• 16
  • September
    2011

Comparing jobs can always make for interesting conversation. Your neighbor might drive around all day from meeting to meeting, spending hundreds of dollars on gas every week. Your other neighbor might sit at home all day, working from his home office and sipping coffee. Your other neighbor might have a dangerous job in construction -- or perhaps as an Alabama forester.

News reports that came out this week prove that forester work might be more dangerous than it initially seems. One Alabama worker was missing for about 20 hours after he got in a work accident in a Tuscaloosa County forest last week.

According to local sources, the accident victim has been working for his company for 25 years. His experience, however, didn't prevent him from suffering injuries in a 28-foot fall into a hidden mine shaft last Friday. Fortunately, reports indicate that the Alabama employee suffered no serious injuries as a result of the workplace accident.

The extent of his injuries is undisclosed at this point. Sources do not indicate whether the worker's injuries will keep him from work. Even when an injury isn't severe, a person's everyday abilities can still be affected enough that returning to work could be temporarily difficult. Someone in the position like the injured forester could be eligible to receive workers' compensation to financially support him and his family while the accident victim is unable to work.

The injured worker's employer tells sources that it is looking into how to prevent future accidents like this one. There are reportedly hidden and, therefore, dangerous shafts throughout West Alabama that have been around for as long as a century. The shaft in which the worker recently fell has been filled. That still leaves more camouflaged shafts out there for people to fall into, which is why the victim's employer is looking at that issue and how to protect workers.

Source

Al.com: "Forester stable after 28-foot fall down mine shaft in Tuscaloosa County," Chris Pow, Sep. 15, 2011