Port of Galveston, TX — A ship named the Asia Zircon II was involved in a serious accident on Wednesday (July 8, 2015) when a large crane broke down while unloading some cargo, leaving four workers with injuries. Their names haven’t been released yet, but the ship was from Singapore.
The accident happened on Wednesday morning, around 9:15 a.m.
A large crane on the Asia Zircon II was being used to unload a 60-ton pierce of wind tower when something broke. It’s not clear if the cargo fell or if the workers fell, but paramedics were called to the scene and transported four adult males to a nearby hospital.
None were in life-threatening condition, but one of the workers had to stay at the hospital longer than the others for treatment.
The Coast Guard and Port Authority were at the scene.
Map of the Port of Galveston
Commentary:
There are two things that govern accidents that happened at sea or in water: the Jones Act and the Death on the High Seas Act. For something that happened so close to shore, the Jones Act would likely apply to this situation. However, I would not only look at whether the Jones Act is applicable here in bringing a claim (if that’s even an option), I would also investigate the crane that allegedly broke down.
Was it in disrepair? Did it malfunction? These workers have very dangerous jobs, were they given any kind of safety gear to prevent things like this from happening?
These are questions that need to be asked and I’d be very curious to hear more about what caused this to happen and injure these workers. Because not very many lawyers know much about maritime law, people often get conflicting opinions about what rights injured workers have and don’t have.
The essence of the Jones Act of 1920 is that seaman and other maritime workers on ships were given rights to file claims against their employers should their negligence result in an injury. Now, there is specific language in the Jones Act that pertains to U.S.-owned ships, so things may be a bit different here if the ship was from Singapore. Claims filed under the Jones Act are brought before a federal or state court, in this case, Texas.
— Grossman Law Offices
