Workers’ Compensation for Smoke Inhalation in Pennsylvania

Smoke inhalation is an acute injury in many cases, potentially resulting in serious injury and further health complications.  For some smoke inhalation, the injury can take you out for a few days, making it hard to catch your breath, let alone do any heavy physical exertion.  Sometimes, smoke inhalation can trigger additional health issues and cause more long-term damage, leading to extensive time away from work.

Under the Workers’ Comp Act, the only explicit mention of “smoke” allows firefighters working for at least 4 years in the field to get Workers’ Comp for a condition they acquire down the road.  However, there is nothing preventing other smoke inhalation injuries, meaning that you should be covered if you suffered an acute injury from smoke in a factory or manufacturing job or because there was a fire at your workplace.  Additionally, the Heart and Lung Act might provide additional benefits on top of Worker’s Comp.

Call Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945 for a free case evaluation with our Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Lawyers today.

Covering Smoke Inhalation for Firefighters in Pennsylvania

The law often stops firefighters from getting compensation for injuries sustained in the course of their duties, given that they volunteer to help other people and should not necessarily be able to sue them for the dangers they are there to rescue them from.  However, this should not stop firefighters from getting compensation for serious injuries after years of service.

To recognize this, the Workers’ Comp Act includes a specific provision allowing firefighters to get Workers’ Comp for occupational diseases that arise down the road to their heart or lungs because of the smoke inhalation they faced over the years.  This is different from the coverage for acute injuries, which they should be otherwise entitled to, as long as those injuries happened during the course of their work.

To qualify with a disorder or lung disease caused by smoke inhalation, the firefighter needs to have worked serving the public as a firefighter for at least 4 years.  They also need to have actually been exposed to smoke during that time.  If you meet these qualifications, our Pennsylvania Workers’ Comp lawyers can help you claim benefits for diseases and disorders caused by smoke inhalation, heat exposure, fumes, gases, or even stress and exertion, such as lung disorders, heart attacks, and other conditions.

Covering Smoke Inhalation in Other Accidents in Pennsylvania

Since that section of the code discussed above is meant to expand coverage to firefighters, it should not be read as limiting or taking away the right to coverage for smoke inhalation injuries for other workers.  As such, you can claim Workers’ Compensation benefits for smoke inhalation injuries that occur in the course of your work, just as you would be able to claim benefits for any other kind of work injury.

Smoke inhalation can lead to serious injuries on its own, potentially damaging your lungs, hurting your ability to breathe regularly going forward.  You could also potentially suffer serious injuries as a result of the smoke inhalation, such as a heart attack if you cannot breathe properly and are under serious stress, or even suffocation leading to brain injuries from the lack of oxygen.  If the “smoke” you are breathing contains fumes, you could also face other injuries from acute exposure to burning plastics and chemicals.

As long as the injury happened during your work, you should be able to claim compensation for this injury.  This means that if you worked in a factory and something caught on fire, your injuries should be covered.  It also means that if you worked at an office and the building burned down, it should also be covered.  Even if you were driving as part of your work and a fire broke out after a car crash, any of these could be work-related sources of smoke inhalation that should entitle you to benefits.

Do These Rules Apply to Other Inhalants and Breathing Injuries?

Smoke is not the only harmful thing you inhale during a fire.  In so many cases, “smoke inhalation” involves chemicals and fumes from burning materials; rarely are you inhaling something relatively clean like wood smoke.  The injuries from these fumes – potentially including things like cancer – are also compensable.

When something like a factory catches on fire, nearly everything burns.  Even metal, which might not burn up, has chemicals that might be released through the flames.  Otherwise, any flammable materials like plastic, foam, insulation, chemicals, cleaning products, fuel, and more will all give off different gases and fumes when burning.  Many of these hold a very high risk of injury, especially when those chemicals are carcinogenic (i.e., cancer-causing).  It is important to track your exposure to these burning chemicals and talk to your lawyer about it, as this exposure to a fire might end up causing cancer down the road, resulting in additional claims.

If you are seeking Workers’ Comp coverage for work-related cancer or illnesses, there may be expanded deadlines for recognizing this as a work-related injury and filing your claim with your employer (or, by that point, former employer).  For most claims of illnesses discovered after working in a job where you were exposed to cancer-causing materials, you typically have 300 weeks from the last date of employment to file your claim.  For many firefighters who get cancer, this is extended to 600 weeks, though they may have needed to serve for at least 4 years in that job before being afforded this extended deadline, as discussed above.  This means that this additionally extended deadline might not apply to factory workers and others exposed to smoke inhalation and other chemical fumes at work.

