Defective Construction Equipment in Texas: When Manufacturer Negligence Injures Workers

When the Equipment Itself Is the Hazard

Not every construction accident is caused by an employer’s failure to follow safety rules. Sometimes the equipment itself is defective — a design flaw, a manufacturing error, or a failure to warn about a known hazard that makes the machine dangerous regardless of how carefully it is used. The San Antonio construction accident lawyer at Carabin Shaw pursue product liability claims against equipment manufacturers when a defective machine injures a Texas construction worker.

Texas product liability law holds manufacturers strictly liable for injuries caused by defective products. A worker does not have to prove that the manufacturer was careless — only that the product was defective and that the defect caused the injury. This is a powerful legal tool in cases where the equipment itself failed, and it opens a path to compensation that exists entirely outside of workers’ compensation.

Video Transcript

I’m Jamie Shaw with Carabin Shaw. Hurt at work in Texas? Your path depends on one thing — does your employer carry workers’ comp? Texas is unusual. Employers aren’t required to. If they have it, you file a comp claim. If they don’t — what’s called a non-subscriber — you may be able to sue them directly, sometimes for more. And if someone other than your employer caused your injury, a defective machine or a contractor, you may have a separate third-party claim. Most injured workers never learn they had options. Find out yours. Call Carabin Shaw in San Antonio. 210-222-2288.

Types of Equipment Defects That Injure Texas Construction Workers

Design Defects

A design defect exists when the product’s design is inherently dangerous, even when it is manufactured exactly as intended. A power tool with a guard that does not adequately protect the operator, a scaffold component that is not strong enough for the loads it will encounter in normal use, or a harness with a buckle design that can release under load — these are design defects that make every unit of the product dangerous.

Manufacturing Defects

A manufacturing defect occurs when a specific unit of the product deviates from the intended design due to an error in the manufacturing process. A crane hook with a hairline crack from the casting process, a ladder rung that was not properly welded, or a safety harness with a stitching failure — these defects affect individual units and can cause failures that the design itself would not have produced.

Failure to Warn

Manufacturers have a duty to warn users of hazards that are not obvious. When a manufacturer knows that a piece of equipment poses a risk that workers would not reasonably anticipate — a particular failure mode, a weight limit that is lower than it appears, a chemical incompatibility — and fails to provide adequate warnings, the manufacturer can be held liable for injuries that result from that undisclosed hazard.

Pursuing a Product Liability Claim Alongside a Workers’ Comp Claim

A product liability claim against an equipment manufacturer is entirely separate from a workers’ compensation claim against the employer. Both can be pursued simultaneously. Workers’ compensation covers medical expenses and a portion of lost wages. The product liability claim can recover pain and suffering, full lost earning capacity, future medical costs, and every other damage that workers’ compensation does not cover.

This dual-track approach is one of the most important tools available to injured construction workers in Texas, and it is one that many workers — and many attorneys who do not specialize in construction accident cases — do not fully use.

The Evidence That Wins Product Liability Cases

Product liability cases require the defective equipment to be preserved and examined by a qualified expert. Carabin Shaw issues immediate legal hold notices when a client calls after a defective equipment injury, preventing the employer or manufacturer from repairing, modifying, or disposing of the machine before it can be inspected. The firm retains mechanical engineers and product safety experts who can identify the defect, document it, and explain it to a jury in terms that are clear and compelling.

Manufacturing records, design specifications, prior incident reports, and OSHA citations involving the same equipment are all critical pieces of evidence. The firm pursues all of them aggressively from the moment the case begins.

Call Carabin Shaw After a Defective Equipment Injury

If you were injured by defective construction equipment on a Texas job site, you may have a product liability claim against the manufacturer in addition to any workers’ compensation claim. Carabin Shaw handles both on a contingency fee basis — no fees unless we recover for you.

Call (800) 862-1260 for a free consultation, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.