Whatever one's occupation, most people expect their employer to provide a workplace that is as safe as is possible. This is true whether one is an executive working in an office building or a seaman working on a boat.

A seaman filed a lawsuit last month seeking a jury trial for injuries he sustained last spring in an accident upon a vessel he was working. The accident reportedly happened April 18, when he fell off a ladder he was using on the M/V Captain Frank. As a result of the fall the seaman said he suffered nerve damage and ruptured some disks. The basis of the lawsuit is the failure to provide a safe workplace.

Filed in the federal court in New Orleans, the lawsuit named Weeks Marine Inc. and Atlantic Sounding Co. Inc. as defendants. In addition to court costs and attorneys' fees, the seaman is seeking punitive damages, maintenance and cure, compensatory damages and interest.

In the lawsuit the man alleges negligence for a variety of reasons including the failure to warn of unsafe and dangerous conditions on the vessel, failing to provide a place to work that was safe, the failure to provide adequate and competent supervisors and failing to provide adequate medical care in a prompt manner.

While many seamen injured while working on a vessel believe they are only entitled to the rate of maintenance provided in their union contract, this is not always true. Under some circumstances additional compensation and benefits may be available.

Source: The Louisiana Record, "Seaman files lawsuit claiming ladder created dangerous condition," Michelle Keahey, Oct. 3, 2011