Injured While Doing Electrical Work

There are many people who will never work on anything that involves electricity because they understand the risks involved. That is a wise choice when you are not trained in the safety measures that must be taken any time there is electricity involved in a job or project. Even those who are trained in these practices and have years of experience can be injured while doing electrical work when there is an unpredictable or unforeseen issue that results in these common accidents:

• Contact with overhead power lines, power lines, or wires that were not known to be hot
• Electrical shock or electrical burns due to unintentional contact with hot wires, such as a wire falling or one that is concealed in a wall or floor
• Fires caused by electricity
• An arc flash
• Faulty or shorted electrical equipment
• A lack of grounding of electrical equipment

These are simply the accidents that can occur involving the electrical aspect of the incident. A person working on electrical wiring or projects can also suffer many other accidents that are associated with a repair or construction site, such as:

• Trip and fall
• Slip and fall
• Injuries from falling objects
• Compression or crushing incidents from collapsing walls, equipment, or structures

Construction sites are notoriously hazardous and can be to blame for many injury accidents related to the terrain, the level of disarray, or specific features like the electrical wiring or supply to the site. With these in mind, workers who are on these sites know to work as carefully as possible and try to remain fully focused to prevent suffering these common injuries:

• Fractured, broken, or shattered bones
• Compound fractures
• Dislocated joints and the destruction of the soft connective tissue of the joints
• Partial or complete amputations
• Harm to the back, neck, or spinal cord
• Facial injuries to the delicate skin on the face or the eyes, ears, nose, or mouth
• Severe lacerations or puncture wounds that can include damage to internal organs and internal bleeding
• Contact burns from a flame or other hot surface or a piece of overheated equipment
• Electrical burns or severe electrical shocks
• Chemical burns to the skin
• Chemical vapor harms the respiratory system
• Compression or crushing injuries to the torso or to extremities
• Head injuries that can include a severe concussion, skull fracture, brain bleed, or other traumatic brain injury

The severity of these injuries that are related to contact with electricity specifically, will vary based on several factors such as the voltage of the power, the current, the path of that current, and the duration of the exposure. Immediate medical attention is a must anytime a person comes into contact with electricity to ensure they have the best possible potential for recovery.

The California worker’s comp program offers a robust package of benefits to help hurt workers get the medical care they need to recover as quickly as possible and return to their jobs. The benefits you receive will be determined by the staff of the worker’s comp program and provided as needed from these services offered:

• Complete coverage of all medical care expenses related to the workplace injuries, with a total payment available of $1,000,000 per injury incident
• If the injuries suffered by the worker prevent them from returning to work until they are fully recovered, the program will pay the worker up to 66% of their regular weekly income to use for their routine living expenses
• If the employee suffers partial or temporary limitations due to their injuries that decrease their earning potential, the program will provide disability payments to help offset that decline in earning
• If a worker is injured so severely that they will never recover to a level that they can return to work on electrical components, the program will provide free vocational training to prepare the victim for a new career path once they have healed to the best of their ability

In most cases, an injured worker cannot sue their employer for compensation for losses or expenses via a personal injury lawsuit. The worker’s comp program was created to help employers and employees handle the challenges of workplace injuries. The employer is legally obligated to participate in the program and cover all costs to provide the insurance for their employees. In return for this contribution, the employers are protected from personal injury lawsuits filed by employees in most cases.

The exception to this rule is when there is gross negligence on the part of the employer. Simply defined, gross negligence would be a complete disregard for the safety of employees. For example, if a piece of equipment or a tool essential to the employee’s job is damaged or worn out, they should report that status to their employer and ask that the device be repaired or replaced. Typically, the employer would take action to have the item fixed or replaced. However, when the employer ignores the request and then the damaged item results in a worker being injured, the employer can be deemed grossly negligent, and the worker potentially has grounds for a personal injury lawsuit.

To open a worker’s compensation claim, you must contact the program within 30 days of your workplace injury. If you fail to contact them in that time, you will lose the right to ever open a claim related to that workplace injury accident. In addition, you will not get any benefits from the program for the losses caused by the incident. If you have grounds for a personal injury lawsuit due to gross negligence, you have two years from the date of the incident to file your case with the court. The time limit is strictly enforced, and once it has expired, you will also lose the right to pursue legal action regarding this matter. Finally, there are very limited exceptions that would provide the injured victim added time to file a personal injury lawsuit once the original time limit to take action has passed.

When you hire DTLA Law Group to handle your claim for being injured while doing electrical work, you never need to worry about how to cover the cost of legal fees or expenses. Our team will handle any case with legal merit and never demand any payments out of pocket. DTLA Law Group only gets paid after the case is resolved and our client has the compensation that includes funds to cover their legal costs and other expenses. Finally, if your DTLA Law Group attorney fails to win your case and get you the compensation you need for your expenses, you owe the firm nothing for the time and costs paid by the firm for preparing the lawsuit. Please don’t hesitate to contact the dedicated and compassionate legal staff at DTLA Law Group today to discuss your case and learn more about these vital options.

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