Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category

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Dangerous Household Cleaners

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

There are a lot of common items that can pose a danger to us if they are not properly used. While these items are supposed to have warnings posted on them, this is not always the case. Poorly marked or unmarked items can lead to dangerous and disastrous results.

Common household cleaners are one of these items. While they can be very useful in cleaning, they can also be very dangerous. Any chemical substance should be regarded closely, and any warning labels should be heeded. However, even following all warnings and instructions can sometimes lead to undesirable consequences.

You should never mix chemicals. This is one of the ways in which chemicals can pose a threat to your safety. Mixing chemicals such as ammonia and bleach can create toxic fumes that can be deadly. While bleach is generally easily recognized, cleaners that contain ammonia can sometimes have unrecognizable warnings. Mixing one of these ammonia based cleaners with bleach could have terrible consequences.

However, this is not the only way in which chemical cleaners can pose a threat to your safety. Not all dangerous chemical cleaners come in child proof containers. This means that if children ever manage to get a hold of one of these cleaners, great danger could be imminent. Whenever possible, you should keep chemicals away from children. To ensure safety, purchase cleaners that have child proof containers.

Speak with a Minneapolis Product Liability Lawyer

If you or anyone you know has been injured by a common household product, contact the Minneapolis product liability lawyers of Terry, Slane & Ruohonen at 612-362-0000 today.

Crane Accidents

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Construction sites can be very dangerous places. One of the many reasons for this is that large cranes are used in construction. Cranes are a very useful tool in construction, but they can also be very dangerous. If the proper safety precautions are not taken, cranes can cause a great deal of damage to the construction site, the area around the construction site, and the people in the area.

Cranes have safety mechanisms that can actually be dangerous. For instance, when wind gets to a certain speed, the crane immediately shuts down. This allows the crane to swing freely in the wind so that it does not get knocked over. However, if the crane is being used at the time, it can cause a great deal of damage and injury.

Cranes lift very large, very heavy objects. When these objects are left swaying in the wind, it is a recipe for disaster. However, there are other ways that cranes can cause damage and injury as well. If the crane is poorly erected, or safety precautions are not taken, the crane can topple. This is extremely dangerous.

If a crane falls over, it will damage not only the construction site that it is in, but also anything that happens to be around. This means that anything and anyone that is near the crane when it falls is in a great deal of danger.

A Minneapolis Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help

Cranes and construction sites can be very dangerous. If you have been injured because of a construction accident, contact the Minneapolis personal injury attorneys of Terry, Slane & Ruohonen at 612-362-0000.

Cooking Fires

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Cooking at home can be an extremely satisfying and enjoyable activity for some. Preparing dinner for friends or family, or just cooking for a quiet evening in can be very pleasant for many people. However, despite the pleasure that can be attained through this hobby, cooking can also be a dangerous activity if those in the kitchen are not being careful. One must always keep in mind that this is a task that deals with dangerously hot objects and open flames, and if the proper precautions are not taken, fires can arise. In 2005, the United States had 146,400 reported cooking fires that injured 4,690 people and killed 480 others.

Several simple steps can be taken to ensure that you or your family members will remain out of harm’s way when working in the kitchen or outside on a grill:

  • Never wear loose clothing when cooking. It is liable to interact with flames or heated surfaces and catch on fire.
  • Keep children out of the way when working. Not only can they pose a distraction, but they also might upset items that may start fires.
  • Always clean your kitchen surfaces in order to prevent the accumulation of oils and grease.
  • Avoid having pan or pot handles hanging out over the stove, just to make sure you don’t accidentally bump them to the ground.
  • Keep an eye on your food to prevent burning, overcooking, or boil-overs that may spark fires.
  • If there is an oil fire, never try to put it out with water. This will make it worse. Instead, smother it with a metal pan lid.

Contact Us

If you or someone you know has been injured in a cooking fire, please do not hesitate to contact the Minneapolis burn injury attorney of Terry, Slane & Ruohonen, P.L.L.C. at 612-362-0000 today.

Construction Injury

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Construction sites are some of the most dangerous places that you can work or be around. The number of things that can go wrong is staggering. This is because of all of the different types of machinery that are used in the many different types of construction sites.

Cranes can be very dangerous because of a variety of factors. The kill switch on a crane can activate at any time, causing heavy objects to sway in the wind. They can also be toppled if they are improperly secured.

