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Accidents Involving Trucks Carrying Hazardous Materials

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When any type of truck crashes, the consequences can be devastating, and trucks carrying hazardous materials pose even greater dangers. Hazardous materials truck accidents can turn into far reaching events harming hundreds of people, causing fires and explosions and even evacuations. Among the many types of injuries which can occur in hazardous materials accident are burns from fires and explosions and chemical burns. Hazardous materials truck accident cases are complex and you need the help of an experienced truck accident attorney to win.

The Wide-Ranging Consequences of Hazardous Materials Accidents

Hazardous materials accidents can result in all of the injuries and damage that other types of trucking accidents cause and more including:

  • Chemical spills
  • Fires
  • Explosions
  • Bridge and overpass collapse
  • Damage to nearby buildings and homes
  • Release of toxic gases
  • Water contamination
  • Soil contamination
  • Evacuations

In addition to the injuries commonly sustained in truck accidents, hazardous materials truck accidents can cause:

  • Severe thermal burns
  • Chemical burns
  • Respiratory injury due to inhaling toxic gases
  • Neurotoxicity due to inhaling toxic gases
  • Injuries to pedestrians and people in nearby buildings

Victims of Hazardous Materials Truck Accidents

Victims of hazardous materials accidents can be numerous, sometimes in the hundreds, and can include:

  • Truck driver and their passengers
  • Occupants of other vehicles directly involved in the crash
  • Drivers on overpasses, bridges, underpasses, in tunnels, on other roads and in parking lots and parking structures near the accident
  • Pedestrians
  • People in nearby buildings damaged or otherwise affected by fire or explosion
  • People within miles of the accident who are exposed to toxic gases
  • Property owners

Hazardous Materials Transport Has Special Regulations

Examples of some of the regulations applying to hazardous materials (hazmat) transport include:

  • Hazmat truck drivers are required to have special licensing and extensive training above and beyond what is required for a basic commercial driver’s license (CDL).
  • Hazmat drivers are never to leave their trucks unattended.
  • There are very strict rules for how hazardous materials are to be secured to prevent spills and accidents as well as theft by terrorists.
  • Hazmat trucks are not allowed to travel near open fires, park near fires, or carry flares.
  • Trucks carrying explosive materials may not park within 300 feet of houses, tunnels, bridges, or places where people congregate.
  • Hazmat drivers must be given documentation of what they are carrying and what actions to take if something goes wrong.
  • There are additional regulations specific to the various types of hazardous material.

If you have been injured in a hazardous materials truck accident please search our directory for an experienced burn injury attorney in your state.

Road Rash

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Road rash is often thought of as a minor injury, but it can be very severe, disfiguring and life-threatening. Road rash is a friction burn, both an abrasion and heat burn. Like other types of burns, it is categorized by degrees. When serious, road rash is often treated in burn centers or burn units. The biggest danger is usually infection after-the-fact, but in some cases road rash can cause life-threatening bleeding, and road rash can be so severe the body parts, such as finger, are ground off entirely. Most commonly the result of motorcycle accidents, severe road rash can also occur in bicycle accidents and in motor vehicle accidents where ejection occurs.

Dangers of Road Rash

Road rash is a very painful injury, even when it’s mild. And it tends to scar, even when it’s mild. Serious road rash can come with serious complications, including life-threatening infections and permanently debilitating damage to tissues. The treatment for serious road rash is very painful as well, often involving debridement.

Some of the consequences you can suffer from road rash include:

  • Shock
  • Infection
  • Sepsis
  • Nerve damage
  • Soft tissue damage
  • Scarring
  • Traumatic tattoo
  • Disfigurement
  • Amputation
  • Permanent impairment

Severe road rash can require skin grafts and/or a lengthy hospital stay. Infections are a common complication of road rash. Dirt, grime, asphalt and other debris are ground into the wound. Cleaning road rash is a slow and painful process and it is not always possible to remove all of the debris. Debris left behind can become permanently embedded in the skin and causing discoloration known as traumatic tattoo.

Amputation from road rash is most often the result of infection, but it can occur as part of the initial injury. In cases where there is no amputation, road rash can still tear through muscle, nerves and soft tissue causing permanent impairment.

