Shreveport Plant Explosion Injury Lawyer

A crucial part of the state’s economy relies on chemical plants, oil and gas refineries, lumber plants, and other industrial factories. These plants are some of the most hazardous worksites, and they are even more dangerous when regulation is ignored, often in favor of profit. Plant explosions can injure or kill many employees and individuals onsite. A Shreveport plant explosion injury lawyer is crucial to recovering financial losses from these devastating accidents.

Whether you are filing a workers’ compensation claim or a personal injury claim, the support of an attorney is crucial to securing the most financial recovery possible. An attorney can support you in recovering compensation as an employee even when no one is to blame.

However, when someone is to blame, your attorney can investigate the situation and determine what other avenues are available for recovering lost wages and other damages not covered by workers’ compensation.

Protecting Your Financial Interests After a Catastrophic Industry Explosion

Unfortunately, the priority of an insurance company is their bottom line, whether they are a workers’ compensation insurance company or another insurance company. You may have significant and debilitating injuries or even have lost a loved one after a plant explosion. You should not have to deal with these companies after such a devastating situation. An attorney protects you and your right to fair and full compensation.

The team at Jacqueline A. Scott & Associates provides assertive, uncompromising, and compassionate legal representation for individuals and surviving families after plant explosions. If an employer’s negligence in following safety or other regulations caused the explosion, we will uncover this and defend you and your family’s rights. We aim to provide personalized and effective legal support to recover the cost of medical bills, income, and other losses.

The Legal Team at Jacqueline A. Scott & Associates

The damages from these accidents can be substantial and affect someone for the rest of their life. Our team holds employers liable for this, either through workers’ compensation or a civil claim. A claim can help families take the time they need to rest, recover, and rebuild their lives. Jacquline A. Scott has 20 years of legal experience and leads a team with over 75 collective years of experience. She is a skilled negotiator and a fierce litigator.

At Jacqueline A. Scott & Associates, we can advocate for you, investigate the accident, calculate your personal and financial losses, and fight for the most compensation that is available to you.

Industrial Plants and Explosions

Louisiana has numerous industrial and manufacturing plants and refineries, all of which create the backbone of the state’s economy. This includes oil and gas drilling fields, agricultural plants, manufacturing plants for machinery, and petrochemical plants.

These plants have numerous hazards in the form of machinery, electrical needs, chemicals, and toxic substances. Because of these dangers, there are many safety requirements in place to protect employees and prevent the likelihood of serious accidents like explosions. Unfortunately, these regulations are not always sufficient to prevent dangers.

Regulations may also be ignored by employers and companies looking to increase their profits at the cost of their workers’ lives and safety.

Navigating an Explosion

An explosion in an industrial plant is one of the most catastrophic accidents that can occur. They may be initiated by chemical reactions, spills of chemicals interacting with sparks or fire, and other circumstances. The resulting accident can be fatal or injurious to dozens of employees. The fallout may also harm many more people by releasing toxic substances into the air, water, or soil.

These explosions are thankfully rare, but the consequences are severe. Injured employees can recover financially from these accidents through a workers’ compensation claim, regardless of whether the accident was someone’s fault or not. However, if someone was to blame for the accident, employees could also recover compensation through a personal injury claim.

Non-employees can also recover through a civil claim. Determining if someone was liable for the explosion takes significant investigation. Employers or managers may have ignored safety regulations, failed to perform maintenance, or been otherwise negligent with the safety of the worksite. A skilled accident attorney is needed to determine how you can recover the most compensation possible, either as an employee or a bystander.

Recovering Compensation as an Employee in a Workers’ Compensation or Personal Injury Claim

When you are injured in the workplace, you may have more than one option for recovering your financial losses. It helps to have an experienced attorney navigating your case to determine what options apply and how to effectively maximize your settlement.

Workers’ Compensation

When you are injured as an employee, you are typically limited to only a workers’ compensation claim. Workers’ compensation insurance exists to protect employers from personal liability and protect employees who are injured at work. Because of this, employees typically cannot file civil claims against their employers. A workers’ compensation claim does not recover as much damage as a personal injury claim.

Workers’ compensation claims do have the benefit of not requiring employees to prove fault. When you are injured in a plant explosion on the job, you can recover the cost of your medical bills and partially lost income without needing to prove someone was negligent or reckless in causing the accident. This is also true if an employee is killed in a plant explosion, and their family files for workers’ compensation death benefits.

Civil Personal Injury

However, there are some cases where employees can file personal injury claims against their employer. If your employer is required to carry workers’ compensation insurance but does not, a civil claim is possible. If your employer caused the accident on purpose or was egregiously negligent and ignored regulation, causing the accident, you could hold them liable.

You could also file a personal injury claim if a third party is to blame for the accident. If someone other than a coworker or employer was negligent, you could file a claim against them. Surviving family members can file civil wrongful death claims in the same situations.

When you can file both a workers’ compensation claim and a personal injury claim, the personal injury claim can recover the damages not covered by your workers’ compensation.

