Photo Credit: www.dallasnews.com
Cherokee County, GA — A worker at the Pepsi bottling factor in Mesquite was injured this past Tuesday (March 3, 2015). The worker’s name hasn’t been released, but the accident was allegedly caused when an employee accidentally drove a forklift into an ammonia line.
The plant is located off I-30 near Eastfield College. The worker who accidentally rammed the forklift into the ammonia line may have been the one who was injured by the subsequent ammonia leak, but that’s not been confirmed yet.
The company said only that 1 worker had to be taken to a hospital for burns to their skin and respiratory problems. The accident scene was quickly contained and the pipe repaired, though the factory had to be evacuated. It’s not clear if OSHA was brought out to investigate.
Map of Pepsi Bottling Co.
Commentary:
In Texas, work accidents are the employer’s responsibility in one of two ways. First, if an employer subscribes to workers’ comp insurance, then those benefits are used when an employee is injured on the job. No lawsuits are allowed, you may only use the workers’ comp benefits. Second, if the employer does not subscribe to workers’ comp insurance, then they are still responsible for on-the-job accidents (assuming the accident wasn’t the employee’s fault), but it’s up to the injured worker to file a claim against the employer.
Now, a large company like Pepsi will almost certainly be a subscriber to workers’ comp, but the issue there is that workers’ comp benefits aren’t as helpful as people might think. Lost wages, for example, are only partially rewarded back to the injured employee at a percentage based on a state average. However, Texas law does make an exception that can be useful if your employer has workers’ comp coverage. Under normal circumstances, the fact that your employer has workers’ comp insurance means that no lawsuits can be filed, but that changes if it’s determined that “gross” negligence caused the accident in question. That means that the accident was caused by willful or wanton negligence that shocks the senses. In that instance, special kinds of lawsuits are allowed to be file in addition to receiving workers’ comp benefits, which is helpful for employees and their families that struggle with the meager workers’ comp benefits alone.
What I’ve done so far is simply explain how Texas Labor Law works in relation to accidents like this, but I don’t actually know what happened here. Does anyone else? Was the worker injured the same one who allegedly caused the accident? Is that even the whole story, or are we just getting tidbits from the news?
— Grossman Law Offices