Accidents Resulting in Road Rash

Motorcycle, bicycle and skating accidents are most commonly known for causing road rash. In motorcycle accidents, road rash tends to be severe due to the higher speeds. In bicycle and skating accidents, lack of protective gear can lead to severe road rash even though they normally happen at lower speeds.

Road rash can also occur in motor vehicle accidents when there is ejection or partial ejection.

If you have suffered severe road rash as a result of someone else’s negligence, contact an experienced burn injury attorney in your state today.

Fires and Burns Caused by Defective Vehicles

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Car fires are not uncommon after an accident, and you probably know that airbags can cause chemical burns when they deploy, but you may not know that some vehicle defects can cause fires without a crash and even when the vehicle is not in use. If the car is parked in a garage or near the house, it can lead to a tragic house fire. If your burn injuries were the result of a defective vehicle, you need the help of a highly skilled personal injury attorney who has extensive experience handling product liability and burn injury cases.

Fuel System Defects

Fuel system defects are a common cause of post-accident fires. Examples include:

  • Dangerous fuel tank design
  • Dangerous fuel tank placement
  • Fuel line defect
  • Fuel pump defect

Spontaneous Car Fires

Spontaneous fires occurring when there is no collision and sometimes when the car is not in use at all, are often involve electrical systems or batteries. For instance, in November 2020, Nissan recalled 450,000 vehicles worldwide due to fire risk caused by brake fluid leaking onto a circuit board which could cause it to short-circuit and catch on fire. The automaker advised owners to park the vehicles outside and away from structures if the antilock brake light comes on for more than 10 seconds.

In October 2019, Hyundai and Kia reached a $760million settlement in a class-action lawsuit over an engine defect leading to spontaneous fires in certain models of their vehicles.

Just how common are defects that can cause spontaneous fires? Too common for comfort. According to a February 2019 report by ABC News, there had been parked-car-fire-related recalls since 2017.

Defective Airbags

It seems that the saga of defective Takata airbags will never end. In December 2019, it was discovered that yet another version of Takata airbags have a defect that can cause fatal malfunctions, including causing the airbags to explode.

Defective airbags can cause frictions burns when they deploy with too much force. Chemical burns can result from the chemicals used to deploy the bags.

If you or someone your love has suffered burn injuries due to a defective vehicle, whether the burns were crash-related or not, please search our directory for an experienced burn injury attorney in your area and schedule your free consultation right away.

Consequences of Serious Burn Injuries and Why It’s Important to Consult an Attorney

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Man in Hospital After Suffering from Burn Injuries

If you’ve been burned at work or have suffered a burn injury due to someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing, you will need to consult a personal injury attorney.

Burns are often very serious injuries and may carry lifelong effects; your life following a burn injury may never be the same. If you’ve been burned due to someone else’s negligence or due to unsafe equipment at work, you’re entitled to compensation for your injury and the aftermath of that injury. Being injured on the job or in the workplace means you’ll likely have what’s called a Workers’ Compensation case in which you’ll need an experienced Workers’ Comp lawyer, but if you’ve been burned someplace other than work, you will need to consult a skilled personal injury lawyer who handles complex cases dealing with burn injuries.

Serious Burn Injuries

A burn injury most often damages layers of skin, but deeper burn injuries may damage tissue (including fat and muscle) or even bone. These are the most common ways that burns occur according to an article on MedlinePlus:

  • Coming in contact with fire or a flame
  • Coming into contact with a flash from the heat of an explosive blast
  • Being scalded with hot liquids or hot steam
  • Coming into contact with hot grease
  • Prolonged contact with something hot
  • By electricity passing through the body and heating the skin and underlying tissue
  • Coming into contact with chemicals such as acid

Medical professionals measure the severity of a burn in terms of “degrees”:

First degree burns are the mildest type of burn and are also referred to as “superficial burns.” These burns damage only the epidermis, which is the first layer of skin, and they usually don’t get infected or leave a permanent scar. The skin may get red but won’t break and usually heals within a very short amount of time (3-5 days).

