Offshore workers face significant risks and hazards on the job. If you have been injured on an offshore job site, you need an experienced offshore injury and accident lawyer to help you make your case and ensure you get the compensation you deserve. There are many maritime laws, and navigating them takes the knowledge and experience that only these specialized lawyers have.
Who Qualifies as an Offshore Worker?
An offshore injury or accident can occur on offshore platforms and rigs, as well as on ships at sea. Several maritime laws cover these various situations. Only an experienced maritime lawyer can help you decide which law covers you and your situation.
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Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act
For instance, if you work on a platform or rig, you don’t qualify as a seaman but are covered by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). This law acts like a type of federal workers’ compensation and was created to cover those workers not qualifying as seamen or harbor workers.
Some examples of workplaces usually included in the offshore industry include:
- Oil rigs and platforms
- Natural gas rigs and platforms
- Artificial islands
- Wind turbines
- Floating dry docks
- Floating production, storage, and offloading systems
The Jones Act
If you qualify as a seaman, which means you spend a significant portion of your working time on a vessel in navigation, you are covered by the Jones Act.
An accident on your ship offshore that causes you to be injured qualifies you to recover damages through this law.
Offshore accidents may occur on continental shelf platforms, permanent structures, or moving ships. In either situation, you need a lawyer versed in the laws that apply to offshore accidents to help you navigate the system.
Types of Offshore Accidents and Injuries
Offshore workplaces are hazardous. Extensive safety training, equipment, and procedures are necessary to keep workers safe. Even with these in place, workers often get hurt or even killed in offshore settings. These are just a few examples:
- Drilling Accidents. Large, complicated drilling equipment can cause serious accidents when misused or when it fails. These accidents may lead to fires, explosions, and major environmental disasters.
- Fires and Explosions. Fires and explosions can occur with drilling and other equipment, leading to infrastructure damage, injuries, and fatalities.
- Toxic Exposure. Offshore activities often involve the use of toxic substances, which can leak and cause harmful exposures.
- Transportation Accidents. Workers must be transported to and from offshore worksites by boat or helicopter. Accidents during transportation are often fatal.
What Causes Offshore Accidents and Injuries?
Working offshore is dangerous, and there are many different possible situations in which you could be injured or even killed.
For instance, you may have been injured in an accident that cannot be blamed for anyone’s actions. You may have been caught in bad weather aboard your ship and thrown from a staircase that was in good working order.
An offshore injury lawyer can help you with any of these situations. Your lawyer will help you determine how you can get compensation, even though no negligence is involved in the accident.
Actual accidents with no negligence are not that common. Unfortunately, in most cases of offshore accidents, precautions taken by an employer could have prevented you from being hurt.
For instance, your employer is responsible for ensuring that a ship and all of its equipment are in good working order, that safety equipment is available, and that all workers are trained to do their jobs. If an employer neglects to do something that leads to an accident, they are negligent.
You are entitled to compensation if your accident occurred on a vessel out at sea or on an offshore structure. This is true if the accident was truly an accident or if negligence was involved.
In either case, you need an excellent lawyer to help you decide what to do next and to determine under which law your particular type of offshore accident falls.
How an Offshore Lawyer Can Help You
In too many situations in which a maritime worker is injured on the job, the employer and insurance company try to deny compensation or offer a settlement that is too low.
This is why you need a lawyer to help if you have been injured in an offshore accident. Your employer may try to offer you compensation immediately and ask you to sign something that will prevent you from suing later for more compensation. Settling for this is a mistake. Instead, turn to a lawyer to help you get what you deserve.
Fighting an employer backed by a big insurance company isn’t easy. You have several maritime laws to back up your claims, but there are many ways in which you can make a mistake when trying to get what you are owed.
A lawyer can help you decide which law covers you, how to file a claim, and what mistakes to avoid, such as missing the statute of limitations on filing.
Simply filing a claim is usually not enough to get your compensation. Your employer is likely to keep fighting that claim. A lawyer will also help you by representing you.
You may need to go into arbitration or even trial to win, and having an experienced offshore lawyer there to represent your interests gives you the best chance of getting compensation.
Finding an Experienced Offshore Maritime Lawyer
If you are injured offshore, there are several things you need to do immediately:
- File an accident report with your employer.
- Get medical treatment and keep the records.
- Find an excellent lawyer to help you.
Finding the right lawyer is one of these three crucial things you need to do to ensure you receive compensation that will help you pay all your medical bills, cover your lost wages, and help you get back on your feet after the accident.
Look for a lawyer who specializes in maritime law and offshore injuries. Don’t settle for a personal injury lawyer or a workers’ compensation lawyer. These professionals are not necessarily versed in the maritime laws that apply to you.
Only settle for a lawyer with specialized maritime knowledge and experience helping people like you get compensation from employers and insurance companies. Only by working with a lawyer like this will you ensure you have done your best to get the money you need and deserve.