Ohio high court questions facts on safety requirements

The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday ruled the Industrial Commission may have overlooked facts in a case where a utilities worker was injured in a trench accident, in which he would have received an enhanced workers compensation award due to violations of safety standards.

Curtis Berry was injured while working in a trench for Underground Utilities when part of a trench collapsed, according to State ex rel. Berry v. Indus. Comm. After he began receiving workers compensation benefits for the injury, Mr. Berry applied for an additional award under state law allowing for “violations of specific safety requirements” when an injury results from violations of safety protocols.

The commission denied his application for additional benefits, stating that the alleged safety violations did not apply, and the 10th District Court of Appeals reversed.

On appeal, the state’s highest court said that although it upholds the 10th District’s “determination that the judicial branch is not required to defer to the commission’s legal interpretations of specific safety requirements,” as argued by Underground Utilities, but it reversed in part and issued “a limited writ ordering the commission to resolve certain factual issues that it did not reach when it denied Berry’s VSSR application.”