Louisiana Industrial Explosion Injury Lawyer
Workers across Louisiana who were hurt in a plant blast, a refinery flash fire, or a rig explosion are facing a set of decisions that start almost immediately: who to notify, which doctor to see, what to say to an insurance adjuster, and whether anyone besides the employer should be held responsible. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers and accident victims throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, and a Louisiana industrial explosion injury lawyer from our team can help you make those decisions in the right order.
Explosions are not ordinary workplace accidents. Burns, blast trauma, inhalation injuries, hearing loss, and crush injuries often show up together, and the medical bills arrive faster than the first paycheck gap. The legal picture is also different. A blast usually has more than one potential cause, such as a failed valve, a contractor’s shortcut, defective equipment, or a skipped inspection, and the party who caused it is often not your employer. That is where a claim stops being just a comp claim.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for an Explosion Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC serves injured workers across South Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, north Louisiana, and throughout Mississippi. We have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for our clients. We are paid only if we recover for you, consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and our phones are answered 24 hours a day. Hablamos español.
Rob Lunsford, our Founding Partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Partners Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe have been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and The National Trial Lawyers, and the firm was ranked by Best Law Firms in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Andrew Rueff has tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, which matters when an explosion claim against a third party needs to be built as a lawsuit. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
Our results include a $221,000 settlement for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns to the lower extremities, $385,000 for a project manager injured after being struck in his work vehicle, and settlements of $685,000 and $600,000 in serious back injury cases. Past results do not guarantee an outcome, but they show we handle injuries that carry real medical and financial weight. Clients tell us they value being listened to and having an attorney who fights the insurance company at every step.
Injuries and Claim Types We See After Industrial Blasts
- Thermal and Chemical Burns: Flash fires and ignited vapors at refineries, chemical plants, and drilling sites cause deep burns that need skin grafts, wound care, and long rehabilitation. Burn cases carry some of the highest medical costs, and scarring can limit the jobs you can return to.
- Blast Trauma and Fractures: Pressure waves and flying debris break bones in the feet, ankles, hips, and arms and can cause internal injuries. Complex fractures often require specialists and repeated surgery.
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Being thrown by a blast or struck by falling equipment commonly herniates discs. Insurers often respond by blaming degenerative disc disease, so the medical evidence has to separate the explosion from earlier wear.
- Traumatic Brain Injury and Hearing Loss: Concussive force can injure the brain and the inner ear even when there are no visible wounds. These injuries are easy for an adjuster to minimize, so documentation from the first day matters.
- Smoke and Toxic Inhalation: Workers caught in a release of fumes or combustion products can develop lung damage that surfaces or worsens over time. Tie symptoms to the incident in your medical records early.
- Psychological Trauma: Posttraumatic stress after surviving a blast, or after losing a coworker, is a real injury that affects the ability to return to a plant or rig.
- Catastrophic Injury and Wrongful Death: Louisiana law provides additional benefits for permanent disability, catastrophic injury, and death, and families who lose a worker in an explosion may have claims beyond comp against outside parties.
- Third-Party Liability Claims: Equipment manufacturers, maintenance contractors, site owners, and other companies on a shared job site can be sued in ways your employer generally cannot. A personal injury claim can sit alongside your comp claim.
What to Do in the Days After an Industrial Explosion
Get medical care first and tell every provider that the injuries came from a workplace explosion. Then give your employer notice of the injury. Louisiana law bars a compensation proceeding unless the employer receives notice within 30 days of the injury, so do not wait to see how you feel. Put it in writing if you can and keep a copy.
The formal claim deadline is separate. In Louisiana a claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, and if comp payments have been made that window can extend to three years from the last payment. Do not count on the extension; a lawyer should confirm which date applies to you. Workers’ compensation disputes in Louisiana are heard by workers’ compensation judges at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, which has district courts in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, New Orleans, Shreveport, Houma, Covington, Harahan, Alexandria, and Monroe. You choose where the hearing is held from among the parish where you were hurt, the parish where you lived at the time, and the parish of your employer’s principal place of business.
Preserve what the company may not. Write down who was on site, which units or contractors were working nearby, and what you heard or smelled beforehand. Photograph your injuries as they heal. Keep your pay stubs, work schedule, and any incident report you were handed. Be careful with recorded statements and with any form from the insurer; sign nothing you have not read, and talk to us before giving a statement about how the blast happened. Adjusters look for sentences that can be turned into fault or into a pre-existing condition.
If the insurer denies a treatment your doctor recommends, a short deadline starts. A utilization review dispute must be filed on Form 1009 within 15 calendar days of receiving the written denial, and after the medical director rules, you have 45 days from the date the decision was issued to file Form 1008. A workers’ compensation judge’s final ruling can be appealed to the appropriate Louisiana court of appeal, and an appeal that suspends the judgment must be filed within 30 days. Missing these dates can end a good argument, which is why early representation matters.
