Intl. Brotherhood of Electrical Workers · Louisville, KY
IBEW on the job.
Arc flash. Fall. Shock.
Electrical work doesn’t forgive a contractor’s shortcut. When a de-energization that should have happened didn’t, or a scaffold that should have been tied off wasn’t, the injury isn’t your mistake - and you shouldn’t eat the cost of it.
01 · The problem
Comp is the start. The third-party claim is where the real money is.
On a commercial site you’re rarely the only contractor. The general, the other trades, the equipment rental house, the property owner - any of them can be the reason you got hurt. Workers’ comp covers your medical and partial wages, but it can’t reach the party who actually caused it.
That’s the third-party claim, and on electrical jobs it’s often the bigger case: a GC who let a panel stay energized, a scaffold company whose rig failed, a manufacturer whose breaker didn’t trip.
We coordinate the comp file and the third-party case together, so the comp lien doesn’t eat your recovery and the negligent party pays the full value of an arc-flash burn or a fall from height.
Runs in the family. Before there was a law firm, there was Don Colyer - Tony’s dad - 39 years a proud IBEW member. That heritage is why Colyer Law Firm shows up for IBEW members who get injured, on the job or anywhere else.
02 · How we handle it
Step by step.
No mystery, no padding.
- 01
Preserve the scene
Photos of the panel, the lockout tags (or the missing ones), the scaffold, the equipment serial numbers. OSHA findings and the site’s safety plan. We document before the site changes.
- 02
File comp clean
Kentucky Department of Workers’ Claims, wages calculated with the right scale, treatment with burn and orthopedic specialists who document fully.
- 03
Build the third-party case
Identify every contractor and owner on site, pull the contracts and the safety obligations, and pursue whoever breached the duty that kept you safe.
- 04
Protect the net recovery
Negotiate the comp lien down and structure the settlement so the money lands with you and your family.
03 · Where it shows up
IBEW -
five common injuries.
The injuries we see most from electrical members - flag what fits.
- 01
Arc flash & burns
Thousands of degrees in a fraction of a second. Deep burns, blast trauma, hearing and vision loss.
- 02
Electrocution & shock
A circuit that should have been dead. Cardiac injury, internal burns, and neurological damage that lasts.
- 03
Falls from height
Ladders, scaffolds, lifts, and unguarded edges. The leading killer on a construction site.
- 04
Struck-by
Dropped tools, swinging loads, vehicles, and equipment on a crowded jobsite.
- 05
Trench & confined space
Cave-ins and bad air in vaults and trenches - injuries that turn fatal fast.
Intl. Brotherhood of Electrical Workers · Louisville, KY
Shocked, burned, or fell?
We know the site.
Bring the incident report, any OSHA paperwork, and the carrier’s correspondence. We’ll explain the comp claim and whether there’s a third-party case worth more.