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Philadelphia Hand Injury Lawyers

Q: What are the Most Common Types of Work-Related Hand Injuries?n

Lacerations: Severe cuts account for more than 60 percent of all work-related hand injuries.nCrush and Fractures: Crush injuries to fingers and hands can be devastating and account for about 13 percent of all hand injuries.n

Many injuries to the fingers, hands, and arms are often life-altering. Hand injuries cause debilitating pain and prevent individuals from returning to work and performing daily tasks at home. For these reasons, hand injuries can cause serious financial hardship and emotional stress.

If you have suffered a serious hand injury, whether at work, by or from a machine, equipment or power tool, in a car accident, or a fall on property, we can help. We urge you to contact us for a free review of your potential injury claim.

How Common are Hand Injuries?

Hand injuries are quite common, with more than 100,000 employees missing days away from work each year because of accidents involving hands. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), more than 43 percent of all non-fatal occupational injuries to upper extremities involve hand injuries. Hand injuries are also the second most common type of workplace injury.

Why Should I Contact a Hand Injury Lawyer?

People who experience a serious hand injury may believe that the accident was their fault or that they are not eligible for compensation. No matter the circumstances surrounding your accident, you should contact a hand injury lawyer for the following reasons:

It costs nothing to contact our lawyers for a free hand injury case evaluation.
You can find out if you have a viable case.
You can gain a legal advocate to protect your rights. You have the right to seek financial damages and compensation for your injuries. We can protect your rights! You will not have to deal with insurance companies because we stand up for you, and level the playing field.

Our lawyers will relentlessly pursue a fair settlement and go to trial if that is what it takes to get what you deserve. Our goal is to handle all cases as quickly as possible.

The length of time it takes to resolve a case varies. Collecting as much information as possible in the beginning is very important. Once you settle your claim, you cannot ask for more money, even if you realize your injuries are more severe than you initially believed.

What are the Most Common Types of Work-Related Hand Injuries?

Lacerations: Severe cuts account for more than 60 percent of all work-related hand injuries.
Crush and Fractures: Crush injuries to fingers and hands can be devastating and account for about 13 percent of all hand injuries.
Amputations: Nearly 10 percent of all work-related hand injuries result in amputation of fingers or hands.

Other types of hand injuries include sprains, burns, and exposure to hazardous chemicals. More than 70 percent of workers who experience hand injuries lacked adequate glove protection. Employers are responsible for providing gloves and other types of personal protective equipment (PPE) to safeguard their workers.

What Types of Hand and Arm Injuries are Common in Car Accidents?

Torn tendons, torn ligaments, lacerations, and fractures. These types of injuries may occur as the result of impact. For example, injury victim’s hands go through the windshield or strike another part of the car.
Dislocated elbows and wrists. This type of injury occurs often in drivers who grip the steering wheel when a collision happens or passengers who brace themselves against the dashboard.

In addition to dislocated elbows and wrists, a person’s knuckles can become dislocated in a car accident when trying to brace against the force of a collision.

After a car accident, it is important to seek immediate medical attention, even if you think you are not hurt. Many times, hand, wrist, or elbow pain takes two or three days to appear after a car accident. You need to document the progress of your injuries fully to preserve your rights to making a claim for damages.

How Do Hand Injuries Often Happen in Slip in Fall Accidents?

Hand injuries often happen in slip and fall accidents when individuals fall forward on their outstretched hand. The most common types of hand injuries of this type include wrist or scaphoid fractures. Individuals who suffer these injuries may require casts or surgery, depending on the severity of the fracture. Individuals who suffer hand injuries of this type after falling on someone else’s premises may have a valid claim against the property owner if there were dangerous or unsafe conditions on the property that contributed to the accident.

Why are Hand Injuries so Devastating?

Multiple surgeries may be required to repair delicate tendons.
Broken or amputated fingers may cause misalignment.
Hands and fingers are extremely sensitive to pain.

There are 27 bones in the hand, 30 muscles, and numerous tendons and ligaments. An injury to any one of these components can immobilize a person’s hand and cause terrible pain.