In road construction, the vehicles used can be very dangerous for the people around them. This is especially true for the traffic going by. One of the most common road construction injuries is caused by a car being hit by a construction vehicle.

Falling objects are also a big problem on construction sites. When high rises are being built, small tools and hardware can cause a great deal of damage if they fall from high enough. These heights have the added danger of a person falling. If a worker is not properly secured, he or she could fall a great distance and either be severely injured or die.

There are also heavy objects. These do not need height to be dangerous. Instead, they fall onto workers and crush them. In some cases, this means broken bones. Other times, however, it means the death of the worker.

Speak with a Minneapolis Personal Injury Lawyer

Construction sites are very dangerous. If you or someone you know has been injured in a construction accident, contact the Minneapolis construction injury lawyers of Terry, Slane & Ruohonen at 612-362-0000.

Construction Accidents

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Being a construction worker can be a difficult and hard job, so safety should always be a primary concern. There are many hazards which lurk at construction sites, including damaged or defective machinery and collapses of different structures.

Construction workers have to be extra careful on a daily basis to make sure that they don’t get hurt while working. If one of the other subcontractors that are working on the building with you is negligent and causes you to be injured, you have every right to sue for all damages that you suffer. For example, if some of the steel braces that support workers during the construction of high-rise buildings are improperly made, workers would be legally entitled to sue for compensation for any injuries they can – and probably will sustain – due to the faulty braces.

There are many ways in which a construction worker could be hurt during any type of construction work that needs to be done. If anyone slips up on their job at a construction site and causes a serious accident to occur, it could lead to a terrible injury, if not death, for the person or people affected by the incident.

If you or someone you love has been hurt while working at a construction site, legal action may be the best option for you. For more information, or to discuss the details of your case, contact a Minneapolis construction accident lawyer from Terry, Slane & Ruohonen at 612-362-0000.

Common Injuries: The Kitchen

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

In almost every circumstance, injuries are preventable. However, negligence and accepted risk tend to get in the way of preventing some injuries. Because of this, injuries commonly happen in many places. This, of course, includes the kitchen.

Injuring yourself in the kitchen is not a difficult thing to do. Because of all the different items that are kept in the kitchen, this is the most common room in the house in which people get injured. Some of the different ways in which people are injured in the kitchen are:

Cuts

The knife block is one of the most essential staples of any kitchen. It also holds a great deal of danger. People often cut themselves by not paying attention or because the handle of the knife is slippery. There are also cases of people dropping knives onto their feet.

Burns

The stove can cause serious burns. With electric stoves, people often burn themselves because they do not know that the surface is hot. With gas stoves, people will sometimes set things on fire. Kitchen towels, pot holders, and grease are some of the most common causes of kitchen fires.

There are many other ways in which people can injure themselves in the kitchen as well. Not all of these are the fault of the person. In some cases, something goes wrong and severely injures somebody.

Speak with a Minneapolis Personal Injury Lawyer

If you or someone you know has been injured in a kitchen, contact the Minneapolis personal injury lawyers of Terry, Slane & Ruohonen, PLLC at 612-362-0000.

Common Injuries: The Garage

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

The garage is one of the most interesting rooms in the house because of its versatility. For some people, the garage is a storage room with boxes piled high. For others, the garage is a workshop full of tools and projects both finished and working. Some manage to use their garage for a variety of different purposes.

No matter how you use your garage, there is one thing that just about every garage has in common, which is the possibility of injury. Along with the kitchen, the garage has one of the highest incidences of home injury. Here are some of the more common ways in which those injuries occur:

Storage

When boxes are stacked on top of boxes, people tend to lose track of where everything is. In addition, the boxes are often fairly heavy. Trying to sift through all of this can lead to an avalanche of boxes and their contents. This can translate to head injuries, broken bones, and in some cases death.

Workshop

All the tools that people use for wood working, metal working, or any other type of project are associated with some sort of danger. These tools can cause serious injuries if not properly handled. The same is true of nails, screws, and the other paraphernalia commonly associated with workshops.

Speak with the Minneapolis Personal Injury Lawyers Today

There are obviously many other ways in which a person can be injured in a garage. If you or someone you know has been injured, contact the Minneapolis personal injury lawyers of Terry, Slane & Ruohonen, PLLC at 612-362-0000.

