The death of 27-year-old S.B. was the tragic final chapter of a man allowed to “fall through the cracks” repeatedly. The man’s situation included many institutional failures, but one of the biggest was the inadequate mental health care he allegedly received while behind bars in Douglas County. Inmates and detainees…
Proper maintenance, inspection, and repair of commercial trucks are vital to ensuring the safety of truckers and all those who share the road with them. An improperly maintained truck is at an elevated risk of breaking down and causing an accident and, as the data shows, truck accidents cause thousands…
Running between the Columbia River and the Willamette Valley, Oregon State Route 47 offers many scenic views and interesting destinations, including numerous nearby volcanoes… and the World’s Tallest Barber Pole. The road also is home to many serious and fatal vehicle accidents. From drivers going too fast to commercial trucks…
Any worker dying in a workplace accident is a tragedy. What makes many of these tragedies so profoundly frustrating is that after-the-fact investigations reveal that the worker’s death was entirely preventable. Many workers lose their lives on the job when, with better training, better supervision, and better safety protections, their…
Parents and other caregivers strive daily to keep their children as safe as possible. Sometimes they fail to do so, not because of any mistake they made, but because a product they relied upon did not function as it should have. When that happens and a child suffers significant harm,…
Construction workers face many hazards on the job. Some are inevitable, but too many dangers – and serious or fatal accidents – arise because someone (or some entity) failed to do what they were required to do. Because major construction projects typically involve a variety of entities, including general contractors,…
The laws of physics tell us, among other things, that the force an object exerts equals its mass times its acceleration. That equation reminds us that faster-moving vehicles (and large, heavy vehicles) exert the most force in collisions. Those crashes often are the most damaging. If you’ve lost a loved…
Roughly halfway between Portland and Boise is the steepest highway grade in all of Oregon. The area is so challenging to travel that the Oregon Department of Transport published an advisory sheet specifically dedicated to educating semi truckers about safely handling the dangerous stretch of Interstate 84. Known as Emigrant…
Last week, a 31-year-old woman died inside Multnomah County’s jail in Downtown Portland. The seven-month stint without a jail death was an improvement from 2023 when 10 inmates/detainees died inside the county’s lockups. Even so, too many people are dying behind bars due to preventable reasons. Sometimes it is a…
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, research estimates say as much as 47% of jobs “could be automated in the future.” Human workers are (and will continue to be) exposed to certain dangers that result from sharing a workspace with robots. When you are hurt (or a loved one…