Juan Manuel Navarrete, a 43-year-old recycling service employee, was killed in a Los Angeles County workplace injury the evening of June 25, 2009 when a metal cable he was replacing on a dump truck snapped and struck him on the head. According to a news report in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Navarrete was pronounced dead at the scene when officials arrived at a waste and recycling service company at 282 Live Oak Ave. Police responded after an employee of a company nearby found Navarrete lying on the ground with a cut on his head.

Navarrete, apparently an auto mechanic for the company, was working on the truck and replacing the heavy-duty metal cable at the time of the fatal workplace accident. As Navarrete was finishing the job, the metal cable stretched and broke hitting him in the head, officials said. He died of severe head injuries.

My heart goes out to Juan Manuel Navarrete's family for their tragic and heartbreaking loss. I offer my deepest condolences to them.

There are of course several unanswered questions as far as this Los Angeles County on-the-job accident is concerned. What exactly caused the accident to occur? What was wrong with the replacement cable and the truck? Was the victim trained to fix it? Navarrete was obviously on the job at the time of the accident so his family members will be entitled to workers compensation benefits through his employer. However, many employees and their families find out the hard way that California’s workers compensation benefits are shockingly low and hardly provide enough to cover medical expenses and loss of wages as a result of the injury or death.

Navarrete's family may want to pursue a "third-party claim," which may be worth a lot more to them than the workers compensation benefits. The claim could be filed, for example, against the manufacturer of the cable and/or the dump truck, particularly if the malfunction was a result of a product defect. If I were representing this worker's family, I would want the truck to be preserved in its current damaged condition so it can be examined for product defects, mechanical malfunctions and other evidence. Navarrete's family would be well-advised to retain the services of skilled Los Angeles County workplace accident attorneys who will help them pursue their rights and make sure they receive fair compensation for their loss.