FVF Law is a values driven personal injury law firm.
Austin Offshore Accident Lawyer
Working offshore can be exciting, but it can also be dangerous. No matter how many safety precautions you take, accidents and injuries are common — and sometimes fatal. Offshore workers can experience devastating injuries caused by dangerous conditions on offshore platforms, crew boats, jack-up rigs, and tankers, and in the ocean itself.
Workers often aren’t sufficiently trained and work long hours with few breaks, making the risk of injury even higher.
When a serious injury occurs in an offshore accident, it can be emotionally and financially devastating for the victim. It can also be hard to determine where to start when it comes to recovering damages from personal injury or wrongful death. A good place to start is to contact an Austin offshore accident lawyer with experience in personal injury and maritime law who can wade through the complex details of your case and help you get the best recovery possible.
Offshore and oilfield accidents are often preventable. They can happen during basket transfers, line handling, vessel collisions, and diving operations. Many accidents are the same as you’d encounter in many workplaces, such as equipment failures and slip-and-falls. But because working offshore is a more high-risk workplace environment, an injury may also result from a fire or explosion.
Despite the big budgets associated with the oil industry, there is sometimes very little training and oversight on an oil rig. This type of employer negligence can result in an unsafe working environment that leads to underqualified employees performing dangerous tasks that they aren’t properly trained for, resulting in serious injury.
Offshore accidents commonly lead to head trauma, spinal injuries, severed limbs, and other serious injuries. These injuries are often specifically caused by:
When you’ve experienced any type of offshore accident, no matter the cause, it can be physically and emotionally traumatic. You may find yourself trying to heal from your injuries while figuring out how to deal with the loss of a regular and substantial paycheck that supports your family. An FVF Law offshore accident lawyer in Austin, Texas, is here to help you determine the cause of your accident and the best way to get you financially on your feet again.
An offshore accident can be devastating to you and your family. You may have injuries that require extensive and ongoing medical attention and rehabilitation, leading to medical bills that seem to keep piling up. Or a family may have experienced a fatal accident that has caused endless pain and suffering. When you’ve also lost your main source of income, it can feel like you’ll never find relief.
An offshore accident lawyer can help you determine the amount of damages you may be able to recover and negotiate on your behalf to make sure you get the best recovery possible. Depending on your case, you may be eligible for damages that include lost wages, medical expenses, disfigurement, emotional trauma, and pain and suffering.
Your attorney will make sure you have all the needed medical records and documentation to prove tangible costs associated with your injury. They will also show how your loss of wages (both presently and in the future) affects you financially, and make sure any third parties are held responsible for their negligence.
Offshore accident cases can be complicated. You’ll need to determine who you can legally bring a claim against, how workers’ compensation affects your claim, how much insurance coverage is available, and in which jurisdiction you can bring your lawsuit. There are a variety of factors that can affect your case, especially when you are attempting to show negligence on the part of the employer, including the following:
Oil companies often take shortcuts when it comes to the operation of oil rigs because it can be less expensive than making sure employees are properly trained to do things the right way. While this may be the standard in the industry, it can lead to many preventable injuries.
As a tactic to avoid paying out damages, it’s common for employers to deny that they are responsible for any injuries to their employees on an offshore rig or oilfield. Instead, they usually attempt to pass the buck onto their employees and claim that it was their actions alone that caused the offshore accident.
They may claim that the employee had a right to speak out and stop the entire rig in its tracks if they saw something unsafe or needed more time to sleep. Some employers may even attempt to retaliate against employees who bring a suit by making it more difficult for them to find other jobs in the industry.
Because of all this, it can be difficult to decide if you want to pursue a lawsuit, especially if you fear that you’ll be blamed for the offshore accident or blacklisted from the industry. An offshore accident lawyer will help ensure that this doesn’t happen and that the facts of your injury are brought to the surface.
A lawyer experienced in offshore accidents knows how to detect these types of tactics and make sure evidence doesn’t get skewed to fit the employer’s version of events. They can also help you round up witnesses to the offshore accident and get statements that show your side of the story.
Offshore accident attorneys are also intimately familiar with maritime law, which was created to help protect workers in the event of injuries, accidents, and illnesses. Maritime law only protects people who work offshore, and specific requirements must be met to recover in an action under the law. An experienced attorney will know how to make maritime law, and any other laws that apply, work in your favor.
An experienced offshore accident lawyer from FVF Law is here to help you get your life back on track following an injury or wrongful death on an oil rig. We have litigated these types of injuries around Texas and frequently travel around the state to prosecute offshore accident claims.
We work tirelessly to advocate for you, interviewing witnesses, consulting with offshore and medical experts, and conducting any needed investigations into your injury.
We aim to get you or your family the best financial recovery, and to provide support and guidance in the midst of difficult circumstances. Contact us today to schedule your free, no-commitment case consultation.
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