Chicago Warehouse Accidents: Huge Variety of Warehouse Worksites in Chicagoland with Legal Duties of Safety
Here in Chicagoland, warehousing makes up a tremendous part of our local economy as it contributes not only to the national supply chain but to the global economy. Our geographic location is key here, as is the interworking of the Illinois transportation infrastructure of railways, interstates, and shipyards. For more, read Growing Danger of Serious or Deadly Warehouse Accidents in Chicagoland.
8 Types of Warehouses Found in Chicagoland
Workers in Chicago area warehouses may go to work each day in all sorts of warehouse workplaces. There are many different types of warehousing facilities here, such as:
- Distribution Centers: these are huge warehouses that are often used by Amazon, Wal-Mart, and other retailers, as well as wholesalers, that need a place to store their products and inventory as well as providing a place for their distribution to retail stores or consumers.
- Fulfillment Centers: some warehouses are dedicated to specific purposes, such as fulfillment centers where workers are tasked with things like e-commerce orders (packing, shipping, etc.). Consider this long list of Amazon fulfillment centers operating within the State of Illinois provided by ZonHack.com.
- Cold Storage Warehouses: Some things need to be stored or moved through warehouses with refrigeration, such as fruit and vegetables picked in our local farms. Some drugs will also need to be kept at a certain temperature. Examples here include the list provided by FrozenGoods.com, such as AmeriCold Logistics; Cloverleaf Cold Storage; and United States Cold Storage.
- Bulk Storage Warehouses: Grain, steel, and other industrial or agricultural products may need to be kept in special kinds of warehousing facilities that can handle and protect large amounts of unique goods.
- Retail Warehouses: Stores as well as online sellers need to have places to keep their product lines in close proximity to customers and clients, especially when they promote fast delivery times for purchases.
- Automotive Warehouses: Our local car makers use specialized warehouses not only to store but also to distribute motor vehicle parts and components. For instance, General Motors operates a huge warehouse in Bolingbrook.
- Transload Warehouses: Given our unique geographic location, Chicagoland offers the ability to move cargo and goods from different transports, think railroad to tractor-trailer truck. Special facilities called transload warehouses help in this transfer.
- Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Warehouses: There are companies who offer warehouse services to other businesses for a profit. They may also provide inventory control services as well as help in distribution. Examples here include Palisades Logistics and Axis Warehouse.
Legal Duties of Safety and Care for Warehouse Workers in Chicago Area
No matter the type of warehouse, there are legal duties of safety and care long established that exist to keep workers safe on the job. Anyone with any amount of possession, custody, or control of aspects of these warehouse workplaces, no matter their designated purpose, has a duty to keep the people safe who are on the job in order to generate profits.
Understanding this, insurance carriers providing liability coverage as well as businesses involved in these endeavors are very savvy in finding ways to try and minimize their legal risk to accident injury claims when workers do get hurt or killed on the job. A prime example: using temporary staffing services or independent contractors to try and shield exposure.
Nevertheless, accident reconstruction experts and advocates for worker-victims will be able to analyze both the facts and the law surrounding a catastrophic or fatal warehouse worker accident here in Chicago, where one or more third parties may have legal recompense for what has happened.
These civil claims for damages will be different from those available to the injured worker under Illinois workers’ compensation benefits. For more, read Work Accident in Illinois or Indiana: Workers Compensation Claim vs. Personal Injury Damages.
List of Third Parties Who May Be Legally Liable for Chicago Warehouse Worker Injury on the Job
Each case is unique and deserves individual consideration and respect. Different types of warehouses come with different hazards and risks. Someone working on a forklift in a distribution center faces different dangers than someone on the job storing grain in a bulk storage warehouse, for instance.
As a general overview, the following are those companies and businesses that might have legal duties of safety and care that form the basis of a personal injury or wrongful death claim on a Chicagoland warehouse worksite:
- Owner of the facility
- Operator or lessor of the facility
- Companies involved in repair, upkeep, renovation, or expansion of the facility
- Design professionals (architects, engineers) when the facility design is dangerous
- Companies responsible for daily upkeep or housekeeping of the facility (like cleaning services or pest control)
- Subcontractors working in the facility
- Manufacturers of heavy machinery, equipment, or tools
- Sellers of heavy machinery, equipment, or tools
- Companies responsible for repair of heavy machinery, equipment, or tools
- Lessors of heavy machinery, equipment, or tools
- Shippers of goods or products, especially hazardous materials, that are flawed in their packaging
- Shippers of goods or products, especially hazardous materials, that do not have proper warning labels
- Sellers of goods or products, especially hazardous materials, that are flawed in their packaging
- Sellers of goods or products, especially hazardous materials, that do not have proper warning labels
- Manufacturers of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that failed to protect the worker
- Sellers of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that failed to protect the worker
- Companies responsible for repair, maintenance, or care of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that failed to protect the worker
- Companies providing transportation services to the warehouse (trucking companies, railroads, etc.).
Seeking Justice From Third Parties After Chicago Warehouse Accident
Warehouse work is dangerous for any worker on the job, but Chicagoland warehouses, in all their variety as well as the size and scope of their operations, provide an astonishing risk of harm for those employed in these jobsites. Their risk of suffering catastrophic or deadly injuries in an instant cannot be underestimated.
Anyone working in any kind of Chicago warehouse facility needs to be alert to the specific dangers they face in their particular work environment, and that all sorts of duties of care are defined in the law to keep them safe from harm.
It is not just the employer that provides their paycheck that has a responsibility to protect workers against warehouse work accidents.
And if these companies fail to do so, and someone gets hurt in a Chicago warehouse accident, then the injured victim and their loved ones may have third-party claims where a lawsuit may provide monetary damages that are independent and distinct from any workers’ compensation benefits (think pain and suffering; emotional distress; etc.).
For more, read:
- The Two Main Differences Between Workers Compensation and Personal Injury Claims for Accident Victims in Indiana and Illinois
- 10 Types of Injury Damages That May Be Awarded to Accident Victims
- 10 Types of Workers Compensation Benefits After a Work Accident in Illinois or Indiana
- Chicagoland Warehouse Workers: Common Work Accident Injuries
- Housekeeping in Warehouses: Work Accident Dangers in Illinois and Indiana
- Chicago Amazon Work Accidents: Warehouse and Delivery Dangers.
Chicago warehouse workers are on the job in very dangerous conditions. Please be careful out there!
