach in 2009. The list includes 55 other California cities with a population of between 100,000 and 250,000.

Huntington Beach has always had a problem with drunk driving accidents. The city has featured on the list of the top California cities for per capita drunk driving accidents for the past five years. In 2005, the city was placed sixth on the list, and in 2006, it dropped to eighth position. In 2008, Huntington Beach was fourth on the list. In 2009 however, there had been more per capita drunk driving accidents in Huntington Beach, than any other city in California.

The news is not a surprise to the Huntington Beach Police Department either. Officers say they are aware that the city has a problem with drunk driving, but even they were not expecting their city to be the number one city for accidents caused by intoxicated motorists. According to the police department, they arrested 1,558 DUI suspects in 2009.

Surf City also has far too many bars and pubs that fail to set a limit on the amount of alcohol that a patron can be served before he goes out driving. There's also a lot also to be said for the lackadaisical attitude that the City Council has taken toward stemming the drunk driving problem in Huntington Beach. Last month, the City Council voted down a proposal to post the mugshots of repeat drunk driving offenders on its Facebook page.

Updating your profile and adding pictures to Facebook may seem like innocuous behavior, but it can sometimes have devastating consequences. In the latest twist to social media, insurance companies are monitoring Facebook and other social media sites looking for excuses to deny claims.

A woman from Quebec, Canada recently found out the hard way how posting vacation pictures on Facebook can interrupt payments related to a medical leave at work. After reviewing documentation, including her Facebook postings, Manulife Financial stopped issuing disability payments to the woman. The insurance company apparently determined this was evidence she no longer suffered from depression. She is suing Manulife claiming the company did not speak with her physician or notify her that the payments would be stopping. The case is scheduled for trial in January 2012.

The insurance industry claims healthcare fraud costs in the U.S. are nearly $80 million each year, so insurance companies are often looking for any excuse to deny claims by alleging fraud. Insurers are now using social media against their own customers. According to a recent report by Celent, eight out of the 10 top U.S. insurance companies use social networks and social media in their businesses.

Most people try to present themselves in the best light possible. They may even downplay the seriousness of their condition to avoid worrying family and friends. People often joke or use sarcasm in online postings. Insurance companies might still use these statements against policyholders to deny a claim. Los Angeles insurance lawyers remind you that the next time you apply for an insurance policy or file a claim, keep in mind that your Facebook page and Twitter feeds may be carefully scrutinized by your insurance company.

Spurred either by a concern for employee safety, the fear of liability after an accident, or a mix of both, more Fortune 500 companies are implementing workplace policies preventing employees from cell phone use while driving. According to a survey by the National Safety Council, 1 in 5 Fortune 500 companies in the survey admitted that they had a policy that prevented employees from using cell phones while driving. This includes using a cell phone to make a conversation while driving, or send or receive text messages or e-mails at the wheel.

Many employers have dithered on implementing a policy banning cell phone use while driving because of fears that it would impact employee productivity. The survey also debunks this myth. According to the survey, in approximately 40% of the companies that have such policies, there has been no discernible effect on employee productivity. In fact, in some cases, the ban has actually enhanced employee productivity. However, another 50% of the companies have not had their policies long enough to determine whether there has been any impact on employee productivity.

Los Angeles car accident attorneys have added their voices to safety organizations, including the National Safety Council, calling on employers to implement strict anti-distracted driving policies. In order to be successful, these policies should cover employees driving to work, to work-related appointments, or using company-issued cell phones or vehicles.

There are signs that more employers are taking the liability issues that come from cell phone-related accidents involving employees very seriously. Last year, the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety in partnership with the USDOT promoted Drive Safely to Work Week. According to the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, the campaign was hugely successful, reaching more than 5,000 public and private organizations and representing more than 20 million American employees.

The city of Los Angeles scored the worst out of a total of 13 California cities in accident injuries and deaths for 2009. That information comes from a report by the California Office of Traffic Safety, which analyzed accident injury and fatality rates in 13 California cities with a population of 250,000 or more.

The fact that the City of Angels is the deadliest city in California for motorists shouldn't come as a surprise to any Los Angeles car accident attorney. The city has an autocentric culture, with little encouragement of pedestrians and bicycling with the result that there has been no improvement in traffic congestion in the city for decades. The most undesirable driving practices including reckless and aggressive driving, and road rage stems from the pressures arising out of such traffic congestion.

Overall, 31,087 victims were injured or killed in traffic accidents in Los Angeles in 2009. Drunk driving caused approximately 2,763 accident injuries and fatalities. These victims also included 881 motorcyclists, 2806 pedestrians and 1817 bicyclists.  Los Angeles was followed by the cities of Sacramento, Stockton, Anaheim, Riverside, Santa Ana, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, Bakersfield, San Jose, Long Beach and Fresno.

There are two facts that stand out clearly in the report. The first is that drunk driving continues to be a major factor in traffic accidents in Los Angeles. More than 2,700 people every year fall victim to accidents involving an intoxicated motorist. That's in spite of all the efforts made by Los Angeles police to keep drunk drivers off the street. In 2009, California police arrested more than 9,096 drunk drivers in Los Angeles County.

The other fact is that pedestrian accident fatalities and injuries in Los Angeles continue to spike significantly. More than 2,800 pedestrians were injured or killed in accidents in Los Angeles in 2009. That is not including the 478 pedestrians below the age of 15 who were also injured or killed in Los Angeles that same year.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has announced an investigation into a backhoe accident at a construction site in Moorpark, California.  A worker was injured, when the backhoe struck an underground power line, triggering a flash and knocking off power to thousands of Southern California Edison customers.

