Austin Welding Accident Attorney

Welding work is everywhere in Austin right now. Structural steel on commercial high-rises, pipe welding at industrial facilities, fabrication floors at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Del Valle, the city’s construction and manufacturing boom has put more welders on more job sites than ever. Burns, arc eye, electrocution, crushed limbs, and toxic fume diseases that take years to surface are the reality of welding accidents, and the financial toll they leave behind can be devastating.

Loewy Law Firm fights for injured welders and their families throughout Austin and Travis County. If you were hurt on a welding job site, or if a family member was killed in a welding accident, Adam Loewy pursues the maximum compensation available under Texas law, including areas that workers’ compensation doesn’t cover, like pain and suffering, full lost wages, and permanent impairment damages. Call (512) 280-0800 for a free consultation.

Welding Injuries and Case Strategy

An industrial accident like a welding accident produces injuries across a wide spectrum, from acute trauma like burns and electrocution to occupational diseases like manganism and lung damage that build over years of fume exposure. Each injury type points the case toward different liable parties, different evidence, and different deadlines. Here are a few examples of common welding injuries.

Burns and Arc Flash

Burn cases hinge on what protective equipment was provided, whether it was rated for the arc intensity involved, and whether the employer met OSHA’s requirements at 29 CFR 1910.252. (osha.gov) When a gas cylinder stored or handled improperly causes an explosion, the equipment manufacturer and the company responsible for cylinder management both become targets of the investigation alongside the employer.

Loewy Law Firm has handled burn injury cases against employers, contractors, and equipment manufacturers, and knows how to establish which party’s failure in the chain of safety obligations produced the injury.

Eye Damage

Arc eye cases hinge on whether the employer provided properly rated eye and face protection and whether nearby workers were shielded from arc radiation, as required under 29 CFR 1910.252. Permanent vision damage substantially changes the damages calculation, as lost earning capacity and long-term quality of life losses go beyond what workers’ comp will normally cover.

Loewy Law Firm works with medical experts to document the full scope of permanent vision damage and translates that into a damages picture that reflects what the injury costs you over a lifetime of work and daily life.

Toxic Fume Exposure

Fume exposure cases are built differently from acute injury cases. CDC/NIOSH identifies inhaled manganese as a particular hazard because it accumulates in the central nervous system over time, and research published in the journal Neurology found progressive neurological symptoms in welders exposed at levels below OSHA’s permissible limit. (see cdc.gov, medicine.washu.edu) In fume cases, the two-year statute of limitations starts when symptoms have manifested to a degree that would put a reasonable person on notice of an injury and the worker knew or through reasonable diligence should have known the injury was likely work-related, which is not necessarily the date of a formal diagnosis. (Childs v. Haussecker, 974 S.W.2d 31 (Tex. 1998))

Loewy Law Firm traces fume exposure histories across multiple employers and job sites, secures the ventilation and air quality records that establish liability, and works with occupational medicine specialists to connect the diagnosis to the work.

Electrocution

Electrocution cases require establishing whether equipment was properly grounded and insulated per 29 CFR 1910.254, whether faulty equipment was kept in service, and whether the manufacturer bears product liability for a defective component. In fatal electrocution cases, the case proceeds as a wrongful death action under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §§ 71.001–71.009, which allows the family to pursue loss of financial support, loss of companionship, and mental anguish damages.

Our accident lawyers investigate electrocution cases across every layer of responsibility, from the employer’s equipment maintenance records to the manufacturer’s design specifications, and pursue wrongful death cases for families who lost someone to an electrical failure on a job site.

Hearing Loss

Hearing loss cases rest on evidence of chronic noise exposure without adequate hearing protection over time. Noise monitoring records, PPE policies, and supervisor enforcement logs are the foundation of the investigation, and, as with fume exposure, the limitation period runs from discovery of the condition rather than from a single work day.

Adam Loewy pursues hearing loss cases against employers who failed to monitor noise levels or enforce hearing protection requirements, and builds the occupational history needed to hold the right parties accountable for cumulative damage that developed over years.

Our lawyers handle every type of welding injury case in Austin, and the investigation is built around your specific injury, the parties who controlled your work environment, and the full damages your situation supports.

Workers’ Compensation vs. a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Texas

For most injured Austin welders, the gap between what workers’ compensation pays and what a personal injury lawsuit can recover is substantial, and which option is available depends on your employer’s coverage status and who else on the job site shares responsibility for what happened.

