Man dies from injuries after clothing caught in machinery

A Skokie man died as a result of injuries he sustained when his clothing got entangled in the gears of a piece of sewer machinery, causing his clothing to become twisted around his neck.  The man died on Tuesday after suffering the injuries several days ago in a work-related injury.

There are some basic principles in designing industrial machinery: if the hazard can be designed away, it should; if it cannot, it should be guarded against; and if neither of those are possible, then there must be adequate warnings.  Every responsible manufacturer of industrial machinery will agree to these principles and follow them.

This kind of entanglement hazard is a well-recognized danger with machinery that has exposed gears.  The most common way of resolving this hazard is to redesign the machine so that there are no exposed gears or so that the gears are guarded.  Having exposed gears is a design defect in the machine.

Given that the accident was several days ago, as an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer, I would strongly recommend to this family that they promptly hire well-qualified counsel who will take steps to preserve the machine in the condition it was in at the time of the accident.  Changes, repairs, or modifications to the machine could make it difficult to prosecute a defective product case against the manufacturer.