Construction zones, building projects and construction sites are inherently dangerous, with heavy machinery and heavy construction materials constantly moving around and putting construction workers and bystanders at risk of harm. Construction site accidents injure and kill helpless construction workers and bystanders every year, forcing victims and their families to cope with the financial and emotional fallout of these injuries.

All Construction and Demolition employees in the State of New York have the right to safe working conditions, proper training, and functional equipment.

When a construction or demolition worker is physically injured or wrongfully killed while on the job, the negligent party may be held liable for damages. Injured workers are legally entitled to seek damages for their pain, suffering, medical costs, rehabilitation, psychological distress, lost wages, financial hardship, and any other expenses that may arise from the injury or accident.

Frequent causes of these types of accidents include:

• Negligence on the part of the site owner or general contractor
• Errors made by subcontractors
• Employer negligence
• Inadequate safety training
• Lack of Safety Equipment
• Slip and Fall
• Lifting Injuries
• Coworkers slipping, tripping or dropping an object
• OSHA and industrial code violations
• Equipment Malfunction
• Exposure to Toxic Substances
• Repetitive Motion Injuries
• Crane Collapses

Liability

Owners and general contractors have a legal obligation to maintain a safe work environment for their workers, and implement proper safety regulations and protocols.

New York Labor Law Section 240

Section 240 of the New York Labor Law outlines the safety measures that general contractors or construction site owners must take to prevent construction accidents. General contractors or construction site owners that fail to take these precautions may be held civilly liable by injured workers.

Even though your injury occurred at work, depending on the circumstances of your case, you may be entitled to compensation above and beyond workers’ compensation benefits. If your construction site injury was caused by a defective product, machine, or tool, you may have a defective product liability claim. Inadequate safety precautions, dangerous design, architectural defects or errors can result in other areas of liability.

Our New York construction accident attorneys have represented many injured construction workers in third party cases against defendants other than their employers. As with all our cases, we will examine and investigate your construction site injury claim from every perspective.

We have successfully represented clients who have been injured by falling objects, fallen from scaffolding, roofs and ladders, slipped, tripped and fell, been injured by earthmoving equipment, and who have suffered electrical injuries and burns.

Recently, we have settled the following cases:

$1.5 MILLION SETTLEMENT

for a carpenter and framer injured while working at a residential construction site in Stony Brook. While he was working on the site’s first floor, his head was struck by a piece of plywood that had been dropped from the site’s third floor. He was diagnosed with a skull fracture and a compound comminuted fracture of the frontal sinus. He underwent a craniotomy as well as sinus cranial elevation, exenteration and reconstruction.

$900,000 SETTLEMENT

for a 29 year old union bricklayer who was injured while performing masonry standing on a scaffold located in the rear of Canaan Elementary when one of the two thick, unsecured scaffold planks lifted and twisted toward the building. Plaintiff claimed that he sustained injuries to his right knee, right shoulder and cervical spine as a result of the accident. He ultimately underwent right knee reconstructive surgery and underwent physical therapy for his knee both before and after the surgery. In addition, he claimed that the accident caused him to suffer a C3-4 central disc bulge with an end-plate spur deforming the dural sac and straightening of the cervical lordosis. However, he did not seek treatment for his spinal condition.

$675,000 SETTLEMENT

for the wrongful death of a 49 year old construction worker who fell from an 8 foot ladder while he was cutting in the area of a large air conditioning unit. He became startled and fearing that the unit would fall on him, he jumped backward. He sustained blunt fatal trauma of the head and died at the age of 49. He was survived by his wife and 13 year old daughter, residents of Honduras.