Manufacturing Risks

Manufacturing employs nearly 300,000 workers in Massachusetts, and it accounts for about one of every nine workplace injuries in the Commonwealth’s private sector. Approximately four out of five of Massachusetts employees injured in manufacturing workplaces are men. The powered machinery used in manufacturing plants, including conveyor belts, printing presses, and moving vehicles such as forklifts, cause hundreds of serious manufacturing workplace accidents each year.

If you have been injured in a manufacturing accident, talk to a workplace injury attorney at Kantrovitz & Associates, P.C. about the workers’ compensation benefits you are entitled to receive, including lost wages, medical treatment expenses and vocational rehabilitation costs, as a result of a manufacturing workplace accident. You also may have a legal claim against a manufacturer of a piece of unsafe or defective equipment that caused your injury.

Kantrovitz & Associates, P.C. is a workers’ compensation law firm with more than 20 years experience fighting for the rights of individuals injured in the course of their employment. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, we help injured workers across Massachusetts, including but not limited to Boston, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Plymouth and Merrimack River. We also represent Rhode Island and New Hampshire residents whose injuries occurred in Massachusetts or who were hired in Massachusetts but who were injured out of state.

For a free, no obligation evaluation of your manufacturing accident injury, please complete our online form or call us toll free at 800-367-0871.

What Are the Most Common Manufacturing Workplace Hazards?

Manufacturers in Massachusetts report about 9,900 cases of workplace injuries each year according to the most recent workers’ compensation data. The majority of manufacturing workplace injuries includes strains, sprains and tears, which account for four of every ten injuries and cause thousands of days of missed work annually. Other serious injuries are caused by the following:

• Struck by Object or Equipment—All mechanical motion is potentially hazardous. Accidents involving being struck by equipment cause a significant number of workplace injuries to manufacturing workers.
• Amputations—Production workers may lose a finger or a limb when operating an inadequately safeguarded food slicer, meat grinder, milling machine, powered conveyor belt, mechanical power press, drill press, band saw or other equipment.
• Falls— Manufacturing workers can suffer a head or back injury or broken bone in a slip and fall on a wet production floor, stairs, ladder or uneven surface.
• Combustible dust—Combustible dust poses an explosion risk in many industries including candy, plastics, pharmaceuticals, paper, textiles, pesticides, furniture, tire and rubber manufacturing.
• Electrocution—Manufacturing workers may receive a serious shock from exposed wiring or if a piece of machinery isn’t properly grounded.

A Third Party Claim

You may have the right to workers’ compensation for injuries from your manufacturing job. You may also have a legal right to file a lawsuit against the manufacturer of a piece of unsafe industrial machinery or equipment that caused your workplace injury. An equipment manufacturer may be responsible for your injury if the company’s equipment lacked proper safeguards or had a defective design. These types of claims are known as third-party lawsuits and may provide additional compensation to injured manufacturing workers.

What Workers’ Compensation Disability Benefits Are Available?

After a manufacturing workplace injury, you may be eligible for temporary total disability, partial disability or permanent and total incapacity. Employee supplemental workers’ compensation benefits are determined by several factors, including your average weekly wage and your degree of incapacity from a workplace injury. A knowledgeable Massachusetts workplace injury attorney can review your construction accident and advise you about the benefits you may collect.

Why You Need a Workers’ Compensation Attorney

The Massachusetts workers’ compensation system requires that employers have insurance to cover employees who are injured or disabled by workplace injuries or illnesses including manufacturing accidents. All employees, including manufacturing workers, have legal rights to workers’ compensation for work-related injuries. Even so, employees often have trouble obtaining their right to workers’ compensation after a manufacturing accident.

The insurance company may deny that your injury was caused by a workplace accident. At the hearing to decide your workers’ compensation claim, the employer’s insurance company will have a lawyer arguing on their behalf. You should too. An experienced workers’ compensation attorney will stand up for your legal right to benefits after a manufacturing accident.

Contact Our Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

While many Massachusetts lawyers practice in a number of different areas of the law, our firm concentrates exclusively in the area of workers compensation. Our firm believes in a proactive educational approach to the law. Each client is an active participant in all facets of their case.

Remember that if you hire a workers’ compensation attorney because you have been denied benefits, Massachusetts’ workers’ compensation law states that the workers’ compensation insurer will pay the majority of your attorneys’ fees.

For a free, no obligation evaluation of your workers’ compensation claim, please contact us online or call toll free at 800-367-0871.

We help Massachusetts workers who were injured in Massachusetts or while working out of state. We also represent Rhode Island and New Hampshire residents whose injuries occurred in Massachusetts or who were hired in Massachusetts but injured out of state.