Texas Industrial Machinery Accident Lawyer

Every day, tens of thousands of Texans work with power presses, CNC mills, lathes, conveyors, mixers, grinders, saws, robots, and other industrial machines. When a machine guard is missing, when an interlock is bypassed, when lockout/tagout is skipped during maintenance, or when a programmable logic controller fails, the results are frequently catastrophic: amputations, crushing injuries, degloving injuries, blindness, and death. A Texas industrial machinery accident lawyer at McFarlane Law pursues manufacturers, employers, third-party maintenance contractors, and staffing agencies whose failures caused these injuries. Our firm has recovered more than $100 million for injured Texans and has the technical expertise to investigate complex machine-guarding and control-system cases.

Machine Guarding and the Injuries That Happen When It Fails

OSHA 29 CFR 1910 Subpart O is clear: any point-of-operation, in-running nip point, or rotating component capable of injuring an employee must be guarded. When those guards are missing, removed for production speed, or defeated by bypassing interlocks, the injuries are devastating. Finger, hand, and arm amputations from power presses and punch presses are common — often because a two-hand control was disabled or a light curtain was bypassed. Degloving injuries (skin and soft tissue stripped from a limb by rotating shafts, conveyors, or rollers) produce catastrophic disfigurement requiring multiple skin graft surgeries. Crushing injuries from hydraulic presses and injection-molding machines often end careers and cause lifelong disability. Eye injuries from ejected debris, chemical splashes, and laser exposure require immediate emergency ophthalmology. Our firm’s investigations commonly identify multiple OSHA violations that drive negligence-per-se liability.

Product Liability in Industrial Machine Cases

Many industrial machine injuries support product-liability claims against the machine manufacturer, distributor, or remanufacturer. Design-defect theories focus on whether the machine could have been designed safer — integrated light curtains, redundant safety circuits, tamper-resistant interlocks, ergonomic controls — without impairing function. Manufacturing-defect claims target a specific unit that deviated from the design (e.g., a weld that was never completed, a wiring error that defeated an emergency stop). Warning-defect claims argue the operator manual, on-machine warnings, or training materials failed to convey foreseeable hazards. Remanufacturers and rebuilders can be liable for bringing older machines back into service without adding modern guarding that has become industry standard. McFarlane Law retains mechanical and controls engineers early to preserve the exemplar machine, download PLC code, and analyze failure modes.

Lockout/Tagout and Maintenance Injuries

Maintenance is the most dangerous time to work around industrial machines. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.147 requires every employer to establish a written lockout/tagout program, train affected and authorized employees, and verify zero-energy state before any maintenance. When LOTO is skipped, lives are lost. Texas non-subscriber employers can be sued directly for negligent supervision, negligent training, and for maintaining unsafe equipment. Third-party maintenance contractors can be sued for their own failures to lock out energy sources. Staffing agencies can be liable for placing workers in maintenance roles without required LOTO training. McFarlane Law pulls the written LOTO program, training rosters, annual audits, and permit-to-work forms to prove what the defendants knew and what they failed to do.

Texas Damages in Industrial Machinery Cases

Industrial machine cases produce some of the largest personal-injury verdicts in Texas because the injuries are so severe and the misconduct so clear. Past and future medical expenses often include multiple reconstructive surgeries, prosthetics, specialized prosthetic fittings, psychological counseling, and long-term rehabilitation. Loss of earning capacity is often total — an injured operator is unlikely to return to machine-based work. Pain, mental anguish, and physical impairment carry significant non-economic damages. Disfigurement damages apply to amputations, scarring, and cosmetic changes. Exemplary (punitive) damages are available when the defendant’s conduct was grossly negligent — for example, management knowledge that a guard was defeated or that LOTO training was never completed. Our firm documents each element with the rigor that Texas juries and appellate courts require.

Related Practice Areas

Related: Texas heavy equipment accident lawyer, Texas forklift accident lawyer, OSHA violation injury lawyer, Texas workplace wrongful death lawyer, Texas personal injury lawyer. Hub: Texas workplace injury lawyer.

Talk to a Texas Injury Lawyer Today

If an industrial machine caused a serious injury or death in Texas, every day matters. Equipment is often moved, repaired, or destroyed before investigators arrive. Call McFarlane Law today. Austin (512) 222-4900, Odessa (432) 803-5000. Free consultation; no fee unless we win.