Benefits Available Through Workers’ Comp for Smoke Inhalation in Pennsylvania

If you needed medical treatment or a hospital stay to treat your smoke inhalation, it should all be covered under Workers’ Comp.  These benefits should pay for all medical care related to your work injury, including potential recovery and rehabilitative care to get you back on your feet after serious smoke inhalation devastates your cardiovascular fitness.

In addition, if the injury keeps you out of work for more than 7 days, you should begin recovering wage-loss benefits.  These benefits typically pay you 2/3 of the average weekly wage you received before the accident.  In some cases, the injuries might be severe enough that you can no longer do tasks that require physical exertion, potentially for months or years to come.  An employer might be permitted to let you go if you can no longer do your job, but they also may be able to offer you alternative work.  If your new work (with the same or different employer) is more of a “desk job” that you can still perform while recovering from your smoke inhalation injuries, you may be reimbursed for 2/3 of the difference in your old and new wages.

Note that these benefits are essentially the same benefits you get for any other work injury; there is no real distinction between what you can get for smoke inhalation injuries and other on-the-job injuries.  Smoke inhalation injuries are real injuries that Workers’ Comp can compensate the same as it would a broken wrist, a leg amputation, or work-related cancer.

Pennsylvania Heart and Lung Act Benefits for Smoke Inhalation

In addition to benefits under the Workers’ Comp Act, some firefighters and other first responders are entitled to additional benefits under the Pennsylvania Heart and Lung Act, a.k.a. Act 534/632.  If your injury occurred while performing your “duties” at work – not just in the general course of your work – then these benefits might apply to your case.  These benefits essentially seek to get first responders additional wage-loss benefits while they are unable to keep working.  If you do qualify for these benefits, they may pay the rest of your lost earnings, allowing you to get 100% of your lost wages paid instead of the 2/3 that Workers’ Comp covers.

However, these benefits are only available to certain state employees and first responders, though that list of covered employees is much bigger than you might expect.  These additional wage-loss benefits typically would not apply to non-government workers or non-first responders like factory workers or refinery workers.  However, some of those jobs might include firefighting and emergency response roles, potentially making these rules apply.  Always check the statute to see if your job is covered under the Heart and Lung Act and work with an attorney who has experience getting benefits for workers under this Act.

When Are Smoke and Fumes Dangerous to Breathe at Work in Pennsylvania?

Some jobs involve being around smoke, fumes, and burning materials all the time.  Think, for example, of a barbeque pitmaster covered in wood smoke day in and day out or a factory worker who oversees emissions at a plant.  Many of these jobs have varying levels of protective gear to keep workers safe from inhalants, dangerous fumes, and smoke inhalation, and you can often gauge how dangerous the fumes are by how much protection people commonly use.  However, there really is no safe thing to breathe in at work, whether it be smoke, fumes, or particles.

Even something as common and simple as wood smoke is not great for the lungs, and exposure to large amounts can cause trouble breathing, especially if you get a lot of exposure at once or have underlying conditions like asthma.  Another risk comes from the fact that wood smoke is not always just wood smoke; there are often other things in the wood, especially when wood is being burned as fuel or as waste rather than as something like cooking fuel or fuel for a campfire.

Other jobs involving smelting, welding, refining, and processing often use personal protective equipment (PPE) like masks and respirators because the fumes in these jobs are explicitly dangerous.  The risk of constant exposure can easily lead to cancer after years of work, so properly rated and fitted PPE is vital.  In other cases, even more minor or short-term acute exposure can cause immediate injury, especially if the fumes are hot when you breathe them and scald your lungs and airways.

One specific chemical worth noting is diacetyl.  This butter-like flavoring chemical is a chemical commonly used in microwave popcorn production, but it is also used in e-cigarettes and vapes.  This use in popcorn has led to the name of a common condition that occurs from repeat exposure to dactyl fumes: popcorn lung.  Conditions from other chemicals are also common in some industries, even when gases are not burned, such as construction workers and utilities workers exposed to benzene during digs.

Lastly, particulate matter is also dangerous to breathe in, whether it is burning or not.  Coal dust, sawdust, sand, concrete dust, and more can all cause lung injuries and health conditions.  Asbestos is especially dangerous and carcinogenic.

Call Our Workers’ Comp Lawyers for Smoke Inhalation Injuries in Pennsylvania

For a free review of your potential case, call our Philadelphia Workers’ Compensation attorneys at (267) 651-7945.