Even after multiple surgeries, patients may require months or years of rehabilitation. Individuals may need occupational or physical therapy as well to relearn how to accomplish simple daily tasks, such as holding a fork or buttoning a shirt. In all cases, a person’s quality of life suffers when they lose optimal hand function.

How Much Does It Cost to Treat Hand Injuries?

Individuals with hand injuries may end up paying a lot of money for medical treatment and pain management over the course of weeks, months, or years. They may also experience financial hardship because they cannot return to their previous jobs or because they may need to hire help at home to manage daily tasks.

When can I be Compensated for a Hand Injury?

Many hand injury work accidents happen because machinery is not properly guarded and is therefore defective and unsafe.

Manufacturers and sellers of equipment and machinery should design, build and sell equipment that is supplied in a safe condition and that is adequately guarded at pinch points, in-running nip points, and other points of operation. Proper machine guards can prevent amputations, crushing injuries, and degloving injuries inflicted by dangerous moving parts.

Manufacturers have a duty to anticipate that a worker’s fingers, hands, or arms may enter a dangerous location. It is the manufacturer’s responsibility to provide guards and proper warnings and instructions that prevent exposure to hazard that may cause serious injury.

What Should I Do if I Have a Hand Injury?

If you suffer a hand injury on the job, you may be eligible for Workers’ Compensation, no matter who is at fault. However, those benefits only pay for medical bills and a portion of lost wages. Workers’ Compensation does not allow you to recover full damages for pain and suffering and many other expenses.

To recover monetary damages for a hand injury, you must file a third-party claim. That involves showing that someone else besides your employer was a cause or contributed to help causing your accident. That person, contractor, company or other responsible party may include the following:

The designer, manufacturer, seller or installer of machinery or the equipment that caused your injuries at work.
A contractor or premises owner where you were working.
An at-fault driver in a car accident.
A private property owner whose carelessness or negligence created a dangerous condition that caused your accident.

An experienced hand injury lawyer can evaluate the circumstances of your accident and help you determine what third parties may have been legally responsible for your injuries and what damages you may recover.

How Has Galfand Berger LLP Helped Clients Recover Damages for Hand Injuries?

Since 1947, Galfand Berger LLP has represented injured workers. Over the years, many of the accidents we have handled involved workers who suffered crushing injuries to their fingers, hands, or arms. In a number of cases, these tragic accidents were a direct result of defective or unsafe equipment.

We have a long history of successfully helping clients who have suffered devastating hand injuries. A few of these examples include the following:

$2.25 million jury verdict for employee’s hand injury. Our client was a worker in a pet food factory and suffered a near amputation of his left hand. The worker’s hand got caught in the unguarded hopper door of a mixing machine. Our lawyers established a solid case against both the machine’s manufacturer and used equipment seller by demonstrating that the shredder was defectively designed and that the defendants failed to warn about the dangerous propensities.
$1.475 million settlement after conveyer belt injury. Our client’s hand was caught in a sprocket on an unguarded conveyor. His injuries included lacerations, nerve damage, and fractures of several bones. The parties agreed to a settlement of $1.475 million.
$731,817 jury award for printing press accident. Our client, a mechanic in his late 50s who was employed by a printing company, had his hand crushed between the rollers of a printing press. As he began to stand from a crouched position in front of the press, our client slipped, and his left hand was drawn into the in-running nip point between the in-feed drive cylinder roller and the idle cylinder roller. As a result, his hand was crushed. A jury awarded our client $731,817 after a three-day trial.
$625,000 settlement for degloving injury. Our client was a 24-year-old assistant machine operator who suffered a degloving hand injury caused by a rotating machine part. The hand injury case settled at mediation for $625,000.
$650,000 verdict for finger amputations. A mower rolled backwards down a hill, flipped over, and the rotating blades amputated the client’s fingers. The jury awarded $650,000 based on the grounds of defective design.

These are just a few examples of the cases we have won on behalf of our clients. Our lawyers are experienced in representing clients who have suffered all types of serious hand injuries.