Toxic Exposure on the Job

Massachusetts workplaces contain numerous chemicals and hazardous substances, including paints, fuels and solvents that can cause serious workplace injuries and illnesses. Yet, Massachusetts employees often are unfamiliar with many of the toxic substances that they routinely work around on the job.

Toxic exposures to chemicals can cause immediate ill effects or cumulative effects leading to serious illnesses including cancer. For example, a worker can be poisoned by exposure to a small amount of asbestos or lead over a long period of time.

If you or a loved one has become ill as a result of a toxic exposure in the workplace, contact our experienced Massachusetts workers’ compensation attorneys about the benefits you may be eligible for, including lost wages, medical treatment expenses and vocational rehabilitation costs as a result of toxic exposure.

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. The workplace accident attorneys at Kantrovitz & Associates, P.C. exclusively represent individuals injured in the course of their employment, providing individual attention to every client we represent.

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, our job injury lawyers 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 toxic exposure workplace illness, contact our workers’ compensation lawyers thorough our online form or call us toll free at 800-367-0871.

Toxic Exposure to Hazardous Chemicals

Massachusetts workers face toxic substances every day in a wide variety of industries. Those jobs include the following: arts and media; assemblers and fabricators; cleaning and pest control; construction; crop and livestock production; farm workers; fishing and hunting; food processing; grounds maintenance; health; installation, maintenance and repair; logging, forest and conservation; material moving; metalworking and plastic working; printing; textile, apparel and furnishings; utilities and transportation; welding, soldering and brazing and woodworking.

Chemicals are essential to many industries and manufacturing processes. However, they can accumulate in the workplace, build up in a worker’s body and be toxic. The hazardous substances used in Massachusetts industries include the following:

• Mercury – Exposure to mercury can cause permanent nervous system damage and kidney damage. Mercury is commonly used in mining and the refining of gold and silver ores.
• Lead – Workplace exposure to lead is one of the most common toxic exposures. Industries where workers have high potential for lead exposure include construction work, radiator repair shops and firing ranges.
• Cadmium – This toxic metal is found in industrial workplaces and is used in smelting ore. Acute exposure can cause death.
• Asbestos – A mineral fiber, asbestos was widely used in building materials and insulation. However, breathing asbestos fibers causes incurable respiratory cancer, though the symptoms may take decades to appear.

Why You Need a Workers’ Compensation Attorney

The Massachusetts’ workers’ compensation system is set up to ensure that employees who have workplace injuries or illnesses as a result of toxic exposures receive compensation while they are incapacitated. All employees have legal rights to workers’ compensation for work-related injuries including toxic exposures. Even so, employees often have trouble obtaining their rightful workers’ compensation after a toxic exposure. Your toxic exposure may have occurred many years earlier, and the employer’s insurance company may deny your illness is a workplace injury.

At the hearing to consider your workers’ compensation claim, the insurance carrier will have a lawyer arguing on their behalf. That’s why you need an experienced workers’ compensation attorney standing up for your legal right to benefits for workplace toxic exposure.

Contact Our Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Lawyers Today

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. Our workplace injury lawyers do not pass off cases to other Massachusetts law firms or to junior associates. A client will have the same attorney handling his or her claim from start to conclusion.

Our workers’ compensation attorneys handle claims for Massachusetts workers who were injured in Massachusetts or while working out of state. We also represent Rhode Island and New Hampshire residents whose job accident occurred in Massachusetts or who were hired in Massachusetts but injured out of state.

For a free, no obligation evaluation of your workers’ compensation claim, contact the workers’ compensation lawyers at Kantrovitz & Associates through our online form or call us toll free at 800-367-0871.

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.