Equipment Failures

Equipment failures on the job can be terrifying and cause serious harm to the workers who are running the machines. Equipment that could fail includes cylinders, electric welders, compressors, belt conveyors, pumps, fans, hydraulic hoses, food presses, compactors and grinders. Often equipment failure (or mechanical failure) is due to broken gears, oil contamination, inadequate cooling, or electrical surge overloads. As a consequence, a worker may be hit by a broken part, shocked, burned, crushed or exposed to toxins. If you are injured because of equipment failure at a Boston job, you should consult an experienced workers' compensation attorney.

In Massachusetts, employers are required to carry workers' compensation insurance. This system is designed to compensate workers for injuries regardless of fault. This means that even if you were the employee responsible for reporting problems with machinery, failed to do so, and were injured as a result of equipment failure, you can still recover the full range of workers' compensation benefits to which you're entitled based on your injuries and the duration of them. In equipment failure cases, you may also be able to bring a civil lawsuit against a manufacturer, if the equipment failure was due to a manufacturing or design defect.

In Massachusetts, workers wholly unable to sustain their employment due to injuries can recover several different types of benefits. If your injuries are permanent and total, you can recover 2/3 of your average weekly wage for as long as you are disabled, plus cost-of-living adjustments (COLA). You do not have to exhaust your temporary benefits before applying for permanent benefits.

If the equipment failure causes you to permanently lose certain bodily functions, sustain scarring on your neck, face or hands, or sustain permanent disfigurement, you can receive a single payment as compensation for those losses. This single payment is made on top of other payments such as the lost wages. The amount to which you are entitled depends on where on your body the disfigurement is or the nature of the function that you've lost.

If your loved one is killed due to equipment failure at work, you should be aware that death benefits are available through the Massachusetts workers' compensation system. A spouse is entitled to weekly benefits at a similar rate to that of total permanent disability benefits if the spouse is not fully self-supporting. These benefits terminate when the surviving spouse remarries. Minor or handicapped children of the decedent can continue to receive up to $60 per week per child.

If you are seriously injured or a loved one is killed due to equipment failure at a Boston workplace, you should retain an experienced workplace injury attorney to secure benefits. The attorneys of Pulgini & Norton represent employees injured on the job in Somerville, Cambridge, and Medford. We can help you recover the benefits to which you are entitled. In some cases, you may be entitled to bring a product liability civil suit against the manufacturer of the equipment as well. Call us at 781-843-2200 or contact us via our online form for a consultation.