Woman Injured in Industrial Accident at Jacksonville Port

A woman who was working at Blount Island Marine Terminal for the Jacksonville Port Authority was seriously injured the morning of April 19 when a pallet of paper collapsed and fell on top of her.

The incident occurred at the SSA Cooper paper warehouse on Propeller Drive. The woman was reportedly pinned to the ground beneath the paper for some time before Jacksonville Fire Rescue was able to arrive onsite and extract her. She was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was informed of the accident immediately and conducted an investigation.

Location had previously been inspected by OSHA

The SSA Cooper location had previously been inspected by OSHA in 2006, with the agency then citing violations in 2007. These violations dealt with the location having a lack of proper equipment onsite, with inadequate personal flotation devices, ramps/walkways and life rings. OSHA performed another inspection last year, and it’s still declared as “open” in online records.

If the latest OSHA investigation were to reveal SSA Cooper was negligent, and that negligence led to this particular accident, the victim and her loved ones may be able to seek financial compensation through a lawsuit. All industrial facilities are required to have safe and properly functioning equipment — along with clearly outlined safety processes — to prevent these types of accidents from occurring. If they don’t it’s often just matter of time before a worker is seriously injured.

If you would like to learn more about taking legal action after a workplace or personal injury, consult the experienced Jacksonville attorneys at Combs Greene, PA.

Attorney Mark Link contributed to this blog post.