If Your Employer Carries Workers’ Comp

Workers’ compensation in Texas is a no-fault system, which means you can collect benefits regardless of who caused the accident. Under workers’ comp, Texas employers with coverage pay for all approved medical expenses and replace 70 percent of your average weekly wage before the injury, up to a statutory cap. (see tdi.texas.gov)

The tradeoff is that collecting workers’ comp benefits generally bars you from suing your employer directly. What it does not bar is a separate personal injury lawsuit against any third party whose negligence contributed to the accident, like a subcontractor, equipment manufacturer, property owner, or another company on the job site. A third-party case can recover damages that workers’ comp won’t.

• Full lost wages and future earning capacity, with no statutory cap
• Pain and suffering
• Permanent impairment and disfigurement
• Loss of consortium for a spouse or family member

If Your Employer Is a Nonsubscriber

Texas is the only state that allows private employers to opt out of workers’ compensation entirely, and according to the Texas Department of Insurance, 25 percent of Texas private-sector employers were nonsubscribers as of 2022. (tdi.texas.gov)

Nonsubscribers forfeit three common-law defenses under Texas Labor Code § 406.033: contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, and the negligence of a fellow employee, which means a direct negligence lawsuit can proceed without the employer deflecting blame onto the injured worker or a coworker. (statutes.capitol.texas.gov) One important development: in In re East Texas Medical Center Athens, 712 S.W.3d 88 (Tex. 2025), the Texas Supreme Court held that a nonsubscribing employer can designate independent third parties as responsible parties under Chapter 33, allowing a jury to assign a percentage of fault to those third parties and reducing what the employer pays to its own share of responsibility.

Gross Negligence and Wrongful Death

If your employer carries workers’ comp and a welding accident results in death, the surviving spouse or heirs of the body of the deceased employee, meaning the surviving spouse and lineal descendants such as children and grandchildren, can pursue exemplary damages directly against the employer for gross negligence or an intentional act, under Texas Labor Code § 408.001(b). Gross negligence under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 41.001(11) requires conduct that involves an extreme degree of risk viewed objectively, combined with the employer’s actual, subjective awareness of that risk and conscious indifference to the rights, safety, or welfare of others. This exception applies only in fatal cases. A worker who is catastrophically injured but survives cannot sue a subscribing employer directly, regardless of how severe the employer’s conduct was.

Who Can File and What They Can Recover

In fatal welding accidents, the surviving spouse, children, and parents of the deceased worker can pursue a wrongful death case under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 71.004. If the designated family fails to file within three months of the death, the executor or administrator of the estate may bring the action on their behalf. (statutes.capitol.texas.gov) Recoverable damages include loss of financial support, loss of companionship, mental anguish, and funeral expenses. Workers’ comp death benefits exist but are limited, and a wrongful death lawsuit against a negligent third party or nonsubscriber employer can far exceed what the workers’ comp system pays.

Survival Actions in Fatal Welding Cases

Texas law also allows a separate survival action under Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 71.021, which the estate, heirs, or legal representative of the deceased can bring alongside a wrongful death claim. Where a wrongful death claim compensates the surviving family for their own losses, a survival action recovers what the deceased worker could have claimed had they lived, including medical expenses incurred before death, lost wages during that period, and conscious pain and suffering between the injury and death. Families in fatal welding accidents frequently pursue both claims at the same time.

Parties Who Can Be Held Responsible

Identifying every party whose negligence contributed to a welding accident is how the full scope of compensation gets established. On a typical Austin construction job site, responsibility can extend across several companies and entities.

General Contractors

A general contractor who coordinates work across multiple crews has safety obligations that extend beyond their own employees. Failure to coordinate safe work zones, stop dangerous conditions created by subcontractors, or enforce site-wide safety rules can make the GC liable for injuries to workers they didn’t directly employ.

Subcontractors

When one subcontractor’s actions create a hazard that injures a welder employed by a different company, that subcontractor can be sued as a third party even if the injured worker is already receiving workers’ comp through their own employer.

Equipment Manufacturers

Welding equipment, including torches, electrode holders, gas cylinders, regulators, and welding machines, has to function safely under extreme conditions. OSHA has noted that manufacturers can be held accountable when defective equipment or a design flaw causes injury. (osha.gov) A product liability case against a manufacturer can proceed alongside a workers’ comp claim.

Property Owners

When welding is performed on property owned by a third party, the property owner has an obligation not to expose workers to hidden hazards they couldn’t reasonably discover on their own. A facility operator or commercial property owner who knew about hazardous conditions in the work area and failed to disclose them can face premises liability.

Texas Deadlines That Apply to Your Case

Getting the timeline right affects what options remain open.