Recovering Compensation as a Non-Employee

Plant explosions can also affect non-employees. This may include contractors and sub-contractors, visitors, and other bystanders. Individuals who live near the plant can also be affected by the explosion or its aftermath. Non-employees do not have the option for a workers’ compensation claim, so they must prove that a person or company was liable for the accident. Some potential at-fault parties include:

• The company working in the plant or refinery
• An employer
• The operator of the plant
• The owner of the building or machinery
• Contractors or subcontractors on the worksite

An attorney is crucial to your case if you are an injured non-employee. It can be very complex to uncover whether a party was negligent, reckless, or even criminally negligent. If a party was to blame for your injuries, they must be held liable.

How Do You Prove Liability for an Industrial Plant Explosion?

Negligence is a common ground for personal injury claims, although some claims may be based on strict liability. To prove liability in a civil claim based on negligence, you must prove the following:

1. The party owed you a duty of care
2. They breached their duty of care through negligent action or inaction
3. This breach of duty led to the explosion
4. You were injured in the explosion and suffered related losses

Your attorney can investigate the explosion and its cause to determine what parties may be liable, and gather evidence to prove their fault.

What Causes Explosions in Industrial Plants?

Sometimes, explosions in industrial plants happen and could not have been prevented. Unfortunately, there are many cases where they should have been preventable if reasonable care and caution were used. Some of the common causes of industrial plant explosions include:

• Old and outdated equipment
• Improper training of employees
• Lack of needed maintenance in the facility
• Electrical hazards
• Gas leaks
• Corrosion of containers
• Improper storage of hazardous materials
• Impure chemicals
• Improper labeling of chemicals and other substances
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration violations
• Unsafe working conditions
• Improperly maintained machinery
• Unreasonably unsafe and malfunctioning equipment

Determining the cause of the explosion is necessary to determine the party or parties who were negligent and if claims can be filed against those parties. When the explosion was preventable, the employer, product manufacturer, or other party that cut corners for financial gain should be held accountable for their actions and the consequences of the explosion.

Compensation in a Plant Explosion Settlement

Workers’ compensation claims allow you to recover compensation for a portion of the wages you would have earned, as well as the costs of your medical bills. Civil claims can recover more damages than workers’ compensation claims, including:

• Existing medical bills
• Future medical bills
• The cost of expected complications of the injury
• Lost income and lost earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Mental anguish
• Disfigurement and disability

The damages you can recover in any claim depend on the damages you suffered from the explosion.

Injuries in Industrial Explosions

The injuries from an industrial plant explosion can include numerous catastrophes and fatal injuries. It may include blunt force trauma injuries from the force of the explosion or lacerations and penetrating injuries from explosion debris. Explosions can also result in long-term illness or injury from inhaling or being exposed to smoke, chemicals, and other dangerous substances in the explosion. Some of the common injuries that employees can suffer from include:

• Fractures
• Fire burns
• Chemical burns
• Contusions
• Lacerations and cuts
• Sight and hearing damage
• Facial injuries
• Lung damage
• Poisoning from toxic substances
• Disfiguring injuries
• Crushing injuries
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Spinal cord injuries, including paralysis
• Internal organ damage
• Amputation

The physical injuries from a plant explosion can be severe. Even seemingly minor injuries like contusions or lacerations can be catastrophic or fatal when they are significant enough. These catastrophic injuries can require costly medical treatment and prevent you from returning to work for a long time or even permanently. Permanent disability can prevent you from completing gainful employment and impact your daily life forever. These losses should be compensated.

Plant explosion injuries also include emotional and psychological trauma like PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). These injuries can be difficult to diagnose, but it is crucial that they are considered when recovering compensation, including their treatment and long-term care needs.

The Importance of Medical Treatment After a Plant Explosion

After an industrial plant explosion, obtaining emergency medical care is essential. Most individuals have catastrophic injuries that can be life-threatening if not addressed.

Even if you do not have any external injuries, you still need to receive medical treatment. Some injuries, like internal organ damage, inhalation damage, or traumatic brain injuries, may not appear immediately. They may also be hard for you to notice while you are in shock. Medical professionals will have the knowledge and resources to check for these injuries and help you get the treatment you need.

Getting medical care is also crucial to support any claim for compensation that you make. Medical documentation is important in both workers’ compensation claims and personal injury claims, proving that you need certain treatment and that your injuries were caused by the accident.

Wrongful Death Claims After a Plant Explosion in Shreveport

Explosions in industrial refineries and plants can often result in fatalities and injuries that lead to death. Families are left to deal with a terrible loss that cannot be fixed, as well as substantial financial losses. Surviving families may be able to recover some of these monetary losses under the workers’ compensation system or through a civil wrongful death claim. These claims can help you hold the party responsible for the explosion accountable.

Compensation will never make up for the loss of a family member. It can only provide families with some financial coverage and give them the time they need to grieve. Wrongful death claims can recover losses like medical bills, funeral and burial costs, lost wages and benefits, and the loss of companionship or consortium.

Contact a Plant Explosion Attorney Today

A refinery or plant explosion can have catastrophic effects on the lives of many people, families, and entire communities. It is important to hold parties accountable if they are careless with the lives of others. When you need dedicated and compassionate legal support after a plant explosion, contact Jacqueline A. Scott & Associates today.