Collecting Damages from Uninsured Drivers

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

One of the biggest fears many drivers hold is being hit by an uninsured driver. This is a legitimate fear as, frequently, when an uninsured driver is involved, it is more difficult to recover damages than it would be if the driver were insured.

Even when the victimized driver carries car insurance, recovering damages from a car accident can be very difficult if the person that caused the injuries or the accident does not have insurance at all or is underinsured. Compounding the problem is the fact that frequently, when a driver is uninsured, the cause is economic reasons. Basically, the driver is uninsured because he or she cannot afford car insurance.

A number of insurance carriers offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. This type of coverage allows a driver to collect damages from his or her own insurance company if the driver is hit by another driver that is either uninsured or underinsured.

In the event that this is not available or is insufficient, it may be possible to pursue legal action against either the insurance company or the uninsured driver for the costs of the accident. While filing a lawsuit against an uninsured driver may be something that a person can do on his or her own, when taking on an insurance company, a person should really have a competent and experienced car accident attorney on his or her side.

Contact a Minneapolis Car Accident Attorney

If you have been injured in an accident involving an uninsured or underinsured driver, contact the Minneapolis car accident attorneys of Terry, Slane & Ruohonen, PLLC at 612-362-0000 to discuss your case and to determine what legal options exist.

Child Injuries

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Our children are our most important resource. This is why it is so difficult when they get injured. Nobody wants to see their children hurt, but it happens quite often. In fact, there seems to be no end to the ways in which children get hurt.

For the most part, children get hurt, and get over it. There is the scraped knee or elbow here and there, but nothing lasting. Unfortunately, that is not the extent of children’s injuries. Children can be injured in a variety of ways.

There are often news stories about children being injured. Things like drunk drivers hitting young children in the streets, or children’s products malfunctioning and causing injuries make the news all too often. When these things happen, the responsible parties will often try to cover their end with an out of court settlement. This is not necessarily the right course of action.

Insurance companies will sometimes offer to settle with an amount that sounds very big. However, this amount may not cover all of the hospital bills that you will accrue. For this reason, it is important to have a good attorney on your side.

In the state of Minnesota, cases involving children cannot simply be settled. When something like this happens, a judge must review the case to determine whether it is fair for the child. The settlement is generally put into a trust for the child until he or she turns eighteen.

A Minneapolis Child Injury Lawyer Can Help

If your child has been injured, contact the Minneapolis child injury lawyers of Terry, Slane & Ruohonen at 612-362-0000.

Causes of Automobile-Pedestrian Accidents

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Any time an accident occurs involving an automobile and a pedestrian, it is likely that injuries, or even fatalities, will occur. In the United States alone, approximately 5,000 pedestrians are killed and 64,000 are injured each year in collisions with automobiles.

By educating and familiarizing yourself with the causes of these accidents, it is possible to prevent accidents when you are both inside and outside of an automobile.

Pedestrian-Caused Accidents

The most common causes of accidents when a pedestrian is at fault result from a failure to comply with posted signs and signals. Many times, pedestrians try and cross a road when a “Do Not Walk” sign is clearly posted, and are struck by automobiles that have the right-of-way and are not expecting to encounter a pedestrian.

Similarly, jaywalking, or crossing a street in an unmarked or inappropriate location, is also a risky maneuver, as it once again puts pedestrians in a location where drivers may not expect to see them, and are thus more likely to hit them.

Unattended children can be a great risk not only to themselves, but to their parents as well. If a child darts out into a road with oncoming traffic, not only are they in a position to be hit by an approaching automobile, but if their parent chases after them, the parent is also at risk.

Automobile-Caused Accidents

Drivers that ignore the rights and movements of pedestrians account for many accidents each year. When a driver speeds through a red light or speeds around a corner without checking for pedestrians, they put themselves and anyone outside the vehicle at risk.

Drivers should also be careful to avoid pedestrians who are already crossing a road, even if the driver has a green light. Drivers should wait until the crosswalk is clear of all people before proceeding.

Finally, driving after consuming alcohol can also result in collisions between automobiles and pedestrians. Alcohol impairs a driver’s response time, which can be extremely dangerous for anyone walking nearby.

To prevent traffic accidents between cars and pedestrians, it is crucial that both drivers and pedestrians behave in a safe and courteous manner.

Contact Us

If you or someone you know has been in a pedestrian-automobile collision, contact a Minneapolis personal injury attorney from Terry, Slane & Ruohonen, PLLC today by calling 612-362-0000.

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