Second degree burns are also called “partial thickness burns.” This type of burn damages the epidermis and the dermis, which is the second layer of skin. Second degree burns are painful, and the burned area can swell and appear red with blisters. With second degree burns, the damaged skin will grow back unless it becomes infected.

Third degree burns are also called “full thickness burns.” This type of burn goes through the epidermis and dermis and affects deeper tissues which may also be damaged or completely destroyed. With third degree burns, the area may appear charred and may be black, white, or deep red in color, and the skin is often numb to light touch. Skin grafting may be necessary with serious burns such as these.

Fourth degree and deeper burns destroy the skin, fat, muscle, and even bone.

More Information About Serious Burns

The size of the burn is measured using the term “total body surface area” (TBSA), and a percentage is used to indicate the amount of the body that is burned. To estimate burn size, medical professionals use a formula that considers the age of the injured person and a diagram called the Rule of Nines. When someone says that the burns cover 50% of the victim’s body, that number is not simply an estimate, it is arrived at using the TBSA formula.

Medical professionals will also consider many factors to determine the severity of a burn:

  • Depth of the burn (the “degree”)
  • Size of the skin that’s burned (using a percentage)
  • Age of the injured person
  • Location of the burn
  • How much inhalation of smoke or toxins occurred
  • Type of burn
  • Other injuries like bone fractures
  • Other health issues like heart disease

There are many options for treatment and rehabilitation following a serious burn injury that you and your medical team will discuss:

  • Burn centers provide intensive physical and occupational therapy
  • An inpatient rehabilitation facility is a specially designed medical rehabilitation facility where patients full-time after discharge from the burn center. 
  • A skilled nursing facility is where patients may go after they leave the burn center; patients typically live in these facilities and receive medical and nursing care as they recover. 
  • An outpatient rehabilitation center is a medical facility that provides physical and occupational therapy services to people living and recovering at home.

Burns are serious injuries that may take weeks, months, or years to heal from as these injuries don’t only harm the skin, but the muscles, blood vessels, nerves, and bone. Additional consequences of severe burns may include:

  • Scars and disfigurement
  • Extensive emotional and psychological damage
  • Infection
  • Adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (lungs fail to the burn injury)

When burn injury results from the irresponsible or harmful behavior of a person or entity, the victim deserves compensation for cost of medical treatment, loss of income, and physical, emotional, and psychological damage. Your personal injury attorney will work hard to get you any compensation you deserve following your burn.

Burn Injuries: Rehabilitation

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Rehabilitation

Burn injury rehabilitation is crucial to maximizing quality of life and independence after severe burns. It begins when a burn patient is admitted to the hospital or burn center and can last a lifetime. In the early stages, while the injuries are still acute, the goal of rehabilitation is to minimize lost range of motion. Effective rehabilitation can reduce the need for reconstructive surgery following severe burns. Typically, an entire team is involved in burn injury rehabilitation and can include a doctor, physical therapist, occupational therapist, psychiatrist or psychologist and a social worker.

Burn Injury Rehabilitation Addresses the Whole Person

Burn injury rehabilitation includes physical therapy to preserve and restore range of motion, occupational therapy to help you get back to preforming the normal daily activities of life, and psychological care to help you overcome the psychological and emotional hurdles that severe burns can present. In the early stages, education is a large part of rehabilitation and includes the whole family.

Physical Therapy

Physical therapy focuses largely on maintaining and restoring range of motion. Burn scars can turn into contractures, as the skin tightens, causing pain and making it difficult to move. Physical therapy includes exercises to stretch the skin as it heals, and massage. Therapy while the skin is healing is much more effective than trying to stretch the scars once they have fully formed.

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy teaches you how to perform daily activities again, so you can be as independent as possible. It can start with very basic stuff, like feeding yourself and combing your hair. Over time, it can include tasks to help you get back to work and earning a living.

Psychological Therapy

Severe burns can have devastating psychological effects. Burn injury victims may suffer PTSD as a result of the initial event that caused the burns and the trauma of burn treatment. the disfigurement caused by severe burns can cause burn injury patients to withdraw from society, friends and family and cause severe depression and anxiety.

Rehabilitation is crucial to successful recovery from burn injuries. To learn more about burn injuries and your legal rights, please talk to an experienced burn injury attorney in your area today.