Heavy Machinery

In the area where construction work is conducted, heavy machinery and potentially dangerous equipment is on site. Cranes, forklifts, scissor lifts and other equipment is often seen at construction or heavy duty manufacturing industries. Even though workers ranging from subcontractors, tradesmen, general contractors and owners require extensive training and safety measures, working with heavy machinery and massive and powerful equipment is very dangerous.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recognizes that heavy machinery accidents, particularly those in which a worker is seriously injured by the heavy equipment is one of the “fatal four” leading causes of death in construction injuries. Some of those injuries are those where a worker gets caught or stuck by the heavy machinery. These injuries and deaths are preventable.

Workers on heavy machinery worksites are required to wear safety helmets, safety glasses, heavy duty gloves, ear plugs if noise is an issue, protective footwear and other protective face shields.

In spite of the safety measures taken, such as a published and distributed safety manual, regular on-site safety meetings, heavy equipment accidents do occur in Illinois. These incidences might involve: cranes, bulldozers, trucks, backhoes, forklifts, dump trucks, earth movers and track skidders. Injuries that occur on construction sites can be catastrophic. Those workers who suffer serious injuries, burns, bone fractures, head injuries and spinal injuries may not be able to return to the work they were originally trained to do. This can be devastating to the worker and his and her family.

Some of the most common heavy equipment accidents in Chicago area occur because of falling materials, crane malfunctions or accidents, forklift accidents, loading and unloading heavy material accidents, violations of the safety rules and regulations of the company of that of OSHA, using the wrong equipment, using defective equipment, toxic chemical exposure and burns caused by exposure to flammable or voluble solutions.

Serious accidents occur when using heavy equipment at oil refineries, shipping yards, and railroad terminals and at warehouses where both heavy equipment and heavy material are stored and moved.

An oil refinery is a place where heavy equipment is always on site. For example, oil refineries must maintain the various heater units, alkaline units, pipelines, storage tanks, coke units and many others. The refinery will usually close down a part of the refining process while the equipment in that particular is being refitted or replaced. When that maintenance work is being done, usually turnaround specialists will be contracted to come into the refinery space and do this particular work. It is very dangerous and involves extremely large heavy equipment tools such as heavy loaded cranes, booms, scaffolds and forklifts. Many of the workers are trained as boilermakers, pipefitters and electricians. Because of the fact that these workers are engaged in removing and then replacing piping from a heater unit for example, very large cranes are necessary to allow these workers to attach piping and then have the crane operator move out these very heavy loads to other platforms, such as the flatbed of the truck. Then the old piping is carted away by truck and the workers will then, again with the assistance of the heavy crane install the new equipment and piping to the unit.

The responsibility of those injured by the negligence associated with the use of heavy equipment in the construction business, refining business or any other industry may lie with the contractors, property owners, architects, suppliers, manufacturers and the insurers for each. The heavy equipment object itself may have been made defectively that caused the failure and thus the injury to the worker. In that case setting, the product maker could help liable under a theory of product liability.

If you or someone you know have been injured or died as a result of a heavy machinery accident, please call us for a free immediate consultation. Robert Kreisman of Kreisman Law Offices has been handling Chicago and Illinois heavy machinery accidents for more than 40 years.

Kreisman Law Offices has prevailed in trials and settlements in Chicago, Illinois and surrounding areas and successfully resolved cases for severely injured clients for over these many years.

With our years of experience in trying and settling heavy machinery accident cases, Kreisman Law Offices provides the best possible services to our clients and have achieved unsurpassed results. Our service is unmatched. Please call us 24 hours a day at 312.346.0045 or toll free 800.583.8002 for a free and immediate consultation, or complete a contact form online. There is no charge for a consultation that will include an evaluation of your case, assessment of your damages such as lost income, lost wages, medical and hospital bills, past and future pain and suffering, loss of normal life and wrongful death.