What Homer Simpson Can Teach Us about North Carolina Workers’ Compensation
Although Japan’s nuclear scientists and workers have managed to prevent a massive meltdown, many commentators – including high profile bloggers and pundits in the North Carolina workers’ compensation community and elsewhere – have practically torn out their hair worrying about the effects that radiation contamination might have on the people of beleaguered Japan.
Obviously, the three-tiered trauma that Japan recently endured – earthquake, tsunami, nuclear plant disaster – is intense and horrific, and the international community should be doing everything in its power to prevent further loss of life and help Japan out with the reconstruction.
All that said, are we worrying a bit too much about Japan’s nuclear plants? Recently, Fox decided to stop airing reruns of a famous Simpsons’ episode in which Homer and company face off against a nuclear disaster at the Springfield Nuclear Plant. The decision to pull the episode was blessed by former showrunner Al Jean – obviously, this was done out of desire to treat Japan with respect.
But is this a case of making a mountain out of a molehill? After all, the nuclear plants withstood colossal damage, and no meltdowns or severe radiation leaks (a la Chernobyl) are occurring or will occur, according to a variety of reliable sources – experts in nuclear physics.
Moreover, workers in other industries in Japan – railroad, automotive, industrial, et cetera — have no doubt suffered terribly during the clean up. We’re not saying that repairing a damaged nuclear plant is not dangerous. But workers laboring in these other industries – non-nuclear related – won’t likely elicit a rush of international sympathy when they come down with tuberculosis from stepping on rusty nails while cleaning up leveled landfills.
Truth be told, disaster recovery and repair is messy. It’s brutal, and it’s dangerous. And it’s our collective obligation to ensure that we neither “over blow” the dangers nor “under prepare” for them.
The bottom line is: injured and sick workers all need lots of help, good information, and sympathy and compassion. A focused North Carolina workers’ compensation law firm can help you understand not only how to collect all the benefits that you should be owed but also how to maximize your use of those benefits to recover and get back to work at your earliest convenience.
More Web Resources:
Fox pulls Simpsons episode out of respect for Japan
Is danger to Japanese nuclear plant workers overblown?
