Every year, thousands of people are hurt or even killed by defective products. While defective or unsafe products can cause harm with personal use, they can also pose a danger to Florida workers.
Common Defective Product-Related Workplace Injuries
Workers on job sites often use a wide variety of products to carry out their duties, including heavy machinery and power tools on construction sites and even vehicles while making deliveries or meeting with clients. While work-related defective product injuries can happen in many ways, the following examples are common:
- Worker suffering an injury by wearing safety equipment or clothing that does not work properly. These injuries can be caused by defective gloves, hazmat suits, boots, helmets, goggles, and more that lead to burns, blindness, puncture wounds and other types of injuries.
- Worker injured by defective tools and equipment. Construction workers in particular are often hurt when equipment or tools do not function as they should. This can be the result of a defective design or bad manufacturing with power tools, electronic devices, ladders, and heavy machinery.
- Worker injured by a defective part in a vehicle. Workers who drive while on the job are at risk of being hurt in a traffic accident. Sometimes accidents are the result of defective parts in a vehicle, especially faulty tires, brakes, airbags, and seat belts.
- Worker injured due to exposure to chemicals and harmful chemicals and materials. A third party personal injury claim may result from a worker being injured by exposure to harmful materials and chemicals.
Understanding the Types of Defective Products
There are three types of defects that can result in a defective product claim. It’s important to understand how each defect comes about as it affects who may be sued in case of an accident and how evidence must be gathered to build your case. The 3 types of defective products include:
- Marketing defects that occur when a manufacturer or retailer fails to properly warn consumers of the possible dangers of a product. While a manufacturer can’t be held liable for failing to warn of any potential danger, they must warn about reasonable dangers that can result from expected use. In these cases, the injury is the result of the user not receiving sufficient warning or instruction for the product.
- Manufacturing defects in which a problem during the manufacturing of the product causes a dangerous defect. In these cases, the design of the product may not be faulty, but an error can make the product unsafe in some way.
- Design defects in which the design of the product makes it inherently dangerous. In these cases, the whole line of products are defective.
Workers’ Comp and Third Party Claims for Defective Products
Workers who are injured on the job have the right to seek benefits through the workers’ compensation system, although workers’ comp benefits often fail to fully compensate you for all of your losses. There are many types of losses for which workers’ comp offers nothing at all, including pain and suffering and disfigurement. While workers’ comp bars workers from suing their employer, it may be possible to pursue a personal injury lawsuit against a third party. These work-related injury claims often result from a defective product.
Contact a Defective Product Lawyer
If you have been hurt in a work-related accident and you believe a defective product may have contributed to your injury, it’s important to consult with an experienced Miami product liability lawyer as soon as possible. Depending on the circumstances, you may have a workers’ compensation claim in addition to a product liability claim against the manufacturer. Contact the Law Offices of Jose M. Francisco to schedule a free consultation and discuss your case.
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