At The Krist Law Firm, P.C., we understand the unique dangers you face as an underwater welder. You chose a difficult yet crucial occupation, and you have every right to be able to perform your work safely. When you get hurt because of another person or entity’s negligence, you need an experienced underwater welding accident lawyer to help you hold them responsible and to get you the financial compensation you need and deserve.
We offer a free initial consultation so that we can understand what you are facing. Our legal team investigates and researches your claim to develop the strongest arguments possible to convince insurance companies to provide the restitution you deserve. You do not have to go it alone while you are recovering. Contact us today to speak with an offshore accident attorney.
Dangers of Underwater Welding as a Profession
As an underwater welder, you combine two different professions; and, both welding and diving have their own health and safety risks. When put together, many of these dangers still exist, and new hazards are formed. Every time you put on your gear for a job down below, you face an elevated risk of suffering serious injuries from an underwater welding accident.
Despite your training, experience, and caution, factors beyond your control or awareness can contribute to a mishap. Many can be traced to negligence or carelessness by a human. Failure to inform you, inspect the equipment, and/or maintain safety rules can all be considered negligence. No matter what the reason for your accident is, you may need to pursue compensation to cover your bills and take care of your family.
Environmental Dangers
Whether working in a river, lake, ocean, or other body of water, being underwater is always dangerous. You must maintain your buoyancy, air usage, and situational awareness while in SCUBA gear at all times. You also must consider potential changes in water conditions and interactions with fish or other creatures. On top of all this, you must manage your gas.
It is critical that anyone responsible for providing you with information on the dive site ensure their data is thorough and up-to-date. Facing changes in currents, visibility, or interference by wildlife could put you at significant risk.
Equipment Failure or Malfunction
You are also in danger due to the welding process. Welding is a hands-on occupation that comes with a number of hazards. You have to be aware of how to carefully work with your materials to avoid electric shock, reduce exposure to fumes and gases, and prevent explosions. These hazards are not necessarily reduced underwater either. In many cases, they are enhanced.
Every time you dive, you have to be confident in your training, knowledge of the environment you are entering, and your equipment. A great deal of this confidence comes not only from being a qualified diver but also from receiving information, properly maintained equipment, and assistance from your employer and coworkers. If the individuals responsible for repairing or replacing your equipment do not do their jobs, then your risk of suffering an injury increases.
Inexperience or Lack of Training
Welding underwater requires you to juggle many critical functions at once. You are managing the welding process and the diving process while ensuring the work is completed as perfectly as possible. You do all of this with the added pressure of limited time, especially if your work site is very deep.
If other welders are inexperienced or were not properly trained, it puts everyone at risk for injury or even death. You must be confident in your own training and be able to trust those around you. If your employer fails to take training as seriously as you do, you and your coworkers could all be injured.
As a diver, you are in danger due to environmental factors, including the depth and temperature of the water and marine life that may live or venture into your work site. Your safety is also very much in the hands of your employer, supervisors, and co-workers. Maintaining safety and reducing the risk of an accident is not only your job. It is also the responsibility of your coworkers and your employer, among many other potentially liable parties.
Failure to Obey Safety Protocols and Regulations
Companies that employ underwater welders need to create and maintain safety standards. They must hire and retain qualified and experienced professionals. They also need to purchase and properly maintain all of the diving and welding equipment you use to complete your job duties. When your employer and coworkers fail to maintain a high safety standard, the risk of an underwater welding accident rises.
Occupational Risks for Underwater Welders
As an underwater welder, you face a number of occupational risks due to performing a difficult task in a hazardous natural environment. Some of the most common health and safety risks to you and other underwater welders include:
- Electrical shock: Electrocution due to equipment or electrical failure and ground fault interrupter failure are a constant threat to underwater welders.
- Explosions: Welding in water produces gases such as hydrogen and oxygen in the arc. When these gases combine in concentrated amounts, there is a risk of deadly explosions.
- Decompression sickness: Your worksite may be hundreds of feet down, with dangerous pressure changes and limited time to work. Failing to take the necessary decompression breaks when returning can lead to illness or arterial gas embolism caused by too much nitrogen in your blood
- Hypothermia: Even in warmer climates, the water at common welding depths can be extremely cold. If your company fails to provide the correct equipment, you could suffer damage to your extremities from hypothermia caused by extreme cold and improper equipment.
- Drowning: Differential pressures in a body of water can change quickly, adding hundreds of pounds per square inch and trapping the diver. Equipment failures and malfunctioning gauges can lead to miscalculations that result in drowning.
- Damage to ears, nose, and lungs: Regular diving to extreme depths and spending long periods underwater can result in permanent injury to a diver’s ears, nose, and lungs. You may end up no longer able to do your job and be left without an income.
- Marine wildlife: In oceanic welding work, fish and other animals can interfere with your work. In some instances, divers may be attacked by sharks or other large creatures.
Facing all of these hazards is just part of the job in the minds of most underwater welders. However, when you do everything right, but you are still injured because someone else did something wrong, you do not have to suffer the consequences of their negligence. You need professional advice from a competent underwater welding accident attorney who understands both the law and your career.
At The Krist Law Firm, P.C., we know you pride yourself on your education and skill. We dedicate our staff to providing the same knowledge and capability to the practice of law for our underwater welding accident clients.
Personal Injury Claims for Underwater Welding Accidents
Being injured in an underwater welding accident can leave you with tremendous medical bills and a lengthy recovery. When the incident is due to someone else’s carelessness or wrongful actions, you have the right to sue for compensation to pay your damages. You and your family should not be left with crippling medical debt.
Our team of underwater welding accident attorneys can help you pursue financial relief for your injuries through a personal injury claim. We can help you gather evidence that another individual or business’s negligence resulted in your injuries and that you are entitled to compensation for:
- Medical costs
- Loss of earning capacity
- Lost wages
- Physical limitations
- Physical pain
- Mental anguish
- Amputation
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium with your spouse or partner
- Disfigurement
Because the work is so dangerous, you may have injuries costing millions of dollars. Texas does not cap the amount of damages you can claim for most personal injury cases. An exception for underwater welders would be in lawsuits against a government agency. Limits for these cases are $250,000 per person for injuries and/or $100,000 in property damage.
Going up against a big company for an underwater welding accident can be intimidating. That is why it is best to work with a lawyer who has experience successfully handling and resolving maritime accident claims both in and out of court. At The Krist Law Firm, P.C., we have decades of experience helping offshore workers recover the maximum compensation they are entitled to under the law. We will protect you from insurance companies who use intimidation tactics and make lowball offers.
Hire an Experienced Underwater Welding Accident Lawyer Today
At The Krist Law Firm, P.C., our attorneys have years of experience helping workers recover compensation following a variety of maritime accidents. We are prepared to review the law surrounding your case, including whether any specific federal acts apply to your situation. We will aggressively fight for your right to compensation.
We have a history of success when it comes to litigating these incidents, and the underwater welding accident lawyers at our firm are ready to take the burden off of your shoulders while you recover. Trust us to help you navigate your way through the complicated legal system.
Contact us online to schedule an initial consultation with one of our underwater welding attorneys today.