Harbor Worker Injury Lawyer

Protecting Injured Harbor Workers' Rights

Every employer is legally responsible for providing a safe working place and working conditions for employees. Maritime jobs require extra diligence and training to ensure protection from the hazards on docks and in shipyards. Harbor workers, including ship repairers, shipbuilders and shipbreakers also have the responsibility to follow strict safety guidelines and be alert at all times for any potential dangers.

Harbor workers can receive compensation if injured during their employment with a United States company, and a maritime injury lawyer at our firm can help with a claim involving this type of incident. Ship work is difficult and dangerous and even with federal safety regulations in place, workers risk serious injury, or even death, in their daily job activities. If you suffered a serious injury while performing duties as a harbor worker, it is your right to seek compensation from your employer to protect your heath, your family and your livelihood. If a loved one died while engaged in shipyard operations you may also be able to seek a claim.

The attorneys at Arnold & Itkin LLP are experienced and have a successful track record with maritime cases. We represent harbor workers throughout the U.S., including along the Gulf Coast in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and we'll work to get you the compensation you deserve. We welcome you to call our office for a confidential, free consultation.

Unsafe Practices: a Harbor Worker's Rights

Harbor workers involved in the construction, conversion, overhaul, repair, alteration, dry docking, and outfitting of ships require the use and handling of machinery and large equipment. Any worker has the right to refuse to engage in unsafe practices that he or she believes are in direct violation of the standards, regulations, and requirements established under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines found under part 1915 of OSHA Safety and Health Standards for Shipyard Employment. Further, these employees cannot be discharged, suspended, or otherwise discriminated against for filing complaints or for refusing to engage in unsafe practices.

Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act

The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA) provides job-injury and occupational-disease protection to employees who are injured while working on the navigable waters of the United States. For harbor workers, the act extends to benefits for workplace hazards found in shipyards and boat yards located on navigable waters, which include adjoining shore installations such as wharves, dry docks, graving docks, terminals, building ways, marine railways, and other areas customarily used by the employer in shipbuilding activities.

The act provides for disability compensation and medical care to employees disabled from injuries incurred while performing maritime duties. If the worker's injury results in death, the LHWCA may also provide benefits to the survivors. Any seamen covered under the Jones Act and other workers covered by their state workers' compensation law are not covered under the LHWCA.

The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act is similar to many state workers' compensation laws in that it does not require that a worker's employer be found at fault for the worker's injury. However, when dealing with occupational disease benefits, shipyards may claim that the occupational injury was due to work at a previous shipyard. Nevertheless, under the "last maritime employer rule" within the LHWCA, the last employer is responsible for covering the compensation.

Shipyards are known to present occupational hazards to workers through exposure to asbestos. The commercial maritime industry made extensive use of asbestos-containing materials in the construction and renovation of its ships and in the past many thousands or workers may have been exposed to asbestos while working at shipyards and dry docks. There are cases of survivors being awarded compensation under LHWCA due to death from asbestos-related conditions.

Financial compensation benefits provided under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act may include:

• Medical and disability payments;
• Rehabilitation services;
• Wrongful death benefits for survivors of maritime workers
  who die from work-related injuries; and
• Medical benefits for occupational diseases that arise
  naturally out of maritime employment.
• Employees may also be eligible for vocational rehabilitation.

The actual workers' compensation payments for disabled employees are paid at a rate of approximately two-thirds of the employee's average weekly wage for as long as the effects of the injury continue. This rate is subject to weekly maximum and minimum rates. Benefits paid to a surviving spouse are paid at approximately one-half of the deceased's average weekly wage, and an additional 16 2/3 percent is payable to any surviving children. A claimant is considered permanently and totally disabled if he is wholly without earning capacity at any job.

You can read the entire text of the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act in our LHWCA Reference pages.

Working with a Maritime Injury Attorney

Due to the complexities and challenges presented with maritime law, you should not delay when initiating a claim for benefits under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act. An injured harbor employee must notify their employer of the injury within 30 days of its occurrence, and a formal claim for benefits must be filed within one year. If you do not follow these requirements you could risk losing your benefits altogether.

Contact a maritime injury attorney at our law office today to discuss your rights as a harbor worker.