According to Moorpark police, the accident occurred when a backhoe struck the power line, which is located about 70 feet below the surface of the ground. The power line exploded and the worker, a spotter for the back hoe operator, suffered burn injuries. He was rushed to a Thousand Oaks Hospital, and was later released. The incident also triggered a major power outage to approximately 3,300 Moorpark residents.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, its Ventura office has opened an investigation into the incident. The agency is taking particular interest because this incident involves burn injuries. The investigation will probe whether any violations of federal occupational safety regulations occurred here, and if any fines or penalties are required in this case. There is still some confusion about who was the exact operator of the backhoe. According to Moorpark police, it is a company called Bottenfield Construction from Valencia, while according to Cal OSHA, it is a company called Blois Construction in Oxnard.

Not surprisingly to California construction accident lawyers, both these companies have now begun a finger pointing exercise. According to Bottenfield Construction, it had nothing to do with the incident, because all backhoe operations were being conducted by Blois Construction. However, according to the latter, it had been subcontracted by Bottenfield Construction. Blois insists that it was in compliance with all safety precautions at the time of the incident.

The Los Angeles Times has now confirmed that Toyota has settled with the family of a California Highway Patrol trooper who was killed in a sudden acceleration-accident last year. The terms of the settlement were kept confidential in September, but it has now been revealed that the company settled for $10 million.

Last year, off-duty California Highway Patrol trooper Mark Saylor was driving a Toyota Lexus, a loaner from a local Toyota dealership. In the car were his wife and 13-year-old daughter, as well as his brother-in-law. The car accelerated to high speeds, and crashed, killing all four instantly. Saylor's brother-in-law made frantic calls to 911 for help, and those calls, which were later made public, clearly revealed that Saylor who was driving had been unable to stop or slow down the car. An investigation later that one of the floor mats had jammed the accelerator pedal, causing the car to accelerate suddenly.

The company’s $10 million settlement with the family of Mark Saylor is not huge, and California car accident injury lawyers are familiar with heftier settlements involving auto defect lawsuits.  Meanwhile, the Toyota dealership, Bob Baker Lexus, which had loaned the Lexus to Mark Saylor, is also engaged in litigation with the families.

Toyota is reportedly disappointed that the terms of the settlement have been revealed by Bob Baker Lexus. The company would have preferred that the terms of the settlement remained confidential. Toyota continues to face hundreds of acceleration-related lawsuits. Many of these lawsuits have been consolidated into a single suit in a Santa Ana courtroom. The lawsuit includes more than 200 that were filed against Toyota Motor Sales USA.

Toyota has enough reason to want to keep the $10 million settlement under wraps. The company's losses arising out of personal injury and wrongful death compensation are expected to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

There was a substantial increase in auto accident fatalities in California over New Year's Eve 2010, compared to the previous year. Overall, the California Highway Patrol reported that there were 12 fatalities in the state over New Year's Eve, compared to just seven fatalities last year. That is a substantial increase, and could be linked to the fact that there were fewer DUI arrests in California this year.

According to the California Highway Patrol, 499 drivers were arrested by the California Highway Patrol for driving under the influence during the 12-hour crackdown that began on 6 PM on Friday. A final tally of fatalities for the New Year's weekend crackdown which ended on midnight on Sunday is not available yet. Even the fatality toll of 12, is only for the 12-hour period beginning 6 PM Friday. When the final toll is available, Los Angeles car accident lawyers fear that it could be a substantial increase from last year.

The statistics are just a reinforcement of the fact that although drunk driving is not as much of a factor in auto accident fatalities as it used to be a couple of decades ago, intoxicated drivers continue to be a factor in a large number of accident fatalities in the country. Typically, approximately 30% of all accident fatalities in the country can be traced to drunk driving. Back in the ‘70s, those numbers were close to 50%.

However, Los Angeles drunk driving accident lawyers fear that a sense of complacency could be creeping into the overall public perception as far as drunk driving is concerned. The media especially has made much of the fact that DUI accident fatalities have been continually down over the past couple of years. California law enforcement needs to target DUI more strongly to bring down these fatalities further.

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board has not found any signs of external corrosion, dents, or gouges on the pipeline damaged in a deadly explosion in September. Thus far, there is no reason to believe that any external excavation caused the pipeline rupture and explode that night. The explosion killed eight people, and injured dozens of others. Several houses were damaged in the blaze.

While investigators have not found any signs of corrosion, they have found plenty of welding seams. That does stand out, because the company that operated the pipeline, Pacific Gas & Electric has insisted that its pipes were seamless. Los Angeles personal injury lawyers expect more investigations into this aspect, especially as it indicates that PG&E either withheld information, or was simply not aware of the state of its own pipelines.

The NTSB is also looking at inspections conducted by the company on the pipeline, which was built in 1956. The agency investigators are especially looking at why the company conducted less sophisticated inspections of its pipeline, without using high-tech methods, like sending a robot into the pipe.

PG&E had reason to be concerned about that particular stretch of pipeline. That pipeline had been labeled “high risk” in 2007, and PG&E had planned to raise funds for repairs of the pipeline by billing ratepayers. However, those plans were inexplicably dropped the following year.

The NTSB investigators are also looking at why it took crew members of PG&E approximately 90 minutes to shut off the gas supply to the neighborhood the night of the fire.