Construction zones are inherently dangerous places to work. Tall structures, heavy machinery, hazardous materials, and gravity ensure that even minor mistakes can lead to catastrophic injuries. As New York City undergoes rapid development and renovation, construction accidents remain common despite safety precautions. If you or a loved one suffers injuries on a Manhattan job site, contacting an experienced construction accident lawyer should be your top priority.
Hazards of Construction Work
Before delving into legal matters, it’s important to recognize the inherent hazards workers face every day on project sites. Proper safety procedures and oversight can help mitigate risks, but construction will never be completely safe. Some of the most common dangers include:
Falls
Working at heights of even a single story poses serious fall risks. Scaffolds, floors, and rooftops all provide plenty of opportunities to trip or lose balance. Falls remain the leading cause of death for construction workers, with over 300 fatal falls per year nationwide, according to OSHA statistics.
Struck By/Caught Between Injuries
With large equipment, swinging materials, and tight quarters, there is a constant risk of getting caught or struck by moving objects. Cranes, backhoes, trucks, materials, and more can seriously injure or crush anyone who isn’t paying close attention.
Electrical Shock/Electrocutions
Working near powered lines and tools brings daily electrocution hazards. High-voltage equipment must be locked out whenever accessed to avoid energized contact.
Respiratory/Skin Hazards
Demolition and renovation projects expose workers to asbestos, silica dust, lead paint, and other toxic materials. Inhaling these substances or having them touch skin over the long term causes serious illnesses.
Equipment Accidents
Operating heavy machinery like forklifts, cranes, and jackhammers presents risks of rollovers, collisions, and equipment failures that can lead to amputations or crushing injuries. Equipment operators require extensive training and certification to work safely.
Establishing and enforcing strong safety protocols helps avoid many accident types. However, human error and unexpected events still regularly lead to painful and expensive construction site injuries across New York City. With so much that can possibly go wrong in inherently hazardous work environments, retaining experienced legal counsel after an accident is critical.
Why You Need a Construction Accident Lawyer
If injured at a Manhattan construction site, contacting an attorney should be an immediate priority. Construction accident lawyers specialize in helping victims through what can otherwise be a frustrating legal process alone. Some major benefits of representation include:
Filing Compensation Claims
An attorney can guide the filing of workers’ compensation and liability claims to fully access available benefits. Deadlines must be met, and complex rules apply; missing one technicality risks losing financial coverage for medical bills and lost wages. Lawyers understand these systems.
Investigating Responsible Parties
Correctly assigning liability requires skillfully investigating accident circumstances. Lawyers request documents, conduct witness interviews, and analyze site conditions/safety protocols to determine responsible owners/employers. Negligence must be proven to receive damages beyond basic workers’ comp.
Negotiating Settlements
With the leverage of legal expertise and the threat of litigation, attorneys negotiate stronger settlement offers from liable insurance companies. Medical costs, lost income, and pain/suffering amounts may exceed basic coverage without settlement negotiations by counsel.
Preparing for Court
If liable parties refuse reasonable settlement, construction accident attorneys prepare strong liability/damages cases for court. They understand construction industry standards of care and have experience effectively arguing negligence before judges and juries.
In summary, navigating complex legal and insurance systems after suffering construction injuries requires expertise most victims lack. An attorney specializing in these claims will protect rights, maximize compensation, and help get just resolutions more effectively than going it alone through overwhelming post-accident problems. Their representation provides injured parties with needed advocacy, answers, and reassurances during stressful recovery periods.
Essential Steps After a Construction Site Accident
While obtaining timely legal counsel provides essential assistance, accident victims also must take certain initial steps themselves. Proper response immediately after an injury affects the preservation of rights and evidence. Here are some actions all construction workers should follow after any on-site incident:
Seek Medical Attention
The top priority must always be proper medical treatment. Even minor injuries like strains/sprains can worsen without examination; more serious problems could be overlooked. Get checked by a doctor as soon as possible, preferably within 24 hours. Employers generally control medical provider choice under workers’ comp.
