Alabama Workers Compensation and Professional Truck Drivers

Alabama Workers Compensation and Professional Truck Drivers

Driving might be considered a sedentary activity but being a professional truck driver is not. If you are an Over-The-Road driver or Local Driver, you handle an 18-wheeler or a dump truck, if you drive a Logging truck or are a Tow Truck Driver, you know that your job is physical and can be dangerous.

For instance, were you aware that according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Heavy and Tractor Trailer Truck Drivers (Over the Road and Local Haul) account for 1 in 20 job injuries that require the injured worker to miss time from work in America? Moreover, 1 in every 6 American workers killed on the job is a Tractor Truck Driver. The vast majority of these deaths were caused by transportation accidents / wrecks.

In a 2016 study, Tractor Trailer Operator was listed as the 9th Most Dangerous Job in the United States, and according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Truck drivers and driver/sales workers had the most work-related deaths of any broad occupation group, too, at 966.

Did you know that according to a 2016 study by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (a federal agency under the United States Department of Health and Human Services), being a Tow Truck Driver is the Fourth Most Dangerous Job in the U.S. (click here to read article)?

Being a Professional Driver involves more than simply driving from one location to another. Before and after every trip, the driver is required to perform Pre and Post trip inspections, which require them to bend, stoop, and lift objects if everything is alright with the truck. If the truck tandem gets stuck, the driver has to get them unstuck, and using a hammer to help is not atypical. If the trailer jumps the fifth wheel-the driver has to pull over, get under the truck and crank it up to realign everything. If your weight is off when you pull into a weigh station, the driver has to get in the back and shift the weight until it is legal. If you cross an international border (Canada, Mexico), the driver could be required to unload the truck for inspection.

By definition, the Dictionary of Occupational Titles defines a professional truck driving position as requiring the driver to be able to perform a full range of medium work (able to lift 50 lbs.), and face it-many truck driving jobs are heavier in nature, so it is especially imperative that an injured driver receive the necessary medical care following a job injury so they can fully recover, as an injury which limits a driver to light duty work (or less) may mean that their days as a Professional Driver are behind them.

Add to this already strenuous job the fact that T.V. Lawyers look at Truck Drivers as a cash-cow if a driver is involved in an automobile accident; never mind the fact that the vast majority of automobile accidents which occur in the U.S. do not involve large trucks – which speaks to the excellent driving performed by most large truck drivers. All too often, these accidents are the fault of someone in a much smaller vehicle. Drivers in cars forget the needs of large trucks-they cannot stop on a dime, and whipping a vehicle immediately of a large truck, tailgating a Tractor Trailer or staying in the “No Zones” (the blind spots where the Tractor Trailer Operator cannot see a car-studies show that 60% of accidents involving large trucks occur in these zones) is a recipe for disaster.

Professional Truck Drivers do hard and necessary work, and when they suffer a job injury they need to know that they are receiving the medical care and workers’ compensation benefits they need as quickly as possible so they can continue doing the job they love. That’s where an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer can be invaluable.

If you are a Professional Truck Driver, you have suffered a job injury and you have questions about your right to Alabama Workers Compensation benefits, please do not hesitate to  contact and speak with one of the experienced Alabama Job Injury attorneys at Powell and Denny for a free consultation; and remember, virtual appointments are available through Zoom from wherever you live. 

Powell and Denny: We Work When You Can’t

Offices in Birmingham, AL and Huntsville, AL

 

Alabama Workers’ Compensation Attorneys

Birmingham Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

Birmingham Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

Birmingham Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

Powell and Denny have been selected as one of the Best Law Firms by U.S. News and World Report for each of the last 9 years, have been selected as one of Birmingham’s Top Lawyers by B-Metro Magazine for the last 5 years, have been selected by The National Advocates as one of the Top 20 Workers’ Compensation Firms (plaintiffs) and Powell and Denny, P.C.-has been selected as one of the “Best of the Best” law firms by The American Registry.

Mr. Denny is AV rated by Martindale Hubbard (the highest rating possible) and Mr. Powell has been rated as Superior by The National Registry

+ Powell and Denny have successfully represented injured workers from Birmingham, Huntsville, Florence, Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia, Athens, Decatur, Town Creek Ardmore, Hartselle, Madison, Toney, Scottsboro, Ft. Payne, New Hope, Guntersville, Albertville, Boaz, Ashville, Anniston, Gadsden, Cullman, Jasper, Gardendale, Morris, Kimberly, Centerpoint, Leeds, Tarrant City, Fairfield, Hueytown, Bessemer, Adger, Tuscaloosa, Cordova, Alabaster, Pelham, Harpersville, Opelika, Phenix City, Montgomery, Clanton, Calera, Enterprise, Monroeville, Mobile, Evergreen, Alabaster, Pelham, Trussville and towns and cities in between.

 

 

Alabama Workers Compensation and Professional Truck Drivers