Hurt in a Machinery Accident in Texas? Our Non-Subscriber Work Injury Lawyers Can Help

Machinery accidents are among the most devastating workplace injuries a person can experience. Amputations, crush injuries, degloving, and severe fractures can happen in seconds when an employer fails to maintain safe equipment, provide adequate training, or follow OSHA machine guarding requirements. If you were hurt in a machinery accident while working for a non-subscriber employer in Texas, you are not limited to workers' compensation. You have the right to pursue a full personal injury lawsuit and recover every dollar of damages your injury has caused.

Armstrong Law, PLLC, exclusively handles non-subscriber workplace injury cases throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and across Texas. Attorney Warren Armstrong has spent his entire career fighting for injured workers against employers who put productivity over safety. We investigate the negligence behind your accident, build a comprehensive case, and fight aggressively to maximize your recovery.

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Common Types of Machinery Accidents at Texas Non-Subscriber Workplaces

Texas is home to thousands of manufacturing plants, warehouses, distribution centers, food processing facilities, and industrial operations across Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Irving, Garland, and Arlington. Workers at these sites face severe injury risks every day when employers fail to maintain safe equipment and follow proper safety protocols. Our machinery accident lawyers represent injured workers in cases involving:

Industrial Press and Stamping Machine Injuries

Mechanical, hydraulic, and pneumatic presses are used throughout Texas manufacturing facilities to bend, cut, and shape metal and other materials. These machines operate under enormous force, and a momentary lapse in machine guarding or safety protocol can result in crush injuries, amputations, and fractures. Machine guarding failures are among the most commonly cited OSHA violations in the manufacturing sector, and they are almost always preventable.

Conveyor System and Roller Injuries

Conveyor belts and roller systems move products and materials throughout warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing plants across the DFW area. Workers risk entanglement when clothing, hands, or limbs contact exposed moving parts. When employers fail to install proper guards, maintain equipment, or provide adequate training, workers suffer degloving injuries, fractures, amputations, and in tragic cases, fatalities.

Forklift and Powered Industrial Truck Accidents

Forklifts and other powered industrial trucks are a leading source of serious workplace injuries in Texas warehouses and distribution facilities. Tip-overs, struck-by incidents, and load failures injure and kill workers every year. Employers who fail to train operators, maintain equipment, or manage pedestrian traffic in forklift zones put their employees at serious risk and face full liability in a non-subscriber negligence claim.

Injection Molding and Plastics Machinery Injuries

Plastics manufacturing is a significant industry across North Texas. Injection molding and thermoforming machines operate at high speeds and generate intense heat. Machine jams, equipment failures, and inadequate guarding can cause burns, crush injuries, lacerations, and injuries from flying debris. When the employer is a non-subscriber and negligence contributed to the accident, injured workers can pursue full compensation through a lawsuit.

Meat, Food, and Agricultural Processing Equipment Injuries

Texas food and agricultural processing plants employ thousands of workers who operate band saws, slicers, grinders, mixers, and packaging machinery under high-speed production pressure. These environments are prone to serious injuries when safety guards are removed for cleaning, production quotas override safety protocols, or employers fail to implement proper lockout/tagout procedures. Amputations and severe lacerations are tragically common in these facilities.

CNC Machine and Automated Equipment Injuries

Computer numerical control (CNC) machines and automated manufacturing equipment are increasingly common across Dallas-Fort Worth industrial facilities. While automation can improve efficiency, it introduces new hazards when workers interact with equipment that moves unexpectedly. Programming errors, maintenance failures, and inadequate guarding around automated systems cause crush injuries, struck-by incidents, and entanglement accidents.

What Causes Machinery Accidents at Non-Subscriber Workplaces?

Most machinery accidents in Texas workplaces are not random events. They result from identifiable and preventable safety failures by employers who prioritize output over the wellbeing of their workers. Common causes our Texas machinery accident lawyers identify include:

• Missing or inadequate machine guarding on exposed moving parts, nip points, and rotating components
• Failure to implement or enforce lockout/tagout procedures during equipment maintenance or clearing of jams
• Insufficient training on machinery operation, hazard recognition, and emergency shutdown procedures
• Pressure to meet production quotas that causes workers to bypass safety devices or rush through procedures
• Poor equipment maintenance practices that allow worn or defective machinery to remain in service
• Failure to replace safety guards after cleaning, maintenance, or equipment modifications
• Inadequate personal protective equipment for workers operating near dangerous machinery
• Lack of proper supervision to enforce safety protocols and correct unsafe worker behavior
• Failure to address known hazards reported by employees or identified through prior near-miss incidents
• OSHA violations that the employer knew about but failed to correct

Catastrophic Injuries Caused by Workplace Machinery Accidents

Machinery injuries frequently produce some of the most severe and life-altering outcomes in workplace accident law. Our clients have suffered injuries including:

• Amputations and partial amputations of fingers, hands, arms, feet, and legs caused by unguarded blades, rollers, and presses
• Crush injuries and degloving when body parts become caught between moving components
• Severe fractures requiring surgery, hardware placement, and months of rehabilitation
• Burns from high-temperature machinery, hot materials, or electrical components
• Traumatic brain injuries from struck-by incidents, falls near machinery, or equipment malfunctions
• Spinal cord injuries and paralysis from machinery tip-overs or being struck by equipment
• Eye and vision injuries from flying debris or chemical exposure during machinery operation
• Hearing loss from prolonged exposure to high-decibel machinery without adequate protection
• Chronic pain conditions including complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) following nerve or tissue damage

Who Is Liable for Your Machinery Accident Injury?

