While some refinery accidents make headlines for the number of injuries and property damage they cause, most oil refinery accidents affect just one worker or a handful of workers. These smaller-scale accidents are no less devastating to those injured, and justice is available no matter how many others were affected. An experienced Houston refinery explosion lawyer can help you seek the full and fair compensation that is owed to you.
How Can Our Attorneys Help? The first thing we will do is sit down with you to discuss the details of your accident: How did it happen? How did you get hurt? How has it affected your health and your ability to return to work? How has it affected your family’s finances? How has your employer responded to your situation?
Once we have been able to evaluate your injury claim, a Houston plant explosion attorney will initiate an immediate investigation into the cause of the accident.
Factors involved in refinery accidents
Many factors commonly contribute to refinery accidents, and we will examine them all. Some frequently seen problems include:
• Non-compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or plant safety regulations
• Failing to complete routine cleaning and daily maintenance
• Failure to conduct security drills on a regular basis
• Incorrect storage of raw materials
• Workers exposed to raw materials
These (and other) safety issues could have contributed to your accident. It is crucial to identify them as soon as possible. Because these issues are often unique to refinery accidents, it is vital to have an experienced attorney on your side to identify them and create a strong claim on your behalf.
Get compensation you deserve!
Your plant explosion attorney will help you file a workers’ compensation claim with your employer and will be by your side to make sure no one takes advantage of you during this difficult time. Employers and their insurers often try to evade liability or underpay benefits to injured workers. Our team will fight for every part of the compensation owed to you.
How long do I have to file a claim for an accident at a refinery?
Workers ‘compensation programs are developed and run at the state level, so the statute of limitations for filing a workers’ compensation claim can vary from state to state. In Texas, employees who are injured in refinery accidents or explosions have one year from the date of the accident to file a claim.
Those who become ill due to exposure to chemicals have one year to file a claim from the date the employee knew or should have known that their illness was work-related. If you suffered damage due to the recklessness or negligence of a third party, you have two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury claim.
Our Texas plant explosion attorneys will also make sure to identify third party entities that could have been responsible for the accident. If a contractor or other entity that is not a co-worker or your employer was even partially responsible for the oil refinery accident, you may be eligible to file an injury claim against you to recover compensation in addition to benefits from workers’ compensation.
