Home » All You Need To Know About Construction Site Accidents
Attorney Sean T. Keith has been a personal injury lawyer for 30+ years, a nationally recognized Top 100 Trial Lawyer, and top car accident lawyer & motor vehicle accident lawyer in Arkansas.
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Construction site accidents happen quite frequently.
As a construction site worker, you are susceptible to harm each minute of your work.
This is because you have to work with heavy machinery, electric cables, and other hazardous situations with minimal protective gear.
No matter how careful you tread your step, there may occur some unfortunate incidents where injuries are inevitable.
These injuries may be minor or life-altering, but it is always good to have a construction injury lawyer by your side.
The government did create specific guidelines, rules, and regulations to be followed in the work environment.
These are the OSHA, Occupational Safety, and Health Administration regulations.
Every workspace should follow these guidelines without fail, but that does not mean construction site accidents can be avoided entirely.
Many types of accidents can happen at construction sites.
Here are some of the most common construction accidents:
Fall accidents are accidents where the injured person has fallen from a height.
It may be while working on ladders or weak suspension cables, or due to weak footing.
Slippery floors resulting in slipping and falling, falling from boom trucks or other construction machinery are also considered.
Usually, when people fall from such a height, the injuries sustained will be severe and life-threatening.
These are usually the most common types of accidents.
For example, heavy bricks or metal bars that were being moved with the help of machines would have gone wrong, resulting in harm to the people working below.
Workers usually wear helmets, but the objects will be too heavy and can be fatal.
Crush and impact injuries cause the most physical harm too.
Construction workers often deal with electric cables and panels.
You may be equipped with proper footwear and gloves most of the time, but breaks in the electricity cables are usually small and can go unnoticed while working.
Electric shocks and thunder burns on a larger scale can cause severe damage to the body parts in proximity.
This may be rare but is equally severe.
These are caused by colliding or coming in contact with construction machinery, vehicles, or rolling materials.
The level of injuries may change depending on the impact.
Some of the most common injuries experienced by construction workers include:
When faced with such injuries on a construction site, you should immediately seek medical help, no matter how small or bearable the injury may seem.
Once you get a proper diagnosis, you can move on to the legal aspects and get compensation for your injuries.
Not all accidents that occur can be written off as technical errors or imperfect machinery.
Though those are some of the main reasons for accidents, sometimes victim negligence is also a factor.
We need to know the cause to be able to present properly in court.
The accident may also be a result of faulty procedure or chaotic co-workers.
The construction company should follow proper guidelines and restrain from using old machinery.
They should maintain safe working conditions, and if they fail to do so, the victim can fight against the company and use it for their gain.
Not only the people involved on-site (like your bosses) but also people involved indirectly, like certain machinery manufacturers or subcontractors, can also be held accountable.
For example, the machine carrying those bricks may have been in a bad state, resulting in the crash.
In such cases, the person who manufactured that machinery will also get involved.
They may try to get away from it, but that is why we are here.
The answer is simple.
You need help with the legalities.
You need to hire an experienced professional because the parties involved in construction site accidents, like your company and subcontractors, will often try to push away the claims made by their workers.
The companies may try to make you settle by throwing around words like insurance and facts, but a professional knows to which extent your injuries should be compensated.
They will try to persuade you, but you do not know that the case can be easily turned in your favor by providing a few on-point facts
Also, as the victim may be facing many medical treatments, bills, and expenses for the treatment of the injuries, the individual and family members will be in a vulnerable position.
This is also why you need to have a construction site accident lawyer by your side who will take care of everything while you heal and see that you get your justice.