Construction workers suffer more on-the-job fatalities than any other category of employee. Of course, when people are working with hazardous machinery, on difficult terrain, managing heavy objects, some accidents will occur even in the best run work sites. Many serious construction accidents are caused unnecessarily, however, because of employers who cut safety corners to save money or expedite a project, or who simply fail to use common sense.

Falls cause the greatest number of construction injuries. When the fall is from a scaffolding, cherry-picker, roof, ladder, or some other elevated location, the results can be deadly. Other causes of severe construction site accidents include heavy items falling from above, fires, electrical accidents, high pressure hoses and trench cave-ins. The list is not exclusive. The sources of danger are as varied as the tools of the construction trades. Examples of how sloppy management can put workers in danger include the use of improper or inadequately maintained equipment, visibility problems at the site, incorrect attachments of scaffolding to the structure under construction, poor training and lax supervision.

OSHA, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has many safety requirements designed to minimize construction site deaths or injuries. The best of regulations and standards are no good, however, if they are ignored. OSHA inspectors can’t be everywhere. Worker safety depends largely on skill and training of the workers and the diligence of management. An example of stringent OSHA regulations are those regulating the digging of trenches. Depending on the size and depth of the trench and type of soil involved, OSHA regulations may impose standards regarding entrance and exit from the trench, structures to stabilize the walls of the trench, the proximity of heavy equipment, protection from falling rock and debris, methods to minimize the risk to the public of falling into the trench after work hours, and other items. Yet, despite OSHA’s sound and extensive trench regulations, trench collapses and other trench-related accidents kill or severely injure construction workers every year.

Whenever a worker is badly hurt in a construction accident, there are several keys to determining whether there is a valid and viable personal injury lawsuit that can be brought. Promptness in retaining counsel, and counsel’s speed in beginning his investigation, is critically important. There are often witnesses to a construction-site accident, as well as co-workers who, even if they did not see the accident, can provide valuable insight as to how it may have happened. The injured worker’s lawyer will want interview these people as soon as possible, before their memories fade or they become afraid to get involved. While not always possible, every effort should be made to obtain photographs of the site before it changes radically, and if potentially defective equipment was involved, to obtain the owner’s cooperation or a court order allowing for inspection of the equipment.

Construction accident cases often present an extra barrier to success compared with general personal injury cases. Under our worker compensation laws, an injured employee can obtain worker’s compensation regardless of who, if anyone’s, negligence caused the accident. In exchange for that guarantee, however, the injured worker cannot sue his employer. And worker’s compensation payments do not come close to adequate compensation for a life-altering injury. Fortunately, the worker retains his right to bring “third party actions,” that is lawsuits against parties other than the employer. If the worker is to have a chance at obtaining fair compensation, his lawyer must identify a third party whose carelessness caused the worker’s injury.

For example, if leased equipment was being used, the leasing company might be liable if faulty equipment or inadequate warnings on the equipment contributed to the accident. Sometimes a company other than the injured worker’s employer, was responsible for safety at all or part of the work site. Recovery against the third party is not limited by statute as in the case of worker’s compensation. Thus, adequate compensation for a catastrophic construction injury, may be obtained if the third party has sufficient insurance or assets. When a third party action is brought in a construction accident case, the worker’s compensation insurer typically has a lien to recoup from the third party judgment or settlement, the money the comp insurer paid to the worker. In most cases, the workers compensation insurer is willing to reduce its lien to enable the injured worker to keep more money from his third party case, and thus making settlement more likely. This practice makes sense, because without the third party action, the comp. insurer would not recover any of the money it paid out.

A safe work site is every workers right. Serious construction accidents should be investigated, and if due to the negligence of a party other than the worker’s employer, a third party lawsuit should be pursued.