Workers’ Comp Benefits and Lawsuits Against Outside Parties
Louisiana workers’ compensation covers all reasonable and necessary medical treatment and wage replacement while you cannot work. If you return at reduced pay, supplemental earnings benefits can make up part of the difference when you cannot earn 90 percent or more of your pre-injury wages, and they are capped at 520 weeks, with temporary total disability weeks counting toward that total. Weekly benefit limits are set annually and are fixed by the date of your accident. Permanent disability, catastrophic injury, and death carry additional benefits.
Comp is generally the exclusive remedy against your own employer, but it does not shield everyone else. If a negligent contractor, an equipment maker, or a property owner helped cause the explosion, you may bring a tort claim against them. Those claims can recover losses comp does not, including pain and suffering. For injuries on or after July 1, 2024, Louisiana’s delictual deadline is two years from the day the injury was sustained, shorter than many people assume. Louisiana also now bars recovery for a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, and lower fault reduces an award proportionally, so how fault gets assigned on a crowded industrial site becomes a central fight. Families bringing wrongful death or survival claims generally have the longer of one year from the death or two years from the injury.
Coordinating the two tracks takes care. A settlement or a statement in one claim can affect the other, including the comp insurer’s right to be repaid from a third-party recovery. We handle both so the claims work together.
Louisiana Industrial Explosion Injury Questions Answered
Do I need a lawyer after an industrial explosion?
Not every claim requires one, but explosion injuries are usually serious, expensive, and contested. If benefits are denied, delayed, or cut off, or if you will be out of work for a long time, an attorney can make a major difference.
How much does it cost to hire your firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and we are paid only if we recover benefits or a settlement. Attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
How soon must I report the explosion to my employer?
Report it right away, and no later than 30 days after the injury. Louisiana law does not allow a compensation proceeding without timely notice to the employer.
How long do I have to file a claim in Louisiana?
A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, with a possible extension to three years from the last compensation payment if benefits have been paid. Because exceptions are narrow, speak with an attorney as soon as you can.
Can I sue someone besides my employer?
Yes, if a third party contributed to the explosion, such as a contractor, a manufacturer of faulty equipment, or another company on the site. That claim is separate from comp and can recover additional damages.
What if the company says the explosion was my fault?
Fault generally does not defeat a comp claim. In a lawsuit against a third party, though, Louisiana now bars recovery if you are found 51 percent or more at fault for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, so evidence about safety procedures and equipment condition matters.
What if my injuries involve a pre-existing back or neck condition?
A pre-existing condition does not automatically end your claim. If the explosion caused, worsened, or sped up the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits, and strong medical evidence is how that gets proven.
Can my employer fire me for filing a claim?
Louisiana protects workers from being fired in retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go or punished after reporting your injury, tell us during your consultation.
What if the insurer refuses a surgery or treatment my doctor ordered?
You can dispute it through utilization review by filing Form 1009 within 15 calendar days of the written denial. The medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide, and further review is available if you act within the deadline that follows.
What can the family do if a worker died in an explosion?
Survivors may be entitled to death benefits under workers’ compensation and may also have wrongful death and survival claims against responsible third parties. The deadline is the longer of one year from the death or two years from the injury, so talk to an attorney promptly.
Do you work with Spanish-speaking clients?
Yes. Hablamos español, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with our team in their own language from the first call to the end of the case.
Serving Explosion Injury Clients Across Louisiana
Industrial explosions happen where Louisiana’s industry is concentrated, and our team represents injured workers from the petrochemical corridor along the Mississippi River through the entire state. We serve clients in New Orleans and the communities of Jefferson Parish, Harahan, and the Fifth Circuit parishes, as well as Baton Rouge and the surrounding First Circuit area. Moving west, we represent workers in Lafayette and the Acadiana region, in Lake Charles and the Calcasieu industrial complex, and across South Louisiana, including Houma and Terrebonne. Farther north, we help injured workers in Shreveport, Monroe, Alexandria, and communities across north Louisiana.
We also represent workers across Mississippi, from Jackson and Madison to the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi, which matters for crews who travel between plants and rigs on both sides of the state line. Wherever the explosion happened, the same questions apply: what is owed under workers’ compensation, and who else should answer for the injury.
Talk With a Louisiana Industrial Explosion Injury Attorney
If you were hurt in a plant, refinery, rig, or job site explosion, the clock on your notice and claim deadlines has already started. A Louisiana industrial explosion injury attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, deal with your employer and its insurer, and look at whether outside parties should be held responsible. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call us today to talk through your case.