Identifying every liable party is one of the most important steps in a Texas machinery accident case. Multiple parties may share responsibility for your injuries, and pursuing each one is critical to maximizing your total recovery.

Your Non-Subscriber Employer

If your employer has opted out of the Texas workers' compensation system, they are a non-subscriber. Non-subscriber employers cannot use powerful defenses like assumption of risk or co-worker negligence to defeat your claim. You only need to show that your employer's negligence contributed to your injury to hold them fully liable for all of your damages.

Third-Party Contractors and Maintenance Companies

Many Texas industrial facilities use outside contractors for equipment maintenance, repair, and installation. If a maintenance contractor's negligence contributed to the machinery failure that injured you, they may be separately liable. Third-party liability claims can provide additional compensation even if your employer is the primary defendant.

Equipment Manufacturers

When a design defect, manufacturing defect, or failure to warn about known dangers contributed to your machinery accident, the equipment manufacturer may be liable under Texas product liability law. These claims can run parallel to a non-subscriber employer claim and significantly increase your total recovery.

Property Owners

If you were injured at a facility your employer does not own, the property owner may bear responsibility for dangerous conditions on the premises that they failed to address or warn about.

Understanding Non-Subscriber Claims vs. Workers' Compensation

The type of claim available to you depends entirely on whether your employer participates in the Texas workers' compensation system.

Workers' Compensation Cases

Employers who carry workers' compensation insurance provide injured workers with medical benefits and partial wage replacement regardless of fault. However, you cannot sue your employer for additional damages, and recovery is capped at what the workers' comp system allows. Pain and suffering damages are not available.

Non-Subscriber Cases

Texas is the only state that allows private employers to opt out of workers' compensation entirely. When your employer is a non-subscriber, your only path to recovery is a personal injury lawsuit. In non-subscriber cases, you must prove your employer was negligent, but you can recover the full value of your damages including pain and suffering, mental anguish, and punitive damages when gross negligence is present. Texas law strips non-subscriber employers of key defenses, making it significantly easier to establish liability and maximize your recovery.

Armstrong Law, PLLC handles only non-subscriber workplace injury claims. Our practice is exclusively focused on fighting for injured workers whose employers opted out of workers' compensation. Understanding how non-subscriber compensation works is essential to protecting your rights after a machinery accident.

OSHA Machine Guarding Rules and Safety Failures

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets detailed requirements for machine guarding in Texas workplaces. Machine guarding violations are consistently among the top ten most frequently cited OSHA violations in the manufacturing sector each year. When employers ignore these rules, workers suffer injuries that should never happen. Our lawyers regularly identify the following OSHA violations in machinery accident cases:

• Failure to install guards on point-of-operation hazards where workers' hands or limbs could contact moving parts
• Removal of factory-installed guards without replacement by an equivalent protection method
• Failure to implement written lockout/tagout procedures for equipment servicing and maintenance
• Inadequate employee training on machine guarding requirements and energy control procedures
• Failure to inspect and maintain machine guards regularly to ensure they remain in working condition
• Lack of nip point guards on conveyor systems, rollers, and rotating shafts
• Failure to provide adequate personal protective equipment for workers operating near high-risk machinery
• No written hazard communication program covering machinery-related dangers
• Failure to conduct required periodic safety inspections of equipment and guarding systems

OSHA violations provide powerful evidence of employer negligence in non-subscriber machinery accident claims. Our legal team works with industrial safety engineers and OSHA compliance experts to document violations and connect them directly to your injury.

How Armstrong Law Investigates Machinery Accident Cases

Winning a non-subscriber machinery accident case requires building an airtight record of employer negligence. Armstrong Law takes a thorough, comprehensive approach to every investigation.

Immediate Evidence Preservation

We act quickly after you hire us to document the accident scene, photograph the machinery, and identify witnesses before evidence can be altered, removed, or destroyed. We issue spoliation letters to preserve relevant documents and equipment.

Document and Records Collection

We gather accident reports, OSHA inspection logs, equipment maintenance records, machine operating manuals, safety training documentation, and prior incident reports to build a complete picture of the employer's negligence.

Expert Consultation

Our firm works with industrial safety engineers, machine guarding specialists, OSHA compliance experts, vocational rehabilitation professionals, and medical experts to quantify liability and document the full extent of your damages.

Witness Investigation

We interview coworkers, supervisors, safety officers, and any other witnesses with knowledge of the accident or the employer's safety practices to build a comprehensive evidentiary record.

