Burns and chemical exposure cases are their own category of maritime injury law. Unlike mechanical injuries — a fall, a crushing, a broken bone — chemical and thermal injuries often involve consequences that unfold over years or decades. The worker is burned today. The worker develops a chronic respiratory condition five years later. The worker is diagnosed with leukemia fifteen years later. All of it can be traced back to the same workplace exposure, and all of it can be compensable under the Jones Act when handled correctly.
The two categories.
Acute burn injuries are the ones that happen in an instant. Steam release from a compromised line. A flash fire from a hydrocarbon leak. A caustic splash during chemical handling. An electrical burn from equipment contact. These injuries require immediate medical response and often involve complex reconstructive surgery, skin grafts, scarring, and long-term pain management. They are visibly serious and rarely contested on liability — when a flash fire happens, it's obvious that something went wrong on the vessel.
Chemical exposure injuries are more insidious. Hydrogen sulfide exposure on a well that produces sour gas. Benzene exposure from fuel handling or from produced water. Solvent exposure from tank cleaning or equipment maintenance. Drilling mud components that turn out to be toxic. Asbestos exposure on older vessels. The effects of these exposures often don't appear immediately — and when they do appear, they can be dismissed as unrelated conditions by doctors who don't know the worker's occupational history.
How maritime chemical injuries happen.
Offshore oil and gas produces most of the serious chemical cases we see. H2S exposure on sour gas wells, often at concentrations and durations that exceed safe limits because detection equipment was broken or disabled. Benzene exposure among workers handling crude oil, produced water, or refined products without adequate PPE. Drilling fluid exposure where workers were never told the actual composition of what they were handling. Tank cleaning operations where workers entered spaces without proper atmospheric testing.
Commercial fishing and inland towing have their own chemical profiles — carbon monoxide from engine rooms, fuel and lubricant exposure from machinery maintenance, refrigerant leaks on factory trawlers, and chemical cargo exposure on tank barges (anhydrous ammonia, chlorine, various petrochemicals).
What case values look like.
Acute burn cases are valued primarily on the severity of injury and permanent functional impact. A second-degree burn over 15% of the body with full healing: $200,000-$500,000. A significant full-thickness burn requiring grafts and leaving permanent disfigurement: $500,000-$2M+. Catastrophic burns with lifetime care needs: $2M-$10M+.
Chemical exposure cases are valued differently. Acute exposure with full recovery and no long-term consequences: $75,000-$200,000. Exposure producing chronic respiratory or neurological conditions: $300,000-$1M. Exposure traced to occupational cancer (benzene-leukemia, asbestos-mesothelioma): often $1M-$5M+, sometimes much higher in strong cases against well-resourced defendants.
What to do right now.
For acute burn injuries, the first priority is specialized medical care — burn units produce dramatically better outcomes than general hospitals, and the initial days of treatment substantially affect the long-term result. For chemical exposure, the priority is documentation. What chemical was it? What concentration? How long was the exposure? What PPE was used? What testing was done after? These questions need to be answered while the evidence is still available.
Write your own account of the exposure while your memory is fresh. Get a copy of the safety data sheets (SDS) for every chemical involved. Get a list of crew members who were exposed alongside you. Get company atmospheric-monitoring records if they exist, and note their absence if they don't. And see a doctor with specific occupational-medicine expertise — not just an ER doctor — who can properly document the exposure and predict the medical risks going forward.
Most importantly: even if you feel fine today, a chemical exposure that seemed minor can produce serious consequences years later. The three-year Jones Act statute of limitations runs from when the injury becomes apparent, but that calculation is legally complex and worth discussing with a maritime lawyer sooner rather than later.