Did you or someone you love get injured in an industrial explosion? If it was due to someone’s negligence, you may have the right to collect compensation. Contact Burg Simpson to find out more and get a free case evaluation.
When an industrial explosion occurs, a blast wave is transmitted outward. This wave can cause catastrophic injuries and fatalities to those in the area along with considerable property damage. The amount of energy that is released during an explosion usually results in debris flying through the air as well as fire, both of which can cause death and destruction.
Although jobs in the industrial sector require skilled labor, tend to pay very well, and are good for the economy, they come at a very high price to those who work them. Industrial jobs are dangerous. These employees are exposed to workplace hazards on a regular basis. Unfortunately, those in management roles tend to be more focused on the company’s bottom line rather than ensuring the health and safety of their workers. Infractions ranging from poor supervision and insufficient training to outdated facilities and defective safety equipment all contribute to treacherous industrial working conditions that end up causing industrial explosions.
In many processing, manufacturing, and industrial plants throughout the United States, there are machinery, gasses, chemicals, and other combustible materials that could ignite and produce an explosion if they are not properly stored and correctly used. Explosions at manufacturing and industrial plants are almost always preventable.
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration along with other state-specific agencies are tasked with regulating the handling and storage of volatile materials, chemicals, and other workplace dangers. Manufacturing and industrial plant explosions are generally attributed to an employee, a vendor, or a company being improperly trained, using incorrect or unmaintained equipment, or violating regulations.
If you or a member of your family were severely injured during an industrial explosion that was caused by another person’s indifference to safety or general negligence, contact the industrial explosion attorneys at Burg Simpson for a free review of your potential claim. We can help you pursue the financial compensation to which you are entitled.
An industrial explosion is a combination of heat/ignition plus an energy source. Together, they create gas, which as it expands produces a combustion that is released quickly into the surrounding atmosphere. For instance, a sealed liquid might boil and produce steam when it is heated. As the steam starts to take up more space than the liquid, the amount of pressure inside the container will continue to increase until the container admits defeat in the form of a violent explosion.
The majority of industrial explosions are ignited with an open flame, such as sparks from hot machinery, or by electricity. Even static electricity can cause an explosion.
In an industrial setting, even dust particles floating in the air can explode. Combustible dust usually contains metal or organic particles that are finely ground. When this dust is ample in both concentration and quantity, the friction caused by the particles making contact in the air could generate enough heat to ignite. When combustion of this nature is confined to an enclosed space, such as a building, a room, or within a piece of processing equipment, the dramatic increase in pressure can result in an industrial explosion.
The five leading causes of industrial explosions in the United States are:
Industrial explosions can lead to severe and unusual injuries that are rarely seen outside of combat. A major explosion can generate extreme heat. Farther away, the force produced by the explosion can cause a blast wave that results in blunt force trauma injuries to those who are nearby. The degree of heat forged by explosions can scorch the lungs of nearby workers, causing a deadly condition referred to as blast lung to develop. Smoke inhalation can lead to pulmonary injury if it doesn’t suffocate the victim first.
Those within the blast radius could be struck by flying debris acting as a projectile or by material falling off of broken structures. Flying debris can lead to blunt force injuries and penetrating injuries along with lacerations, contusions, and even burn injuries. Workers who are felled by the blast could sustain secondary blunt force trauma injuries.
The most common injuries caused by industrial explosions are:
Any explosion that takes place at a manufacturing or industrial plant or factory that results in injuries or fatalities is going to trigger both federal and state investigations. As these investigations proceed, the victim might be hospitalized facing multiple invasive surgeries and various other medical treatments. Victims who do not survive will have a family mourning their loss.
Industrial explosion victims often encounter huge medical expenses combined with a loss of wages, along with their pain and suffering. Those people whose explosion injuries leave them permanently disabled will no longer be able to earn a living and will certainly face ongoing personal care expenses and medical expenses, possibly for the rest of their lives.
Anybody who has been severely injured or lost a member of their family in an industrial explosion will benefit from experienced legal advice about the best way to go about seeking financial compensation. A thorough investigation might reveal that several different parties share in the liability for the industrial explosion.
The insurance company is going to do everything in its power to reduce their policyholder’s liability. The injured party should work with an experienced explosion injury attorney who is able to investigate the explosion, prove liability, and aggressively pursue recovery on their client’s behalf.
The industrial explosion lawyers from Burg Simpson have the resources necessary to properly investigate large-scale explosions and to collect any relevant evidence that lets us identify and build a compelling case against anyone and everyone who shares in fault for the incident. We take all of our client’s damages into consideration, and we work with professionals who can calculate the costs of any future damages and monetary needs in cases of permanent injury.
