Last week I was reading an article on the automotive boom taking place in Alabama. Alabama is becoming known as “New Detroit.” Today, our automotive parts industry alone employs over 25,000 workers, but our desire for automotive jobs has outpaced our need to ensure Alabama workers’ safety.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in 2010, Alabama workers employed in our auto parts plants had a “50 percent higher rate of illness and injury than the U.S. auto parts industry as a whole.” In 2015 Alabama automotive parts workers lost a finger or limb at a rate double that found in the national industry, a rate that was 65% higher that the auto parts industry in Michigan.
The article implied that working in the Alabama auto parts industry was similar to the working conditions found in Mexico and Asia, where the hours were long, training an afterthought and concern about the workers’ safety severely lacking.
I am an Alabamian, my children were born here and we love living here. I am happy about Alabama’s burgeoning automotive industry and what it can mean to our State, but I am also very concerned about these workers’ safety. We cannot put jobs above our workers’ health and safety.
If you work for one of our automotive industries and you suffered a job injury and have questions about you right to Alabama Workers Compensation benefits, don’t hesitate to contact and talk with one of the experienced Workers Compensation Lawyers at Powell and Denny today.
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