Offshore Lifting Injuries
Only the strong survive maritime work as heavy lifting is a must. Moving heavy equipment, cargo, fish traps or other gear requires specialized techniques for working aboard a moving vessel. The constant movement of the ocean creates a lack of strong support under the legs and already heavy objects take on more weight. The excess weight often proves too much for the natural limits that arms, legs and the back can support. Increasing the problem is the harsh truth that vessel owners rarely train workers with proper maritime lifting techniques.
Maintenance and Cure
If you are unable to work after suffering a lifting injury while working in the maritime industry, you are able to recover monetary compensation and medical care. After an injury, your employer must guarantee you receive proper medical care, or he is liable for negligence. Maintenance and cure is a guaranteed right of every injured seaman. Cure gives workers the right to recover medical costs for necessary medical treatment and recovery after an injury. Maintenance gives workers financial compensation to cover daily living expenses. Our attorneys will work on your behalf if your employer wrongly denies you maintenance and cure after suffering a maritime lifting injury.
Free Consultation · Contingency Fee Basis · Nationwide Representation
Our firm, based in Houston and with offices in Galveston, has a well-earned reputation as a leading maritime injury firm across the world. Working with a successful firm like Doyle Dennis Avery LLP allows you to understand your attorneys will fight hard and smart for your claims. We work on a contingency fee basis and represent clients nationwide. We will work on your behalf and only receive payment if we guide you to a successful result. Contact Doyle Dennis Avery LLP to have a free consultation with one of our knowledgeable attorneys to review your claim.
Offshore Work: Countless Hazards
The offshore oil and natural gas industry has earned a reputation as one of the most hazardous industries. The compensation for injury claims can be among the highest if an experienced offshore attorney presents your claim. Common hazards for oil and natural gas workers include:
- Oil spills
Exposure to oil from spills can result in serious health problems. Headaches and memory problems can affect the brain
- Explosions
Oil and natural gas are extremely volatile. Explosions can wreak havoc on rigs, platforms and vessels. The initial blast and ensuing fires can do serious damage to exposed workers
- Neck, Shoulder, Back, and Knee Injuries
Work in the offshore industry causes great physical strain on the body. Sometimes these areas cannot handle the strain or are overworked and injuries occur
- Transportation Accidents
Travel to and from rigs or other vessels is the highest cause of death in the industry. Helicopters operating in poor weather conditions have routinely crashed and killed or seriously injured workers
- Chemical Exposure
Chemicals used on oil rigs are protected as “trade secrets”. What they are made of and do to the body can be hard to decipher. The short-term and long-term effects can cause serious harm to people working with them daily.
- Injuries due to Fatigue
Shifts over 20 hours are routinely pushed by employers. Working this long increases the danger of accidents and injuries at a higher rate
- Loss of Limbs and Appendages
Close work with heavy and complex equipment puts limbs, toes and fingers at risk. Workers can get them trapped in machines or crushed by heavy weight. Losing hands, feet, fingers or toes permanently changes one’s life.
- Temporary or Permanent Incapacitation
Life changing and altering injuries are a constant threat to workers. Serious injuries can inhibit a person’s ability to move and work. Paralysis can make ever working again impossible. The intense danger of some offshore jobs leads to higher rates of serious injuries impacting mobility.
- Toxic Airborne Exposure
Medical researchers are only beginning to understand the health effects of repeated exposure to airborne chemicals by drilling workers. The results are alarming and can pose serious threats to workers’ wellbeing later in life. - Unsafe surfaces
The chemicals and water covering surfaces for rigs, platforms and decks makes movement dangerous and work difficult. Slips, trips and falls can seriously harm workers. - Equipment Injuries
The equipment employed in the drilling industry often is sophisticated and large. Equipment can malfunction and fail leaving workers exposed to accidents causing serious injury or death. The large and heavy equipment used in the offshore industry can instantly alter lives with injuries or death - Death
Offshore oil and gas workers are seven times more likely to die in the workplace compared to national industrial worker averages.
Offshore oil and gas workers are seven times more likely to die in the workplace compared to national industrial worker averages.
Our Firm Employs Medical and Maritime Attorneys
The attorneys at Doyle Dennis Avery LLP are highly accomplished in offshore oil and natural gas litigation. As your legal counsel, we gather all relevant evidence, including incident reports, witness statements, medical records, government investigations. We fight to subpoena the internal records of employers and insurance carriers. If everything went according to plan, employers and insurers would quickly and fairly address your claim and provide compensation promptly. Often this happens for cases Doyle Dennis Avery LLP has handled.
Unfortunately, all cases are not like this. When employers or insurers decide to act in bad faith, the experienced maritime injury attorneys at Doyle Dennis Avery LLP will persistently fight for your claim. We will employ medical and industry experts which can give a claim the backing it needs. Our firm will fight passionately to obtain the maximum benefits you deserve.
