Factory Injuries in Massachusetts
A factory worker is frequently exposed to workplace hazards and risks that include everything from fall risks and machinery-related hazards to electrocutions. Injured workers, however, have access to workers’ compensation benefits as well as compensation from third parties in specific cases.
A factory worker’s job often involves heavy manual labor, long strenuous working hours, and excessive stress and strain. Factories are run on models of high productivity and efficiency, and profits for companies depend heavily on intensive labor and low running costs. That means that safety strategies very often fall by the wayside, placing workers at risk.
Types of Injuries in Factories
A factory worker may be exposed to any of the following hazards:
- Fall hazards from stairways, ladders, or elevated surfaces
- Electrocution hazards and electrical injuries from exposed wiring and underground or overhead power lines
- Accidents caused to pedestrian workers from collisions involving heavy industrial equipment, such as forklifts, cranes, tractors, and trucks
- Injuries caused by falling objects or falling cargo
- Injuries caused by the operation of industrial equipment
- Injuries caused by the operation of hand tools
- Burn injuries from chemicals, flash fires, and explosions
- Exposure to toxic chemicals and fumes
- Exposure to high temperatures
In all these cases, workers may be at serious risk of injuries that include amputations, spinal injuries, burn injuries, and fractures. In most cases, these injuries occur because employers have taken shortcuts with worker safety, compromising on safety strategies and risk management plans for efficiency and productivity.
Factory workers who are injured may be eligible for compensation under their employer’s Workers’ Compensation plan. However, a worker who has been injured by a defective product, such as a defective piece of equipment or malfunctioning hand tool, may also be eligible for compensation through a personal injury lawsuit. In such cases, a product liability lawsuit can be filed against the manufacturer of the tool.
Peter Ventura is a Massachusetts workplace injury lawyer helping workers who have been injured in factory accidents and other workplace accidents across Massachusetts recover compensation for their injuries.
