Construction Accident Attorneys

Your Claim In The Event Of A Construction Accident

Construction accidents can lead to fatalities that affect workers and non-workers alike. Compensation claims or personal injury suit an affected individual can file is dependent on the nature of the accident.

Naturally, the risks related to construction businesses are on the high side. The work is most times demanding and requiring workers to work at great heights. It is not just workers that are at risk of a construction accident as passersby are also at risk. There are myriads of things that can go wrong. Statistics from 2012 report reveals that construction accidents caused 775 deaths and 183,000 injuries in the United States alone. The number has continually increased over the subsequent years.

However, construction does not need to be dangerous all the time. There are certain safety standards every construction operation has to follow, and such standards are promoted by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an arm of Department of Labor.

Laws that cover personal injury that ensures an affected victim is well compensated. This law empowers an affected victim to take seek legal compensation if he or she suffers any form of injury around a construction site. What you will learn in this post, are different injury lawsuit you can file should you suffer any form of construction accident.

Construction Worker Injury

There are four set of injuries that fall under “fatal” injury category because they are responsible for two third of construction accidents that have resulted in worker’s death. The injuries are: electrocution, falls, “caught in-between” and “struck by an object”. Not until a worker gets fatally injured can a lawsuit be filed. In an event of a non-fatal injury, a worker has the right to file a lawsuit and seek compensation.

Options Available To An Injured Worker

When a worker files a lawsuit, his or her chances of success is dependent on the applicability of compensation rules in the region he or she works

Compensation For Workers

All 50 states in US design different forms of compensation for injured workers. This rule stipulates that a worker who gets injured in the course of work should be awarded some form of compensation whether the accident was as a result of negligence or not. An affected worker will benefit more if standard personal injury lawsuit is what is filed for rather than workers compensation case. Workers’ compensation isn’t so favorable for affected employees, but most employers favor it the more.

Personal Injury Lawsuit

Not all workers’ compensation lawsuits are treated the same when filed. Depending on the particular state, workers’ compensation laws do vary and usually binds between the worker and the employer. Imaging the following scenario; a worker working for a construction contractor suffers an injury while working. If he opts to sue the contractor, he will be entitled to worker’s compensation. But in the case he opts to sue the maker of the equipment that caused his injury, workers’ compensation rule will fail to hold in his case.

Injuries On Non-workers

Both workers and non-workers are at risk of suffering a construction accident. A passerby can easily get struck with debris coming from a building in construction. Road ways under construction with poor markings can lead to an accident. A child can easily get injured should he find him or herself in a construction site.

It is the responsibility of construction contractors to make pedestrian know about a looming danger in a construction site. They are not just required to provide only warnings; they have to make their construction site safe. Every contractor is at least required to observe every construction safety measure.

In some states, a contractor will be sued when they fail to adhere to stipulated safety precautions, while they can only be sued in the event of construction accidents in some other states. This means a worker can only file a lawsuit if there is evidence.

Construction Defect Lawsuit

There are times an accident will occur even after all safety precautions have been observed. For instance, a heavy object may fall off from a roof when not properly secured by a worker. The rail support on the balcony of a building may not meet construction standards thus causing a fall.

Affected persons have the right to file a lawsuit when this happens. Before filing a lawsuit, you have to first know whose negligence led to the accident that affected you. Was the fault from the contractor, architect or the construction engineer?

Compensations

With the exception of workers’ compensation lawsuit, below are entitlements an injured person can claim in the event of a construction accident

• Salaries accrued in the course of recovery from an accident


• Paid medical cost


• Financial reimbursement due to pain and uneasiness caused as a result of the accident


• Financial reimbursement due to a compromise in health of the victim

Construction Accident Attorneys