According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, a 58-year-old man working outside a K-12 grade school in Murfreesboro was killed when a backhoe overturned, trapping him beneath it. The Sept. 23 incident happened at about 2 p.m. at Eagleville School in the southwestern part of Rutherford County.
At the time of the fatal workplace accident, the man was employed with a construction company that was hired to complete a $5.4 million major renovation project for the school. The project, which the school hopes to complete by the new school year in 2015, involves several large upgrades and increasing the size of the facility to an estimated 30,000 square feet.
Following the accident, emergency rescue teams from LifeFlight responded to the scene. However, it was unknown if an ambulance or helicopter transported the worker to a nearby hospital where he later died.
Workers who are unable to return to work following a workplace accident may be concerned over their financial losses. An injured worker’s circumstances may be especially hard if he or she has dependents to provide for. However, by filing for workers’ compensation benefits, some of those losses may be mitigated.
Tennessee workers who have experienced a work-related injury or illness that prevents them from returning to work could consider filing for workers’ compensation benefits. Under these benefits, workers may be issued payments replacing a portion of their income and compensation for their medical expenses related to their injury. In the event that a worker died as a result of an accident like in this case, the deceased worker’s family may be entitled to recover burial costs by filing for the benefits.
Source: The Tennessean, “Manchester worker dead after Eagleville school accident”, Mealand Ragland-Hudgins, September 23, 2014