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Usually the paperwork made before the lift. Lift plans, load charts, ground bearing assessments, inspection logs and operator certification records are created as a matter of routine. When a load drops, a boom contacts a line, or an outrigger settles, the paper trail usually shows why.
The machine itself is the other half of the evidence. Rental cranes and lifts go back to the rental company, and damaged equipment gets repaired. What cannot wait is keeping the equipment from being altered, returned or put back in service. Call 713-521-0059.
Overloading against the load chart, inadequate ground preparation, missing or ignored lift plans, failed inspections, rigging failure, and contact with overhead power lines. Each points at a different responsible party.
An overload points at the lift planning and the operator. Ground failure points at whoever assessed the ground and set the outriggers or mats. Rigging failure points at the rigger, the rigging supplier or the inspection program. Manlifts and aerial lifts raise similar questions about tipping, platform guardrails and whether the machine was inspected before the shift.
Several companies usually touch one lift. The crane owner, the rental company, the operator’s employer, the rigging contractor, the general contractor and the property owner can each have a role. The equipment manufacturer may be involved where a part failed on its own.
Texas divides fault by percentage under Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. You generally may not recover if you are found more than 50 percent responsible. Otherwise your recovery is reduced by your own percentage. Identifying each company that had a hand in the lift can change how that fault is shared.
Where the injury is electrical, see our electrocution page. The medical picture there is often worse than it first appears.
Under Section 406.002 of the Texas Labor Code, most private employers can choose whether to carry workers’ compensation insurance. If yours does not, you may be able to sue it for your work injury. In that suit, Section 406.033 of the Texas Labor Code bars it from arguing contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, or the negligence of a fellow employee. Our non-subscriber page explains those claims.
If your employer does carry it, Section 408.001 of the Texas Labor Code generally makes those benefits your exclusive remedy against that employer and its agents and employees. The statute states one exception. Where a worker’s death was caused by an intentional act or omission of the employer or by its gross negligence, the surviving spouse or heirs of the body may recover exemplary damages.
A claim against a company other than your employer, such as the crane owner or the rental company, can be separate from workers’ compensation. There is a limit, though. Under Section 406.123 of the Texas Labor Code, a general contractor that has agreed in writing to provide workers’ compensation coverage to a subcontractor’s employees is treated as their employer for comp purposes. A staffing agency that carries the coverage can also be protected as the employer. Who provided your coverage may decide which companies you can sue.
One of the most important early steps is preventing the equipment from being repaired, returned to the rental company, or put back in service. Once it is altered, the mechanical questions have to be argued from memory and photos instead of shown on the machine itself.
A written request to keep the equipment, sent to its owner and to any rental company, is usually the first step. The request should also cover the onboard data, the maintenance file, the inspection logs and the operator’s records. Some cranes and lifts store load and alarm data that can be overwritten.
Get medical care and tell each provider exactly how the injury happened. Write down the names of the operator, the rigger, the signal person and the supervisor, as best you know them. Keep any photos or videos from your phone or a coworker’s phone.
Note the crane or lift’s company name and unit number if you saw them. Keep your own gear if it was returned to you. You generally do not have to give a recorded statement to another party’s insurer. Your own policy may require you to cooperate with your own insurer.
Keep a simple folder for your medical bills, pay stubs and any letters from an insurer. Add your own notes on how the injury affects your work, your sleep and your time with your family. If you cannot work, write down the date you stopped and what your doctor told you. Those notes help you answer questions accurately months later, when details are harder to remember.
In most cases, Section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code requires suit within two years after the day the claim accrues, which is usually the date of the injury. The machine and its records can be gone well before that.
If the injury was fatal, the surviving spouse, children and parents may bring a wrongful death action under Section 71.004 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. For a death claim, Section 16.003(b) runs the two years from the date of death. Section 71.021 allows a survival action for the injured person’s own claim.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Nearly all of this is in the hands of the crane owner, the rental company or the contractors. The machine and its data can change quickly, which is why the request to keep them comes first.
We start by asking the equipment owner and any rental company to keep the machine, its data and its records. Then we sort out which company planned the lift, which set up the machine and which inspected it, because that decides who is responsible.
Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston personal injury firm with 50 plus years of combined experience representing injured people across Texas.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Written by Jacob Schiffer, Attorney, Schiffer Law Firm. State Bar of Texas No. 24105175.
Call 713-521-0059.
Usually the lift plan, the load chart, the ground bearing assessment, the inspection logs and the operator certification records. They are created before the lift as a matter of routine.
It can be the rental company, the operator's employer, the rigging contractor, the general contractor or the property owner. Each had a different role, and the records usually show what each one was responsible for.
Contact with overhead power lines is one of the common causes of these injuries. An electrical injury is often worse than it first looks, so tell every provider the injury was electrical.
Once the equipment is repaired, returned or put back in service, the mechanical questions become much harder to answer. A written request to keep it is usually the first step.
If it does not carry workers' compensation, usually yes, and Section 406.033 of the Texas Labor Code bars certain defenses. If it does, Section 408.001 generally makes comp the exclusive remedy against it, with a limited exception for exemplary damages in a death case.
In most cases, two years after the day the claim accrues, which is usually the date of the injury, under Section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. The machine and its records can be gone much sooner.