Workplace Burn and Electrical Injury Lawyer: Kern County
A workplace burn or electrical injury can often support a claim beyond workers’ compensation. When a defective machine, faulty wiring, an unsafe worksite, or negligence causes an injury, the responsible manufacturer, contractor, or utility can be held liable in a third-party claim that proceeds separately from workers’ compensation benefits. This claim can recover damages that workers’ compensation cannot, including full lost earnings and compensation for pain and suffering.
Chain | Cohn | Clark represents burn and electrical injury victims across Kern County’s industrial, construction, and oilfield workplaces.
How Burns and Electrical Injuries Happen on the Job
Workplace burns and electrical injuries usually trace back to a specific equipment, wiring, or safety failure, each of which can be due to a different responsible party.
Contact With Energized Equipment or Wiring
Faulty wiring, damaged insulation, unlabeled circuits, or equipment that was not de-energized before service can send current through the body, causing electrical injury and deep burns at points of contact.
Arc Flash and Flash Fire
A high-energy fault can produce an arc flash that reaches thousands of degrees in temperature, igniting clothing and causing severe burns even when direct contact does not occur. These are common where high-voltage equipment is maintained or operated.
Overhead Power Lines
Equipment, ladders, or tools that contact or come near an overhead line can conduct current and cause electrical injury.
Fires and Explosions
Ignition of fuel, vapor, or process chemicals at an oilfield, refinery, or industrial site can cause thermal burns, often across a large area of the body.
Hot Surfaces, Steam, and Chemicals
Contact with hot machinery, steam lines, or caustic chemicals has the ability to produce thermal and chemical burns that can be as serious as those from an open flame.
Electrical Burns vs. Thermal Burns
An electrical burn and a thermal burn can look similar on the surface but behave very differently underneath. This difference affects both the medical reality of the burn and the possible subsequent case.
A thermal burn from flame, steam, or a hot surface generally causes damage at skin-level that is immediately visible. An electrical injury is different: current travels through the body and can damage tissue well beneath the skin, injuring muscle, nerves, and blood vessels along its path.
The visible wounds at entry and exit points are often not representative of the true extent of an electrical injury, something that is sometimes referred to as the “iceberg effect”. In practice, what this means is that an electrical injury can be much more serious than it first appears and should be promptly evaluated by a medical provider. Because the full extent of an injury is easy to underestimate, internal injury, as well as the possibility of further complications and subsequent necessary medical treatment, may not be immediately apparent.
Who Can Be Held Liable for a Workplace Burn or Electrical Injury
The Equipment or Product Manufacturer
Where a defective product, wiring, or piece of equipment caused an injury, the manufacturer can be held liable under California product liability law. Product liability in California is governed by strict liability, which means an injured person does not need to prove the manufacturer was negligent, only that the product was defective and that the defect caused the injury. A defect can be in the manufacture of a unit, in the design itself, or in a failure to provide adequate warnings or instructions.
A Utility Company
When an overhead line or utility equipment is involved, a utility company can be held liable if it failed to maintain, inspect, or clear its equipment as required.
Other Worksite Parties
A party other than the employer that controlled the worksite or created the hazard may be liable in negligence.
Workers’ Compensation Is Not Always the Only Option
Workers’ compensation is typically the exclusive remedy available for an employee against their direct employer. It provides medical care and disability benefits regardless of fault, but it does not compensate an injured worker for pain and suffering or for the full value of lost earnings or future earning capacity. A third-party claim against a manufacturer, a utility, or another responsible party proceeds alongside the workers’ compensation claim and is often able to reach those categories of loss. The two claims are coordinated rather than mutually exclusive. Pursuing one does not prevent you from pursuing the other.
Compensation in Workplace Burn and Electrical Injury Cases
The costs of serious burn and electrical injuries accrue over a lifetime. Compensation in these cases can include:
- Medical and surgical care, including emergency treatment, skin grafts, and the reconstructive surgeries a severe burn commonly requires
- Future medical care, including additional reconstructive procedures, scar and wound management, physical and occupational therapy, and treatment for complications that develop over time
- Lost wages and lost earning capacity, accounting for both time missed and the effect of a permanent injury or disability on the kind of work a person can do going forward
- Pain, suffering, and permanent disfigurement or scarring, categories available in a third-party claim but not through workers’ compensation alone
- Disability accommodations, including home or vehicle modifications where a permanent injury requires them
Because these losses can compound over years, attorneys often work with life-care planners and economists to document the full future cost.
How Chain | Cohn | Clark Builds a Workplace Burn or Electrical Injury Case
These cases depend on evidence that disappears quickly once a scene is cleared or equipment is returned to service, which is why prompt investigation is so important.
Chain | Cohn | Clark works to preserve any equipment, machines, or electrical systems involved, along with their maintenance and inspection records, before they can be repaired, altered, or discarded. From there, we identify every potentially responsible party, retain engineering and medical experts, and gather photographs, and witness accounts.
$22.1
million
Pedestrian Accident
$15
million
Products Liability Explosion
$11
million
Premises Liability
$10
million
Oilfield Accident
$10
million
Motorcycle Accident
$9
million
Industrial Accident
$8.8
million
Police Misconduct
$8
million
Pedestrian Accident
Frequently Asked Questions About Workplace Burn and Electrical Injuries
Possibly, but it depends on what caused it. Workers’ compensation is generally your only claim against your employer – but if a third party contributed to your injury, you may have a separate claim against them. This claim can recover damages workers’ compensation does not, including pain and suffering.
There is no single average, because the value depends on the injury and the losses it causes over a lifetime. The main drivers are the severity and size of the burn, the surgeries and long-term care it requires, the effect on your ability to work, and compensation for pain, suffering, and disfigurement.
Yes. Workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy against your employer, but it does not prevent you from filing a claim against a third party. A third-party claim proceeds alongside your workers’ compensation benefits and can recover the larger categories of loss that workers’ compensation cannot.
Medically, an electrical injury can damage muscle, nerves, and other tissue well beneath the skin, so it is often more serious than the visible wound suggests. A thermal burn, on the other hand, tends to show its depth at the surface. This means that the full extent of an electrical injury (and its potential future cost) can be easy to underestimate.
Deadlines in these cases are strict and time-sensitive. Some claims, such as those involving a public entity, can carry a much shorter deadline, so it is important to speak with an attorney promptly.
Why Injured Workers Across Kern County Choose Chain | Cohn | Clark
Since 1934, Chain | Cohn | Clark has represented injured workers and families throughout Kern County and the Central Valley. Over our history, we have recovered substantial compensation for injured people across the Valley. Contact us today for a free consultation.
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