Report the Injury Promptly
Report accidents verbally to supervisors before leaving the site, then follow up in writing (e.g., incident report). Prompt reporting supports potential compensation claims and shows the injury arose from duties. Failure to alert the employer in a timely manner risks claim denial.
Preserve Evidence
When safe to do so, take photos of accident scenes and damaged/failing equipment. Collect contact info for witnesses on site. This evidence strengthens a potential liability case by proving accident circumstances to lawyers down the line.
Consult an Attorney ASAP
Even before insurance issues arise, consulting a construction accident attorney about rights establishes an attorney-client relationship that protects privilege and ensures timely access to counsel should problems occur. Initial consultations often come at low or no cost.
Taking action on these areas immediately after an injury smooths the process of seeking appropriate financial and medical support through workers’ compensation while preserving negligence claims rights if warranted. An attorney can then assume representation with a documented, organized claim ready for pursuit. Prompt response creates the strongest hand in seeking resolution.
Common Causes of Construction Accidents
Understanding prevalent accident causes on worksites provides context for what types of incidents most commonly lead to injuries and potential liability claims. Some scenarios construction accident lawyers frequently encounter:
Scaffolding/Fall Protection Failures
When scaffolding platforms, railings, harnesses, or other fall prevention equipment prove defective or not utilized properly, results can be catastrophic. Proper installation, inspection, and training save lives on a daily basis.
Crane/Lifting Equipment Malfunctions
Crane tip-overs, dropped loads, broken rigging components, and improperly rated lifting gear often seriously hurt workers or bystanders below. Operators require certification and strict equipment maintenance and inspection.
Hazardous Equipment Defects
Malfunctioning vehicles, power tools with exposed moving parts, jackhammers cracking/splintering, or frayed high voltage cords all pose significant threats without frequent safety checks. Manufacturers share responsibility.
Material Storage/Handling Errors
Heavy building materials precariously stacked without braces, traffic routes not separated from lifting zones, and delivery trucks unsafely positioned lead to crushed limbs and head injuries.
Insufficient or Missing Fall Protection
Whether guardrails, personal protective gear like harnesses/lanyards/netting, or covered floor openings, the lack of redundant fall arrest gear causes many construction deaths annually in New York.
Toxic Fume/Substance Exposure
Unless proper ventilation equipment, protective suits/respirators, and containment protocols guard workers from demolition byproducts like asbestos and lead paint, chronic illness results from minimal exposures over the years.
Construction accident attorneys work tirelessly to prove liability in these typical scenarios of insufficient protocols, defective equipment, and negligence allowing known hazards. Establishing accountability facilitates just compensation for injuries inevitably stemming from this high-risk work.
Recovering Damages from Construction Accidents
When liability claims against responsible parties prove successful, accident victims become entitled to various categories of damages to compensate for losses. Construction lawyers help determine specific harms and calculate reasonable amounts for recovery through settlements or judge/jury verdicts. Common damage types pursued include:
Medical Expenses
All past and future bills for doctors, medications, surgeries, hospitalization, rehabilitation, wheelchairs, or any other care required as a result of the accident injuries.
Lost Earnings
Attorneys calculate lost income, both during recovery periods when they are unable to work and expected lifetime limitations on future ability to earn as high of wages due to disability or disfigurement.
Pain and Suffering
No exact financial formula exists for valuing the immense mental/physical anguish caused by injuries, disfigurement, or loss of function. Courts award amounts to acknowledge this inherent harm beyond other damages.
Loss of Consortium
When accidents incapacitate a spouse, this damage category covers losses of love, affection, society, sexual relations, and marital support that uninjured partners suffer due to their partner’s reduced functioning.
Punitive Damages
In the most egregious cases of conscious disregard for human life through safety violations, extra-high awards beyond actual damages aim to financially penalize and deter unacceptable negligence in the future.
With an attorney’s guidance factoring all losses into comprehensive damage calculations, construction accident victims gain thorough yet reasonable compensation through negotiated resolutions or litigation pursuing the full extent of harm. Proper relief allows moving forward after tragic injuries.