Every morning, we say goodbye to our loved ones as they head off to work. We trust that their employers have created a safe environment, that the equipment is working properly, and that they will come home at the end of their shift. For thousands of families every year, that trust is broken in the most devastating way imaginable. A phone call from a supervisor or a knock on the door from a police officer delivers the news that shatters a family’s world: there has been an accident at work, and your loved one is never coming home.
Losing a family member in a workplace accident is a profound and painful tragedy. The grief is often mixed with a deep sense of anger and betrayal, because these are almost never “freak accidents.” They are predictable and preventable events caused by a company cutting corners on safety, a defective piece of machinery, or a failure to follow basic safety rules.
A family’s life can be shattered in an instant by a wrongful death workplace accident; for decades, The Killino Firm’s team has been there to help them pick up the pieces. We are experienced in these incredibly complex and emotionally charged cases because we believe that every worker has the right to a safe job site, and every company that puts profits over people must be held accountable. We have seen firsthand how a missing safety guard, a faulty scaffold, or an ignored safety complaint is not just a line item in a report; it’s the reason a family has to bury a loved one.
When you’re coping with this sudden, tragic loss, you may hear about workers’ compensation benefits. But what the company and their insurer may not tell you is that you may have the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit to secure your family’s future. Let’s talk about these cases in a way that makes sense, so you can understand your rights and the path to getting justice.
The numbers are shocking and they paint a grim picture of the dangers that many American workers face every single day. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in the most recent year of data, 5,486 workers were killed on the job in the United States. That is one worker dying every 96 minutes of every single day.
But even that staggering number doesn’t tell the whole story. It doesn’t include the estimated 120,000 workers who die each year from occupational diseases caused by exposure to toxic substances like asbestos or silica dust.
The Hidden Statistics That Companies Don’t Want You to Know
Let’s dig deeper into the data, because the details reveal where and why these tragedies are happening.
The best thing you can do for your family is to find a workplace accident lawyer near me, like The Killino Firm, who understands this data and knows how to use it to prove that your loved one’s death was not just an accident, but the result of a safety failure.
When we investigate a fatal workplace accident, we are looking for the root cause—the specific safety failure that led to the death. In our decades of experience, we have found that these tragedies are almost never a mystery. They are the result of known hazards that were ignored.
While the specifics of each tragedy are unique, the root cause almost always traces back to a handful of known, preventable safety failures:
Our investigation is immediate and thorough. We send a team of the best engineers and safety experts to the accident scene to document the evidence before the company has a chance to clean it up or alter it. This rapid response is critical to building a strong case.
This is the most important and most misunderstood question in all of workplace accident law. After a fatal accident, the employer’s insurance company will tell the family that their only option is to file for workers’ compensation death benefits. This is often not true.
The “workers’ compensation bar” is a rule that says an employee (or their family) generally cannot sue their own employer for a workplace injury. Workers’ compensation is a “no-fault” system that provides a limited set of benefits.
However, there are several crucial exceptions to this rule that may allow a family to file a wrongful death lawsuit. A wrongful death lawsuit can provide far more financial compensation than workers’ comp, including for the family’s pain and suffering.
You may be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit in the following situations:
Navigating the complex interplay between workers’ compensation and a third-party wrongful death lawsuit requires an experienced legal team like The Killino Firm. This is not something a family should ever try to figure out on their own.
Key Takeaways
We know that this is an overwhelming amount of information to process while you are grieving. Here are the most important things for your family to remember:
Top Resource Groups for Survivors of Workplace Accident Wrongful Death
Losing a family member in a workplace accident is a unique and traumatic experience. There are organizations dedicated to providing support for families and advocating for safer workplaces.
Your first priority is your family’s emotional well-being. When you are able, it is critical that you contact an experienced wrongful death law firm. Do not sign any documents from your loved one’s employer or their insurance company without having them reviewed by an attorney at The Killino Firm.
A workers’ compensation claim is a no-fault insurance claim that provides a limited, tiered amount of benefits. A wrongful death lawsuit is a civil case against a negligent third party (not the employer) that allows a family to recover the full value of their financial and emotional losses, including for pain and suffering.
The simple answer is yes. Every state has a law called a “statute of limitations” that acts as a countdown clock, and for most wrongful death cases, it is often set at two years from the date of passing, but can be shorter or longer. If you miss this deadline, the courthouse doors close forever on your case, no matter how strong it is. Contacting our attorneys immediately is vital, as it allows us to preserve critical evidence and interview witnesses while their memories are still clear.
Yes, because our firm removes all financial risk from your family. We handle every wrongful death case on a contingency fee basis, which means there are absolutely no upfront costs or hourly bills for you to worry about. We invest our own resources to cover the entire cost of the investigation, from hiring the best experts to court filing fees. This approach ensures that you have access to the same powerful legal resources as the large insurance companies you will be competing against, and we only receive a fee if and when we secure a financial recovery for you.
We conduct a deep and independent investigation. We hire the best engineers and safety experts to examine the accident scene and the equipment involved. We review contracts to determine who was responsible for safety on the job site. We find and interview witnesses. Our goal is to build an airtight case that proves a third party’s negligence was a direct cause of the death.
In most cases, the workers’ compensation system protects the employer from a direct lawsuit. However, if the employer’s conduct was truly intentional or egregious, or if they failed to carry workers’ comp insurance, a direct lawsuit may be possible. This is a very high legal standard that we can evaluate for you.
We understand completely; the prospect of a public trial is daunting for any grieving family. The reality is that a settlement is the most likely resolution. However, it’s important to understand that in complex workplace accident cases, defendants often mount an aggressive defense. Our approach is designed to achieve a fair settlement without the added stress of a trial for you. We do this by building such a powerful, undeniable case that the opposition is compelled to negotiate seriously. Our readiness to go to court is precisely what allows us to resolve most cases for their full value, often long before a trial becomes necessary.
That’s the central challenge in every one of these cases, and it’s why our firm was built to fight and win on this very uneven terrain. Leveling the playing field isn’t just a promise; it’s a specific, aggressive strategy we deploy from the moment you hire us. First, we launch a rapid-response investigation, often sending our own team of engineers and safety experts to the accident site within hours to document and preserve critical evidence before the company can alter it. Second, we leverage our national network of top-tier experts—specialists in OSHA regulations, industrial machinery, and forensic engineering—who can dismantle the defense’s arguments and clearly explain to a jury how a company’s safety failures led to the tragedy. Finally, we have the financial strength to fund these complex cases, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to take to trial. This ensures we can go toe-to-toe with any corporation, reject any lowball settlement offers, and fight for the full value your case deserves, all while your family incurs no out-of-pocket expenses.
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