Factory and manufacturing environments present serious injury risks due to heavy machinery, hazardous materials, repetitive motions, and fast-paced production demands. If you're injured in a factory or manufacturing facility, understanding your legal options can help you obtain maximum compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and lasting impairments.
Common Factory and Manufacturing Injuries
Manufacturing workers face elevated risks of severe injuries including: amputations from machinery such as presses, conveyors, and cutting equipment; crush injuries from heavy loads, forklifts, or equipment malfunctions; burns from hot surfaces, molten materials, or chemical exposure; respiratory conditions from dust, fumes, and airborne contaminants; hearing loss from prolonged exposure to loud machinery; and repetitive stress injuries from assembly line work.
Workers' Compensation Benefits
As a manufacturing employee, you're entitled to workers' compensation benefits for injuries arising from your employment. These benefits include full medical coverage for treatment related to your injury, temporary disability payments while you recover, permanent disability compensation for lasting impairments, and vocational rehabilitation if you can't return to your previous position.
Workers' comp is a no-fault system—you receive benefits regardless of who caused the accident. However, benefits are limited. You receive only partial wage replacement, and there's no compensation for pain and suffering.
Third-Party Claims for Additional Compensation
Many factory injuries involve third-party liability that allows you to pursue claims beyond workers' compensation. While you can't sue your employer in most cases, you can sue other parties whose negligence contributed to your injury:
Equipment manufacturers may be liable under product liability law if defective machinery, missing safety guards, or inadequate warnings contributed to your injury.
Maintenance companies that serviced equipment may be liable if their negligent work caused equipment failure.
Property owners may be liable if you're a contract worker or temporary employee injured due to dangerous premises conditions.
Other contractors working at the facility may be liable if their negligence caused your injury.
Machine Guarding and Safety Violations
OSHA requires machine guarding to protect workers from moving parts, flying debris, and points of operation. If your injury resulted from missing or inadequate machine guards, this strengthens your claim—both against the employer for workers' comp purposes and potentially against the machine manufacturer in a product liability case.
Evidence of OSHA violations—whether cited or not—can demonstrate negligence. Investigate whether your employer failed to provide required guards, training, personal protective equipment, or lockout/tagout procedures.
Lockout/Tagout Injuries
Lockout/tagout procedures are required to protect workers servicing or maintaining equipment from unexpected energization or startup. Injuries from failure to follow these procedures are among the most serious in manufacturing. If you were injured because lockout/tagout procedures weren't followed, document who was responsible for implementing these procedures—potential liability may extend to supervisors, maintenance personnel, or the equipment manufacturer.
Repetitive Stress and Occupational Disease Claims
Not all manufacturing injuries result from sudden accidents. Repetitive stress injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, and back problems develop gradually from assembly line work. Occupational diseases like hearing loss, respiratory conditions, and chemical-related illnesses may take years to manifest.
These conditions are compensable under workers' comp, though proving work-relatedness can be challenging. Document your work activities, exposure history, and when symptoms first appeared. Get a diagnosis from a physician familiar with occupational medicine.
Proving Your Claim
For workers' comp, you must show your injury arose from employment—not who was at fault. For third-party claims, you must prove the defendant's negligence caused your injury. Preserve all evidence: photograph the accident scene, equipment involved, and your injuries. Obtain witness contact information. Save any work documents related to training, safety procedures, or incident reports.
Time Limits
Report your injury to your employer immediately—most states require notification within 30 days, and delay can jeopardize your claim. Workers' comp claims must typically be filed within one to two years. Third-party personal injury claims have separate deadlines, usually two to three years, but starting early preserves evidence.
Getting Legal Help
Manufacturing injuries often involve complex questions of liability—was the machine defective? Did the employer violate OSHA regulations? Are other parties responsible? An attorney experienced in workplace injuries can evaluate all potential claims and help you obtain maximum compensation through workers' comp and third-party lawsuits when applicable.