Workplace Injury

Any workplace can be a dangerous environment. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, almost 5 million nonfatal workplace illnesses and injuries occurred in 2002, and over 5,000 fatal work injuries. Though these numbers seem to be decreasing, almost everyone is likely to suffer some type of work related injury or illness during their career.

Accidents in the workplace range from apparently minor conditions as an aching back to brain and spinal cord damage. The major causes of work-related injuries include fires and explosions; exposure to toxic chemicals or other environmental hazards; transportation accidents; slips and falls; electrocutions; machinery-related accidents; heavy object trauma; and even on-the-job assaults by co-workers or third parties.

Factories and construction sites are by no means the only location for workplace injuries to occur. Office employees are subject to a wide array of serious work-related dangers: carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive stress injuries, sick building syndrome, asbestosis, lead and mold poisoning, slips and falls, and even occupational stress.

If you have suffered a work-related injury or illness, you may be entitled to monetary damages, even in cases where injuries appeared to be minor. You can recover any medical expenses you have incurred as a result of the injury, such as doctor and hospital bills, medications, therapy, or home health care, as well as any future medical expenses. You can also recover for pain and suffering, out-of-pocket expenses, mental and emotional anguish, lost wages, benefits and other compensation. In some cases, if your spouse has been injured, you may be entitled to collect damages for the loss of pleasure or companionship as a result of those injuries. Additionally, in cases where the defendant's conduct is extreme or outrageous, you may be entitled to collect punitive damages to punish them and to prevent future misconduct.

Workplace injury cases can be incredibly complex; the primary hurdle in most cases is that an employee generally cannot sue his or her employer in court while in the course of his or her employment, as they are limited to workers' compensation solutions. Employers fight hard to keep injured employees inside the workers' compensation system and out of court. Click on one of the tabs below to review information about specific workplace types.

Only in cases where the employer knew or should have known that the workplace was unsafe can an injured employee sue the employer directly for allowing an unsafe environment to occur. Additionally, if a piece of defective machinery or equipment in the workplace has caused injury, all of the parties involved in the design, engineering, manufacture, distribution, sale, and installation of the defective machinery may be held accountable.

Click on the items below to learn more

Refining oil is a dangerous line of work involving volatile chemicals under high pressure at searing temperatures. When properly maintained, an oil refinery is generally a safe place for workers and nearby residents. However, some oil companies, either by negligence or cost-cutting measures, operate facilities that are not safe environments for an already dangerous business. The dangers are myriad: falls, explosions, burns, toxic chemical exposures are just a few of the common personal injuries caused by oil companies who put lives at risk.

Consider some of these facts (from RefineryForum.org):

  • For years, a vast majority of the nation's refineries have evaded regulatory scrutiny, including compliance with basic provisions of the Clean Air Act.
  • Many refineries are concentrated in heavily populated urban areas and disproportionately impact low-income and minority communities.
  • Refineries are the nation's major source of tons of toxic volatile organic compounds, like cancer-causing benzene, and chemicals which cause asthma and childhood development problems.
  • Most refinery toxic air pollution is from product leaks in equipment not smokestacks. Technology to prevent these leaks has been widely available for decades, but oil companies refuse to invest in cleaner technologies.
  • Refineries are also a source of large chemical releases during fires, explosions, upsets and spills. During these accidents, many thousands of pounds of dangerous chemicals can be released in a short period of time. These dangerous spills often dump chemicals into the communities around refineries causing health problems.

If you or a member of your family has been injured in an accident or chemical exposure at an oil refinery, offshore oil rig, or other oil industry location, you may be eligible for recovery of damages.

If you believe you may have an oil refinery injury case, contact us today for more information.

Each year, thousands of construction workers are injured or killed in construction site accidents. It is the responsibility and obligation of a construction company to inspect and properly maintain their sites and equipment, and to provide safety programs, but many companies knowingly or unknowingly skirt these requirements.

Company owners, as well as associated architects, insurance companies and equipment manufacturers can all be held responsible for construction site accidents. The general contractor and all subcontractors involved on a project are required to provide a reasonably safe site, to warn workers and the public of inherent hazards, to hire competent workers, to coordinate job safety and to supervise compliance with safety regulations.

Construction equipment manufacturers are responsible for designing and maintaining safe products. Some common examples of defective construction products include scaffolding, cranes, derricks, hoists, boilers, power tools, woodworking tools, ladders, winches, conveyors, graters, scrapers, tractors, bulldozers, forklifts, back hoes, and other types of construction equipment.

Workers' Compensation law is designed to help injured workers as well as employers in dealing with an on-the-job accident, but unfortunately Workers' Compensation alone may not be sufficient to fully investigate liability or to fully cover the financial, physical and emotional costs of injury. Only a lawyer experienced with construction and workplace injury can help you accomplish those ends.

If you believe you may have a construction site injury case, contact us today for more information.

Loading
  • Contact Us

    Please fill out the form below to contact us and we'll get in touch with you shortly.

Waterbury Law, P.C.

 

Waterbury Law, P.C. provides top-notch representation for Dallas, Texas
clients in the practice areas of Healthcare, Personal Injury, and Immigration.

Contact us today at (214) 630-4554 to schedule a consultation with an experienced lawyer.

manganelomanganelo