Columbus Industrial Accidents Attorneys

If you are suffering from a personal injury due to an industrial accident at your workplace, you likely have many questions regarding how to cover your medical bills, lost wages and physical pain and mental and emotional suffering. At the Rinehardt Injury Attorneys, we can address your legal concerns. We are ready to work hard to ensure that liable parties fully compensate for your losses.

Aggressive Representation and Personal Service

We have a team of aggressive negotiators ready to work hard to get the best settlement possible to compensate for your losses. When a settlement cannot be reached, our attorneys are more than ready to take a case to trial. Call us if you are suffering from a workplace accident. We handle a range of cases, including those involving:

• Injuries caused by malfunctioning or unsafe industrial machines
• Entrapment injuries caused by unguarded factory machines
• Defective products
• Chemical burns and injuries
• Electrocutions

Industrial Accidents Resulting from OSHA Violations

An industrial accident is any accident that happens to a person in the course of their work that results in an injury. Industrial accidents can happen to anyone—in fact, more than 337 million accidents happen on the job each year. Employers have a duty to provide a safe work environment for their employees to protect from needless injuries while on the job. Industrial workplaces such as factories, energy plants, warehouses, and more have a higher than average rate of injury.

Industrial workplaces are not easily defined and can vary from factories and warehouses to chemical and energy plants. It is estimated that 80% of workplace accidents occur because of improper precautionary measures such as unsafe working conditions and unsafe actions. Even the safest plants are never completely risk-free, and in the case of a plant explosion, there may be hundreds of lives lost or persons injured; there are very few other industries where the risk is so high. The most common industrial accidents involve: falling objects, equipment injuries, blast injuries, and chemical burns or inhalation. Although there is no single cause behind each type of industrial accident, the vast majority of these accidents can be prevented.

In the last decade, several combustible dust explosions have happened in different plants and factories. These explosions were due to dust particles, heat, and air to starting a fire, being confined in a dust cloud, and then exploding. Although uncommon, these accidents killed or injured over 100 people. Sometimes, when accidents like this occur, toxic particles can spread further than the workplace, injuring the surrounding neighborhoods and counties.

While workers’ compensation may cover time lost and medical expenses, speaking with an experienced lawyer about pursuing an industrial accident injury lawsuit may be beneficial to you. One of the many intricacies of a lawsuit such as this is determining whether the employer was complying with the OSHA standards for safety when the accident occurred; this then allows the attorneys representing the injured worker to know how to better apply the laws and regulations surrounding the industry before working on the injury case. Also, depending on the type of job, your employer may have a specific set of guidelines/obligations under OSHA, regulations propagated by other agencies, and requirements under both State and Federal Law. It is up to the employer to ensure that everyone on the job site is properly trained and equipped with protective devices and proper, functioning equipment to do their jobs safely and accurately.

According to OSHA, many of the top ten safety violations were in industrial industries. The most common violations were: communicating hazards, respiratory protection, electrical design, machine guards, and powered industrial trucks. Employers have an obligation to provide a safe work environment, and this includes complying with OSHA regulations. The Columbus industrial accident attorneys at Rinehardt Injury Attorneys will identify the applicable OSHA regulations that have not been followed, helping to show liability for your injury.

Top 10 Cited OSHA Violations

OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has workplace standards in place,largely to ensure employers do everything they can to prevent injuries to their employees. In 2015, OSHA found the following ten violations to be the most commonly cited for the 2015 fiscal year:

• Failure to provide fall protection
• Violation of communication standards
• Inadequate scaffolding
• Lack of respiratory protection
• Inadequate control of hazardous energy
• Overly powered industrial trucks
• Inadequate ladder safety
• Inadequate electrical and wiring methods
• Lack of machinery and machine guarding
• Poor electrical systems design

When workplaces fail to follow the standards OSHA has set in place, it is often the employees who suffer for it. In many cases, these same workplaces make it extremely difficult for injured employees to file a claim and see it through. When this is the case, it’s imperative that the injured parties seek legal representation.

Recovery from a Workplace Injury

Along with the pain involved in workplace injuries, factors like medical bills and time off work can greatly impact the employee’s life. The experienced worker injury attorneys at the Rinehardt Injury Attorneys can help get compensation for your injuries when there is a defective machine or in many instances when the employer has violated OSHA rules.

If you suffer from workplace injuries caused by a third party’s negligence, you have the right to pursue financial recovery for your losses. At the Rinehardt Injury Attorneys, we can protect your rights. We help the victims of wrongdoing pursue the justice they deserve. Contact us at (419) 529-2020 and let our team give you peace of mind with a free consultation. We will help you get your life back on track after you’ve suffered from an industrial accident injury.