A Mansfield Texas worker suffered an electrical shock at an industrial building in southwest Mansfield where he was working on the morning of Thursday October 7. The unidentified man was rescued from the rooftop of the industrial building and then flown to a Fort Worth hospital to be treated for his sustained injury at 11 a.m. The cause of the electrical shock incident has yet to be determined.
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In accidents such at the one above a full investigation must be made into the accident site to ensure that all liable parties are brought to justice. While it appears that the workers injury is not life-threatening it would also appear that this worker has accrued medical bills and a personal injury claim against a negligent party or parties could help him recover the costs associated with those medical bills. Furthermore employers can be held liable for unsafe working environments that may lead to certain accidents such as what could have occurred in this particular situation. In that event the injured worker could also bring a personal injury claim against his employer.
However even then it can sometimes prove challenging to seek compensation against an employer based on a couple of factors: whether the employer is covered by workers compensation insurance and whether the employee is defined as a contractor or an employee. In the first instance in Texas employers covered by workers compensation are immune to personal injury claims meaning that they cannot be sued for compensation by the injured worker. The worker would then have to seek compensation through the employers workers compensation insurance company. However some employers may lie about their coverage knowing that they could escape liability for an accident by simply claiming to have workers compensation coverage when in fact they do not. Quite often only the help of a legal professional will be able to ascertain whether or not an employer is telling the truth about their coverage.
Additionally an employer may claim that an injured worker was not an actual employee but a contractor. If the worker can be made out to be a contractor then he or she would be wholly responsible for their safety while on the job thus causing the employer to have little to no liability in the accident case. However if the worker can be proven to be an employee then the employer will share a portion if not all of the liability for the accident.
Personal injury accidents that occur while on the job can sometimes seem simple at the outset but often involve many more technical matters as further information from the accident is made known. In any accident case its recommended that the victim or the victims family contacts their family lawyer so that they can receive proper legal help towards getting them the compensation for their sustained injury that they likely deserve.
– Texas Personal Injury Attorney Michael Grossman