At Burg Simpson, our lawyers have decades of experience handling nationwide catastrophic personal injury claims. Our main focus is always on getting justice for our injured clients. Our years of experience in personal injury law allow us to discern options for seeking compensation that other law firms overlook. We are aggressive negotiators who will not settle for a lowball offer. If we have to go to court, we will prepare a persuasive and strong case on our client’s behalf.
The nationwide personal injury attorneys at Burg Simpson believe that people deserve to have access to reliable legal representation no matter where they work or live. We operate on a contingency fee schedule. This means that we do not collect any money up front or expect you to pay anything out of pocket. We only get paid when we win your industrial explosion injury case.
Our staff will listen to your side of the story and work to understand all the ways that your injuries have affected your daily routine and general quality of life. This will let us build a case that comprehensively reflects your full recovery needs.
That can include seeking financial recovery for:
At Burg Simpson, we are dedicated to achieving positive results for our injured clients. Call our offices today to speak with a lawyer about your rights and options.
We will fight for the compensation you deserve and will not be intimidated by the insured’s team of defense lawyers.
OSHA is the agency in charge of making sure that employers offer healthy and safe working conditions for their employees by establishing and enforcing safety protocols, providing proper education and training, and performing routine inspections in order to pinpoint and address any workplace dangers.
Depending on where the accident took place as well as any mitigating factors, an industrial explosion could be either a personal injury case or worker’s comp case. If the explosion happened during the course and scope of your normal job duties, you could be eligible to collect workers’ comp benefits, depending on the laws in your state governing the employer’s responsibility to carry coverage. If, however, your industrial explosion was the fault of a third party, someone who is not a colleague or your employer, you might be able to bring a personal injury suit against them.
The statute of limitations for bringing any kind of personal injury claim, including those arising from industrial explosions, varies from state to state. Some states have a statute of just one year while others give you as long as six years. Workers’ compensation also provides a fixed deadline for filing a claim that, again, varies depending on where your accident took place. The deadlines affixed to notifying an employer of a workers’ comp claim are usually significantly shorter than for a personal injury claim; typically between 30 and 60 days from the day your injury occurred. An experienced industrial explosion attorney can inform you of all important filing deadlines that apply to your accident.
In order to ensure the success of your claim, you should have as much evidence and information as possible. You need to have copies of your medical records that document the injuries you sustained in the blast, eyewitness statements, pictures or videos of the scene of the explosion along with your visible injuries, as well as any materials regarding training and safety procedures. Contacting an attorney as soon as possible after the accident can help ensure you get all the evidence you need collected before it begins to fade with time.
If an industrial explosion was the result of defective or malfunctioning equipment or product, you could have a valid product liability claim against the distributor or manufacturer of the defective equipment or product. This applies if there was a design defect, a manufacturing defect, or if a failure to warn existed.
Federal law states that an employer is required to report any job site injuries, hospitalizations, or deaths to OSHA no more than 8 hours after the event. OSHA also requires all employers to report any serious injuries, such as amputations or the loss of an eye, no more than 24 hours after the event.
When a worker is injured in an industrial explosion, the overall value of their claim will be dictated by the events surrounding it and the nature and scope of their injuries. The damages they are entitled to, including any caps, are set by the state in which the explosion occurred. This applies to both workers’ comp cases and personal injury cases.
Generally speaking, a personal injury claim for injuries sustained during an industrial explosion could demand recovery for:
To make sure that you understand the laws surrounding your unique accident and how those laws might affect your right to compensation, call the law firm of Burg Simpson and schedule a free case review with one of our qualified industrial explosion lawyers today.
Industrial explosions are complicated legal matters that can only be properly investigated with the aid of a skilled personal injury lawyer. It is not uncommon for the person responsible for the explosion to be a colleague, the property owner, the product manufacturer, or some other third party who is going to fight tooth and nail to minimize their liability. To protect your right to compensation and ensure that you are not strong-armed into accepting a lowball settlement, you should work with a personal injury attorney who has your best interests in mind.
If your employer approaches you with a proposal for direct payment for your damages, such as compensation for your medical expenses and time off of work, or offers you a single lump sum of money, call an experienced industrial accident lawyer as soon as you can before signing anything or agreeing verbally to any arrangement like this. Although it is not uncommon for an employer to offer a compensation package in exchange for you not filing a claim against them, it is usually not a viable solution. Your employer can go back on the offer, leaving you with nothing but an even larger stack of hospital bills, more lost income, and more costs that you have had to pay out of your own pocket. It does not matter how much you like or trust your employer, an industrial explosion case is serious and you should have an experienced attorney on your side who is focused on getting you everything you deserve for your injuries.
If you or a member of your family was injured in a manufacturing or industrial plant explosion in the United States, reach out to one of our qualified industrial explosion injury lawyers as soon as you can. We are dedicated to getting justice for the victims of industrial explosions who have been left with serious injuries. We also want to help families who have lost a loved one to a completely preventable explosion accident.