Imagine you’re at work, driving a new forklift that’s carrying thousands of pounds. You operate forklifts daily, but your boss recently switched to the latest models. You apply the brake, but it malfunctions, causing the forklift to crash and the entire load to topple over.
While many assume your employer should be on the hook for workplace injuries, the laws of product liability in heavy equipment manufacturing suggest otherwise. If a manufacturing defect caused your injuries, you may be able to sue the company that created the equipment.
How Do Product Liability Laws Apply to Heavy Machinery?
Product liability laws enhance consumer safety standards while providing legal protection against large corporations. Laws vary between states, but plaintiffs can generally sue corporations for manufacturing defects, design defects, and failure to warn of safety concerns.
Product liability claims arise frequently in the construction industry, as heavy machinery malfunctions can lead to severe injuries. If you work with heavy machinery, it’s crucial to understand your rights regarding product liability laws in case you’re injured on the job.
While heavy machinery may be inherently dangerous, you expect it to work as defined in its manual. If you’re injured from an equipment malfunction rather than poor operation, you may be able to hold the manufacturer accountable.
Requirements for Proving Equipment Defect Liability
Product liability in heavy equipment manufacturing works differently than negligence claims. All product malfunction claims follow strict liability laws, under which you may attempt to hold the manufacturer accountable for their actions, even if they didn’t intend to cause harm.
With standard negligence claims, you must prove that the liable party acted recklessly, negligently, or intentionally. For strict liability cases, you must prove that the product was defective, causing you danger.
Proving liability in an equipment defect case typically requires evidence to support the following:
- You were the intended end-user of the equipment.
- The liable party sold the equipment.
- The product reached you, the consumer, in its expected condition.
- You were injured.
- Your injury was caused by an equipment malfunction.
To prove that the product malfunctioned, you typically must show that it was unreasonably dangerous to use.
Let’s go back to the forklift example. Say the brakes only malfunction when it’s below 15 degrees. If the manufacturer did not correct this issue or warn you of this malfunction prior to sale, you would experience a severe hazard when attempting to use it in the cold environment of your food processing facility. Given your proper training and simple use case for the product, you could argue that this malfunction created an unreasonable danger.
Examples of Heavy Machinery Product Defects
Product liability in heavy equipment manufacturing can come in many forms. Here are the main types of defects to watch out for:
Manufacturing Defects
Manufacturing defects involve issues with the actual product. A manufacturing defect may affect the equipment’s physical functioning, safety system, etc. While the equipment may have been engineered correctly, your exact unit could have experienced a manufacturing mishap, leading to the defect that caused your injury.
Manufacturing defects can affect one unit or entire batches of units. If the product does not operate as described or intended, it may have a manufacturing defect.
Design Defects
Design defects mean the product should have been crafted and manufactured with safety more firmly in mind. Unfortunately, such defects can be quite challenging to prove. You may need to involve other industry sources who can testify to prove that a product is dangerously flawed.
An example of a defect could be the failure of a heavy machinery plastic safety barrier to protect users from accidentally slipping their hands into the machinery. If the barrier is too large for individuals with small hands, and your hand accidentally slips through, you could argue that the design was flawed.
Cautionary Defects
Cautionary defects arise when the manufacturer fails to warn users of dangerous conditions that can arise when using the product. For example, if they do not state that users should operate the equipment in the rain and it catches on fire when wet, this might be a cautionary defect. The equipment itself isn’t necessarily defective, but the manufacturer should have provided clear warnings.
Were You Injured in a Heavy Machinery Accident From an Equipment Defect?
If you suffered injuries from an equipment malfunction, we want to help. Although we’ve seen many cases like yours before, you can count on us to treat yours as unique. Learn more about product liability in heavy equipment manufacturing by contacting Tobias & Comer Law today at 251-432-5001 for a free consultation.