All serious injury accidents are terrible without a doubt, but industrial accidents are some of the worst.
Workplace industrial accidents often happen to a person in the prime of life while working for a living doing something they love to do.
Many people get great satisfaction from their work. They are often making a good living allowing them to take care of their family and children. In a flash, it can all be taken away by a devastating industrial workplace accident.
I’ve Witnessed Horrific Industrial Accidents Firsthand
This is personal to me. But first, a little about me, Gary Kwasniewski, and my background before I became a California lawyer.
The Family Logging Business
I grew up in a working-class family that earned their livelihood in the logging and lumber industry. My father, grandfather, my brother, and some uncles all worked in this very dangerous occupation.
I have old photos of me at 5 years old sitting on an old TD25 International Bulldozer with my dad. At the early age of 7, I had a chainsaw in my hands under the close and direct supervision of my father and grandfather.
As a teenager, I operated log skidders hauling tree length logs out of the deep woods to log landings where they were cut to log length and hauled to sawmills, veneer, and paper mills. I operated bulldozers and worked part time in sawmills around very dangerous equipment while I grew up.
We worked in the great north woods of upstate New York, including the Adirondack Mountain area and the Tug Hill Plateau region in north central New York State. This is a very rural and heavily forested area in the northeastern United States and still is.
Loggers & Environmentalists
My family loved independence, and the challenges of working around heavy equipment, heavy trucks, tree cutting, and felling and skidding equipment. They loved working in these beautiful, remote, rugged, heavily forested areas and by selective cutting of hardwood trees, were environmentalists ahead of their time.
Road Builders
In addition to cutting trees, making logs, and hauling them to market, they were also road builders. Building roads was necessary to get to the timber and transport it to market.
Heavy Machinery Mechanics
We also maintained our own equipment including bulldozers, large dump trucks, semi-trucks and trailers, log skidders, and industrial woodchippers and equipment. For example, I saw my dad completely tear down a bulldozer and fully restore it. He was an expert at this and one of the best welders I ever knew.
Workplace Accidents
During my time growing up around these rugged hard-working men, there were logging accidents where men were killed or terribly maimed. Fortunately, it never happened to any of my family members. But I saw how these industrial accidents decimated families and these unfortunate men.
I personally witnessed a good man accidentally run his hand through an edger and lose three fingers. I saw an elderly man have a large load of heavy hardwood slabs topple onto him, covering him completely. We frantically threw the slabs off him, expecting the worst. He survived but never worked again.
Most of these men who worked in this industry loved what they did. It was difficult in all types of weather including in the dead of northeastern winters and was extremely dangerous.
These, like all industrial accidents, often have terrible far-reaching consequences.
From Logging to Law School
As much as I liked that work, my mom and dad insisted that I get an education and helped me attend college.
If my dad had suffered from a serious debilitating or fatal industrial accident while working and running his small independent logging contractor business, my life would be much different. Most likely, I wouldn’t have been able to afford to go to college and eventually become a personal injury lawyer.
Industrial accidents that cause serious injury, death, or illness at the workplace require lawyers experienced in the litigation and trial of these often technically complicated accidents.
So much is at stake for the victims of industrial workplace accidents and their families.
These types of catastrophic accidents involve all different types of machinery and/or equipment malfunctions. I’ve seen everything from burns and electrical contacts to chemical spills, fires, explosions, and other serious workplace injuries or death.
Causes of Serious Industrial Workplace Accidents
There can be many causes of these often very serious industrial accidents, including:
- Defectively designed and/or manufactured equipment
- Poorly maintained equipment or systems
- Negligent equipment operation
- Equipment failures
- Inadequate training
- Inadequate warnings, guards, or defective equipment warnings or labelling
- And/or a combination of these and other factors
Some more specific examples of industrial accidents include:
- Heavy earthmoving equipment accidents
- Explosions from gases not handled safely
- Electrocutions from contact with electric transmission wires and equipment
- Manufacturing equipment accidents resulting in lost limbs or worse
- Long-term exposure to dangerous chemicals
- And any type of industrial workplace accident
Challenges of Serious Injury & Wrongful Death Cases
The law involving litigating wrongful death cases or serious injury types of cases for injured workers of industrial accidents can be tricky and has its own unique challenges.
Understanding What Actually Happened
One of the challenges for lawyers pursuing industrial accident lawsuits for the injured is first developing a deep understanding of what really happened and all the causes. There are usually multiple causes, and each must be thoroughly understood.
Understanding the Technologies Involved
Another challenge is developing a thorough understanding of the technologies involved. There are usually many questions that need answers:
Why did the equipment fail and cause injury?
How could a better design have prevented failure?
What caused the explosion?
Was there a gas leak from faulty equipment?
Was there a spark or other activation energy?
Why was the power line energized when it was believed to be de-energized?
What experts are needed to help the jury understand the technical details and accident reconstruction?
As industrial accident lawyers pursuing such a case, we need at times to wear the hat of an engineer, scientist, skilled operator, tradesman, and more.
Workers Compensation Laws
Another challenge in these types of workplace industrial accidents in California often involves Workers’ Compensation (“WC”) laws.
A worker injured on the job cannot sue his employer if the employer’s co-employee’s negligence caused the injury. Often the only remedies in such cases are those available under the worker’s compensation laws, which are no-fault laws designed to protect the employer and to some degree the injured worker.
Third-Party Lawsuits
However, a viable third-party lawsuit may be possible if the industrial injury occurs at the workplace and one of the causes was by:
- An outside contractor
- A defective product
- Or any negligence or wrongful conduct caused by someone or some entity other than the employer or co-employee
In such instances, a third-party lawsuit may be brought against those individuals or entities other than the employer or co-employee. This would be in addition to WC remedies.
Accidents Caused by an Employer or Co-Employee
Industrial accident lawsuits can get more complicated if one of the causes in addition to an outside entity or defective product is the employer and/or co-employee.
Suppose the defendant product manufacturer or an outside contractor is sued. In that case, they will do everything in their power to show that the accident was caused solely by the employer and/or the injured worker.
The WC insurance carrier will assert a lien on any third-party lawsuit filed by the injured worker or his or her family and want to be paid back for any past benefits paid to the injured worker from any proceeds obtained in a successful lawsuit.
Often the WC carrier will intervene (join) in a third-party lawsuit. They usually will work with the injured party’s lawyer to pursue the negligent equipment manufacturer or the outside contractor, but not always and that presents its own challenges.
About VK Lawyers
Our industrial accident lawyers at Viau & Kwasniewski have successfully litigated such cases where the WC carrier and employer worked against their own injured worker. In the end, we were able to overcome these challenges and obtain a great result for our injured client.
My experience has been that most people seriously injured on the job are very strong and very courageous. They fight to get back to their former abilities even when it is nearly impossible because of the extent of their injuries.
It is an honor and privilege to represent these folks in meritorious lawsuits to get them fully compensated for losses they have sustained and will sustain in the future.
These very serious, difficult, and contentious industrial accident lawsuits require the skill, wisdom, and tenacity of litigation lawyers very experienced in these types of cases.
Contact Us
It is our privilege to help when serious industrial accidents occur.
Call us at 213-842-8164 or contact us online if you need our help.
Compare our experience and approach to any other California law firm. We are confident that we have a better approach that has worked very well for decades, and we offer you wisdom, skill, compassion, and experience during such difficult times.