OSHA Records and Inspection History

We research the employer's full OSHA citation history to demonstrate patterns of safety violations and prior knowledge of dangerous conditions. Prior citations are powerful evidence that the employer was on notice of the hazard that caused your injury.

Medical Documentation and Life Care Planning

We coordinate with your treating physicians and, when appropriate, retained medical experts to document every aspect of your current and future medical needs. Machinery injuries often require long-term treatment, and we ensure every future cost is included in your claim.

Compensation Available for Machinery Accident Victims in Texas

Because Armstrong Law handles exclusively non-subscriber cases, our clients are not restricted to the limited benefits available through workers' compensation. A successful machinery accident lawsuit can recover:

Economic Damages

• Medical expenses: All past and future costs including emergency treatment, surgery, hospitalization, rehabilitation, prosthetics, medical devices, and ongoing care
• Lost wages: Full compensation for income, bonuses, and employment benefits lost during your recovery
• Diminished earning capacity: If your injury prevents you from returning to your previous work or reduces your future income potential, you can recover the difference over your entire working life
• Vocational rehabilitation: Costs for retraining and job placement services if you cannot return to industrial or manufacturing work
• Household services: Compensation for services you can no longer perform at home as a result of your injuries

Non-Economic Damages

• Pain and suffering: Compensation for physical pain and discomfort caused by your injuries and their treatment
• Mental anguish: Damages for psychological trauma, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and the emotional toll of living with a serious injury
• Disfigurement: Compensation for permanent scarring, disfigurement, or the loss of a limb that affects your quality of life and self-image
• Physical impairment: Damages for permanent loss of function or mobility caused by your injury
• Loss of enjoyment of life: Compensation for your inability to participate in activities, hobbies, and relationships you previously valued

Punitive Damages

In cases where an employer's conduct reflects gross negligence or willful disregard for worker safety, Texas law allows punitive damages. These damages are designed to punish the employer and send a clear message that putting profits above worker safety will not be tolerated.

Why You Need an Experienced Texas Machinery Accident Lawyer

Non-subscriber machinery accident cases are among the most technically complex matters in Texas personal injury law. Without experienced legal counsel, injured workers routinely recover far less than they deserve or lose their cases entirely.

Proving Non-Subscriber Negligence

Unlike workers' compensation claims, non-subscriber lawsuits require you to prove that your employer's negligence caused your injury. This demands a thorough investigation, expert witnesses, and a deep understanding of Texas non-subscriber law. Our practice is built on exactly this type of case.

Technical Machine Guarding and OSHA Expertise

Machinery accident cases require knowledge of OSHA machine guarding standards, industry safety practices, and engineering principles. We work with qualified experts who can explain complex technical failures to a judge or jury in a compelling, understandable way.

Multiple Defendant Strategies

Machinery accidents often involve more than one responsible party. Identifying every liable defendant and pursuing all available sources of compensation is essential to maximizing your total recovery. We leave no stone unturned.

Countering Insurance and Employer Tactics

Employers and their insurance carriers aggressively defend machinery accident claims. Insurance companies will attempt to minimize your injuries, challenge causation, and shift blame to you. We anticipate these tactics and counter them with comprehensive preparation and aggressive advocacy.

Trial-Ready Representation

Many machinery accident cases require litigation to achieve fair compensation. Warren Armstrong is an experienced trial attorney who is fully prepared to take your case before a jury when the employer or insurer refuses to offer reasonable compensation. That willingness to try cases is what drives fair settlement outcomes for our clients.

Contact Our Texas Machinery Accident Lawyers for a Free Consultation

If you or a loved one has been injured in a machinery accident while working for a non-subscriber employer in Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Irving, Garland, Arlington, or anywhere throughout Texas, do not wait to get the legal help you need.

Time is critical in machinery accident cases. Evidence can be altered or destroyed, witnesses' memories fade, and the two-year statute of limitations continues to run from the date of your injury. The sooner you contact Armstrong Law, PLLC, the sooner we can begin building your case and fighting for the full compensation you deserve.

We work closely with you to understand exactly how your injury has affected every aspect of your life, so we can pursue compensation that covers your medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and every other damage you are entitled to. You pay nothing unless we win your case.

Schedule a Free Consultation

Armstrong Law, PLLC serves machinery accident clients throughout Dallas County, Tarrant County, Collin County, Denton County, and surrounding North Texas communities. We are committed to securing justice and maximum compensation for injured workers and their families.

For a free consultation, please reach out to our Dallas office at (214) 932-1288 for immediate assistance.

You can also complete our online contact form for a prompt response. During your free consultation, we will:

• Review the details of your machinery accident and your injuries
• Confirm whether your employer is a non-subscriber to workers' compensation
• Explain your legal rights and all available options under Texas law
• Assess the potential value of your machinery accident claim
• Answer every question you have about the legal process and what to expect
• Provide guidance on protecting your interests and preserving critical evidence

Remember: You pay nothing unless we win your case. Contact us today to begin your path to recovery and justice.