Potential lawsuit or protected?

One of my employees was wiring terminals through a client's false ceiling with another employee several feet away feeing the wire as he pulled it. He was 15 feet in the air, probably on a ladder extended to far, nothing was damaged except for my employee, but he smashed his wrist, has two hairline cracks - in his cheek and his skull, and will be out for a while. Nobody was steadying the ladder. He shifted his weight and the ladder arced across the wall, hit something and popped backwards taking him to the floor. I drove five hours down there and saw him and his wife. He is in lots of pain.

My insurance is taking care of his salary during his healing time, picks up all his medical and probably some rehab. There was no damage to the client's shop, but it scared EVERYONE badly.

I'm thinking of having a class that I put on for my construction laborers and contractors on ladder safety and electrical safety, but I'm thinking that I might also have some exposure for a lawsuit.

My employees are not new to this, but they don't often have ceilings that high. I'm thinking that even though it was my client's ladder, my employee was negligent for not having a spotter at the base of the ladder who knew how to handle himself. My employee probably weighs 215, is 6'4" and his wrist was smashed because he put his HAND down to break his fall.... probably the only reason he is still alive due to the head first problem with a full clock swing from the top of that ladder. I'm sure he has other bruises, but they didn't FIND the cheek and skull damage until he went to the ER in our town... big surprise that a podunk clinic has doctors who can't read Xray film?

He is back at home today, no further damage at this point. But with the Natasha Richardson death, this has put us all on edge.

What is the potential that there will be a lawsuit... and what for?

If you are the employer, then I am sure you have Workers Compensation. I don't know what state you live in but I believe the law is still the same as Workers Comp is a federal thing. YOU cannot be sued. That is the very reason there is worker's compensation insurance. And that is exactly what workers comp is... insurance to protect the employer. Once you have that then there is a clause in the insurance to protect you that you cannot be sued. I went through the same issues with my ex's situation.

He had only been working as an electrician's assistant for 6 months. His boss sent him on a commercial job all by himself. He was to rewire and add current to a post for a sewing maching to be added in that area. The wires had to come from the drop ceiling down the pole. He went to the panel box and saw that every single breaker was still marked with the previous stores needs which was a grocery store and this was now a fabric/craft store. He was told he could not turn off any electric as he was doing this during the day when there were customers in the store. The store would not pay to have someone come in to do this during off time which would have cost them more. He had been taught by his boss and the guy that trained him (who smoked pot in the car going to and from jobs) that you always looked for the cheaper way to do a job to save the client money. So he decided to use a junction box that was already in the ceiling that he knew was hot but he knew he had to test it to see what kind of voltage was coming through it instead of running a new line and breaker just for that one machine. It was a hot June day, he was sweating. He had already told his boss about the issues with the panel box and his boss told him to handle it. He was given a metal ladder to use on his job. No electricians gloves and no special strippers. He climbed the 20 ft ladder to the ceiling leaning the ladder against the pole. He had seen this done many times with his trainer. He used regular wire strippers. The ends of the wires were not stripped, just taped off and no electrical nuts on the ends. He bit down with the strippers and the current arched from the wire to the ladder and to him and back to the wire. He completed the circuit. He was electrocuted which caused him to black out. He fell the 20 ft, hitting the cement floor with the middle of his back, shattered his spinal column and severed his spinal cord. He not only clearly did not know what he was doing but more importantly, his boss did not go into the store to see what needed to be done. He took the call and sent his most unexperienced man....alone, no spotter. He ignored the electrical problems with the panel box. He did not provide my ex with enough training to send him on a commercial job alone. He did not provide him with the proper equipment to perform work on hot electric. His boss clearly was negligent in all counts of this accident BUT the lawsuit that we settled on clearly and 100% indicated that his boss could not then or ever be sued for anything because he had workers comp. I ended up divorcing my ex 6 years later due to him pushing me away and I am so sorry and sad to say that he committed suicide in May of this year. If I could change the laws, I would. His boss is still in business today and never once sent my husband a card, visited him or sent flowers. His life went on as usual while ours was torn apart.

So no, you cannot be sued if you have Worker's Comp.

You are incorrect. First of all, a lot of employers do not carry workman's comp. The are supposed to, but do they? No. And from what Donallie (who is banned from using this site now) has said about the way she runs her business, its a given that she did not comply with the law.

Workman's Compensation is NOT a FEDERAL "thing" nor is it run by the federal government.

Workman's Compensation is a STATE run program and it can and indeed does vary from state to state.

I am soo soooo sorry. I just remembered what I went through and never thought it would be any different in any other state. I do apologize and in the future I will refrain from letting my personal experiences guide me into making assumptions or giving advice. I again apologize greatly. I am not a professional and should always let the professionals guide someone in here. How stupid of me.