Work accidents in Illinois and Indiana are commonplace, and thankfully most result in minor injuries and the worker is soon back on the job. However, all too often in preventable accidents, workers on our sophisticated industrial worksites (construction, mining, agriculture, warehousing, manufacturing, etc.) are seriously injured or even killed in a tragedy that happens in a matter of seconds. For more, read: Mini-Mills in Illinois and Indiana: Dangerous Workplaces; Indiana’s Automotive & RV Manufacturing Industry: Dangerous Worksites; and What are the Most Dangerous Jobs in Chicagoland?
Combatting this are an astounding number of safety laws, rules, and regulations that have been created to keep workers safe on the job, particularly in the face of known hazards. Federal regulations overseen by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) alongside the state OSHA plans of Illinois and Indiana exist exactly for worker protection. Read, Important Things to Know About OSHA Protections and Work Accidents in Illinois or Indiana.
However, it is not just government regulations that exist to advise and guide employers and others with possession, custody, or control of aspects of the industrial worksites here on how to prevent work accidents. There are all kinds of industrial standards, also known as “consensus standards,” that have been tediously researched, compiled, and published to instruct and educate on safety concerns.
For anyone on the job here in Illinois and Indiana in a dangerous industrial workplace, it is important to know that these independent industrial standards exist. They are important, even if they do not carry the force of statute or agency regulation.
Why? In the event of a serious work injury, the worker victim may be able to look to these standards to help identify duties of care that existed at the time of their accident, where one or more parties failed to act in a reasonable and prudent manner and as a result, contributed to their harm (causation).
Industrial Standards to Protect Workers on the Job in Illinois and Indiana
While OSHA regulations form the baseline for worksite safety in our part of the country, enforced by the OSHA-approved state plans of Illinois and Indiana, there are also widely used consensus standards that work to help protect our workers on the job.
OSHA may have enacted general safety regulations (29 CFR Part 1910) that work in factories or on our construction sites (29 CFR Part 1926), but they do not stand alone. There are also the industrial standards.
Sometimes, these standards are reviewed and then incorporated into the OSHA regulations, but not always. Those that have been adopted within the OSHA regulations are indexed by the American National Standards Institute (“ANSI”).
Who creates these industrial standards? There is no one single source. Industrial standards have been provided by various organizations, including the following:
- IEC, the International Electrotechnical Commission
- ISO, the International Organization for Standardization
- AHAM, the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers
- AMCA, the Air Movement and Control Association International Inc.
- AMPP, Association for Materials Protection and Performance
- ASA, the Acoustical Society of America
- AWS, the American Welding Society
- BSI, the British Standards Institution
- HFES, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
- ISA, the International Society of Automation
- MSS, the Manufacturers Standardization Society of the Valve and Fittings Industry
- NEMA, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association
- AHRI, the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute
- AISC, the American Institute of Steel Construction
- API, the American Petroleum Institute
- ASHRAE, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers
- AWWA, the American Water Works Association
- IAPMO, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials
- ICC, the International Code Council
- IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- IKECA, the International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association
- NFPA, the National Fire Protection Association
- NFRC, the National Fenestration Rating Council
- SJI, the Steel Joist Institute
- ULSE, UL Standards & Engagement.
What exactly is an industrial standard? The ASTM (Advanced Standards Transforming Markets) explains it this way:
ASTM International’s Regulations Governing ASTM Technical Committees (“Green Book”) defines a standard as “A document that has been developed and established within the consensus principles of the Society and that meets the approval requirements of ASTM procedures and regulations.” This definition specifies both a process – the consensus-building, deliberative approach followed by committees – and a document, an actual standard.
Examples of industrial standards that help workers in Indiana and Illinois include ANSI / ISEA standards for personal protective equipment (e.g., Z358.1, Emergency Eyewash & Shower Standard) and NFPA codes for electrical safety in the workplace (see NFOA 70E).
Work Injury Claims and Industrial Standards in Establishing Liability
When there has been a catastrophic work accident, investigations into the reasons behind why it happened and people got hurt can take weeks or months. Facts have to be gathered from all sources, from witness statements to phone video grabs and digital data like black boxes on vehicles or other industrial gizmos. Experts in that particular type of industrial worksite will organize and analyze all this information and develop their professional opinions, suitable for evidence in court, on the causes.
Then the worker victim’s legal team will take that expert determination and apply the appropriate legal causes of action to find all the parties, both corporate and individual, that may have legal responsibility to the work accident victim for their damages. This is independent from the worker filing for workers’ compensation benefits under their employer’s workers’ compensation insurance coverage.
For more, see: Accident Reconstruction Experts and Injury Claims; Construction Work Accident Injury Claims and OSHA Regulations; OSHA and Work-Related Accident Claims in Indiana and Illinois; Common & Severe Work Related Injuries: How Do Attorneys Protect Workers?
Various industrial standards may be used by the worker victim to establish the standard of care that was due to them at the time of the work accident. What would a reasonable and prudent act have been in this instance, as shown by the standards?
- Was there negligence?
- Was there a defect in the product design?
- Was there a defect in the product manufacturing, repair, or maintenance?
- Was there a failure to warn using labels or signage?
The power of the industrial standard is obviously greater if it has been approved and adopted within an OSHA regulation. Nevertheless, an industrial standard that applies to the specific accident that is not formally adopted is still useful as persuasive evidence of the failure to provide known safety measures which resulted in someone getting hurt as a result.
These industrial standards can help worker victims seeking justice in the aftermath of a serious work accident by defining widely accepted industry-wide practices and how these were not followed in their particular situation. Alongside the OSHA Regulations themselves, including the overall general duty of care placed upon all employers here, these standards may be admitted to show the standard of care due to the worker victim, and the corresponding causation in their accident injury, to confirm legal recompense due from a variety of third parties.
Also see:
- Third Party Claims and Workers’ Compensation After Work Accident: Federal Coverage
- Premises Liability and Workplace Accidents: Third Party Injury Claims
- Electricians: Need for Reliance Upon Others to Keep Safe and Third-Party Liability Claims for Injuries on the Job
- List of Possible Warehouse Third-Party Injury Claims in Chicagoland Work Accidents
- Chicago Road Construction Worker Accidents: List of Third Parties Potentially Liable for On-the-Job Injuries
- Chicago Factory Worker Accidents: List of Civil Claim Damages Aside From Workers’ Compensation Benefits
- Three Things That Must Be Included in a Product Warning Label.
Industrial workplaces are known to be dangerous. There are all kinds of industrial standards that define safety measures to be undertaken in these jobsites, things that all kinds of third parties involved with its operations are well aware (or should be). Workers hurt on the job may be helped by reference to these standards alongside OSHA regulations in their pursuit of justice after a serious work accident. Please be careful out there!