1. Report the injury to your employer within 30 days of the accident.
2. File a formal workers’ compensation claim with the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation, within one year of the injury. (tdi.texas.gov)
3. File a personal injury lawsuit within two years of the injury date, and a wrongful death lawsuit within two years of the date of death, per Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §§ 16.003(a) and 16.003(b). (statutes.capitol.texas.gov) In cases where a welder survives the accident but dies later from the injuries, the wrongful death deadline generally runs from the date of death, not the date of the original injury. However, if the worker survived for more than two years after the accident without filing a personal injury lawsuit, that claim becomes time-barred before death, which bars the family from bringing a wrongful death action entirely. (Russell v. Ingersoll-Rand Co., 841 S.W.2d 343 (Tex. 1992))

For occupational disease cases, like manganism or lung disease from welding fume exposure, the two-year deadline begins when symptoms have manifested to a degree that would put a reasonable person on notice of an injury and you knew or through reasonable diligence should have known that injury was likely work-related, which is not necessarily the date of a formal diagnosis. (Childs v. Haussecker, 974 S.W.2d 31 (Tex. 1998))

Securing the Evidence Needed for Your Case

Welding job sites operate on tight timelines, and the physical evidence of an accident can get harder to secure with the passing of time. Equipment may get repaired or replaced, surfaces get cleaned, and job site crews may move to the next project within days. The evidence that establishes what happened and who is responsible has to be secured as soon as possible:

• Equipment inspection and maintenance logs
• Ventilation test records and safety data sheets for materials in the work area
• Training certifications for the personnel operating arc welding equipment
• Incident reports and OSHA investigation records, if the accident was reported
• Photographs of the scene, including equipment condition and work area layout
• Contracts and subcontracting agreements showing which companies controlled what
• Medical records documenting the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis

Loewy Law Firm’s welding accident attorney can send a legal preservation notice to the employer, general contractor, and property owner requiring them to hold that documentation while the investigation is underway.

Frequently Asked Questions About Welding Accident Cases in Austin

Can I still pursue a lawsuit if I’m already receiving workers’ comp?

Yes. A personal injury lawsuit against a third party can run at the same time as a workers’ comp claim. Texas Labor Code Chapter 417 explicitly allows this. Workers’ comp handles immediate medical benefits and partial wage replacement while the third-party case pursues the broader damages workers’ comp doesn’t cover.

Can I check whether my employer carries workers’ comp?

Yes. The Texas Department of Insurance maintains a database where you can verify whether your employer is a workers’ comp subscriber. (tdi.texas.gov)

My injury was partly my own fault. Do I still have a case?

The answer depends on who you are suing. In a third-party personal injury case against a contractor, equipment manufacturer, or property owner, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 33 applies, and you can recover as long as your share of fault is 50 percent or less, with your damages reduced proportionally. (statutes.capitol.texas.gov) In a direct lawsuit against a nonsubscribing employer, the rule is different. Under Texas Labor Code § 406.033 and Kroger Co. v. Keng, 23 S.W.3d 347 (Tex. 2000), a nonsubscribing employer cannot ask the jury to assign any percentage of fault to you, which means your own negligence does not reduce your recovery.

The accident happened months ago. Is it too late?

Not necessarily, depending on when the accident occurred. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003 sets a two-year deadline for personal injury cases, and for occupational disease cases, the clock starts when the condition was discovered or should have been discovered. If the two-year window is still open, a case remains viable within the statute of limitations.

My fume exposure injury developed over years, not from one accident. Does that change my options?

No, occupational disease cases from cumulative fume exposure may be compensable under Texas personal injury law, depending on the facts. The challenge is identifying which employers and time periods are responsible, and that investigation is something Loewy Law Firm handles as part of building the case.

Working with Loewy Law Firm After a Welding Accident

Loewy Law Firm handles welding accident cases on contingency, which means no attorney’s fees unless compensation is recovered. Austin-area welders and their families pay nothing out of pocket to have the firm investigate the accident, identify liable parties, and pursue the full damages the case supports.

After a welding accident, the firm can:

• Send preservation notices to prevent the destruction of evidence
• Obtain OSHA investigation records, inspection logs, and equipment histories
• Work with medical and industrial hygiene experts to document the injury and its causes
• Pursue workers’ comp benefits and a third-party personal injury case simultaneously where both are available
• Negotiate with insurance carriers or take the case to trial if a reasonable resolution isn’t reached

Contact Loewy Law Firm at (512) 280-0800 for a free consultation. There is no obligation, and no fee unless the firm recovers compensation for you.