Glossary of Workplace Injury Law Terms

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

Click on the first letter of the word from the list above to go to the appropriate section of the glossary. Contact us if you would like more information about personal injury law terms.

Safety Committee: A group comprised of employees, which has been formed to address safety and health issues at a worksite or multiple worksites.

Safety Factor: The ratio of the ultimate breaking strength of a member or piece of material or equipment to the actual working stress or safe load when in use.

Safety-monitoring system: A safety system in which a competent person is responsible for recognizing and warning employees of fall hazards.

Safety Inspection: The act of examining both worksites and equipment, and comparing them against previously established standards specifically to determine if safety legislation and the company safety policies are being followed (looking for unsafe acts and conditions).

Safe Work Agreement: A tool that helps workers understand the specific work to be done and the hazards they might encounter on the job. It's also an agreement on how hazards will be managed, who'll manage them and what personal-protective equipment will be required.

Safe Work Permit: Issued as a written record by which a person in charge of a unit, equipment, building area, authorizes a worker and/or work crew to do a specific job at that work site. It identifies what precautions (safe work practices) were taken and/or will be taken to ensure that the working conditions are safe for the type of work to be performed, in a specific job location, during a specific time interval. It outlines the safety equipment required and to be used for that specific job location.

Safe Work Practices: Procedure for carrying out specific tasks, which, when followed, will ensure that workers' exposure to hazardous situations, substances, and physical agents is controlled by the manner in which the work is carried out.

Scaffold: Any temporary elevated platform (supported or suspended) and its supporting structure (including points of anchorage), used for supporting employees or materials or both.

Seatbelt: A device, usually worn around the waist, consisting of a strap or straps anchored to a vehicle so as to hold a person in his seat.

Self-retracting lifeline/lanyard: A deceleration device containing a drum-wound line which can be slowly extracted from, or retracted onto, the drum under slight tension during normal employee movement, and which, after onset of a fall, automatically locks the drum and arrests the fall.

Serious and willful misconduct: A petition filed if your injury is caused by the serious and willful misconduct of your employer.

Setoff: A claim by a defendant in a lawsuit that the plaintiff owes the defendant money which should therefore be subtracted from the amount of damages claimed by plaintiff.

Settlement: The resolution of a lawsuit or legal dispute prior to a final court judgment. Most settlement are achieved by negotiation in which the attorneys and the parties agree to terms of settlement. In practice, most lawsuits result in settlement.

Shield (Shield system): A structure that is able to withstand the forces imposed on it by a cave-in and thereby protect employees within the structure. Shields can be permanent structures or can be designed to be portable and moved along as work progresses. Additionally, shields can be either pre-manufactured or job-built in accordance with 1926.652(c)(3) or (c)(4). Shields used in trenches are usually referred to as "trench boxes" or "trench shields."

Shore: A supporting member that resists a compressive force imposed by a load; or the operation by which a supporting member is placed.

Significant Potential Incident: An incident without actual consequences where the coordinates of probability and potential consequence meet in the higher or medium risk area of the Risk Assessment Matrix.

Site Supervisor: An employee or contractor assigned by the company to supervise a potential job.

Sloping (Sloping system): A method of protecting employees from cave-ins by excavating to form sides of an excavation that are inclined away from the excavation so as to prevent cave-ins. The angle of incline required to prevent a cave-in varies with differences in such factors as the soil type, environmental conditions of exposure, and application of surcharge loads.

Snaphook: A connector comprised of a hook-shaped member with a normally closed keeper, or similar arrangement, which may be opened to permit the hook to receive an object and, when released, automatically closes to retain the object. Snaphooks are generally one of two types: The locking type with a self-closing, self-locking keeper which remains closed and locked until unlocked and pressed open for connection or disconnection; or the non-locking type with a self-closing keeper which remains closed until pressed open for connection or disconnection. As of January 1, 1998, the use of a non-locking snaphook as part of personal fall arrest systems and positioning device systems is prohibited.

Spoil: The dirt, rocks, and other materials removed from an excavation and either temporarily or permanently put aside.

Stable rock: Natural solid mineral material that can be excavated with vertical sides and will remain intact while exposed. Unstable rock is considered to be stable when the rock material on the side or sides of the excavation is secured against caving-in or movement by rock bolts or by another protective system that has been designed by a registered professional engineer.

Stair tower (Scaffold stairway/tower): A tower comprised of scaffold components and which contains internal stairway units and rest platforms. These towers are used to provide access to scaffold platforms and other elevated points such as floors and roofs.

Steep roof: A roof having a slope greater than 4 in 12 (vertical to horizontal).

Stilts: A pair of poles or similar supports with raised footrests, used to permit walking above the ground or working surface.

Specific injury: An injury caused by one event at work.

Source of injury: Principal object such as tool, machine, or equipment involved in the accident and is usually the object inflicting injury or property damage.

Spiral Ferrel: A re-usable device attached to the tail chain end of a winch line to prevent the tail chain from sliding off of the winch cable.

Standard (Limited Definition): An accepted specification of something to which sites or employees must conform unless a deviation from the standard is documented and approved.

Statute of limitations: A law which sets the maximum period after which the right to file a lawsuit expires, depending on the type of case or claim. In some instances a statute of limitations can be extended based on delay in discovery of injury.

Stipulated rating: Formal agreement on your permanent disability rating. Must be approved by a workers' compensation judge.

Stipulation with award: A settlement of a case where the parties agree on the terms of an award. This is the document the judge signs to make the award final.

Stipulations with request for award: A settlement in which the parties agree on the terms of an award. Payment takes place over time.

Subjective factors: The amount of pain and other symptoms described by an injured worker that a doctor reports as contributing to a worker's permanent disability. Subjective factors are generally not given as much weight as objective factors.

Subpoena: A document that requires a witness to appear at a hearing.

Strict liability: Automatic responsibility for damages due to ownership or use of equipment, materials or possessions which are inherently dangerous.

Subcontractor: Any person, firm or corporation, contracting with the contractor, to perform part of the work and includes partners and associates in a joint venture so contracting with the contractor.

Suitable: That which fits, and has the qualities or qualifications to meet a given purpose, occasion, condition, function, or circumstance.

Summary rating: The percentage of permanent disability.

Supervisor: A supervisor person of the contractor, at the site.

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