Construction Accident FAQ

Are there many construction accidents each year in the United States?

In 2000, there were a total of 5,915 workers fatally injured on the job and this was just in the US alone. Amazingly this numbered had dropped by 2% from previous years. To average this out, it would work out to about sixteen workers a day. In this total, construction workers took the lead of fatalities with 2,118, more than any other occupational group in the US.

What sort of factors can result to falls on a construction site?

If you are working in construction, the number one fear is a construction fall. Construction workers have fallen off just about everything, but the most common are floors and roofs. Many contractors have been killed when someone removes a sheet of plywood from a floor to use somewhere else and doesn’t mark the area. Suddenly the floor that you knew was there a few minutes ago is gone and you are falling through the hole where you were walking a short time ago. Another fall factor is a ladder – a common item on the site. Many construction workers have been killed by falling off scaffolds.

What are some of the other causes of injury or death on construction sites?

Electrocution is still the major cause of deaths in construction and part of the reason for this is that electricity is usually taken for granted in the work place. If you are working on a job site, it is the responsibility of the general manager or the owner to see that all electrical lines are defined before they begin their project.

Every accident that occurs on a construction site can be horrific, but trench accidents seem to be the worst of all. Trenching exposes the construction worker to many dangers if the owner or general contractor has not put the proper safety measures in place to ensure that the worker is protected while carrying out his or her job. Of course a collapse or cave in are the most dangerous things that have to be guarded against. When this happens the injuries are often fatal, due to the worker being covered up in the blink of an eye. There are many reasons a trench can collapse. A machine working too near the edge of the support wall may be the cause of it collapsing or if there has been a recent hard rain it could shift the gravel and end up collapsing.

Welding can be a very dangerous job, and is often the cause of accidents on construction sites. This is especially true when you think about the more than 500,000 workers that are injured annually from welding, cutting and braising. The risk of fatal injury is more than four deaths per thousand over a working lifetime. There are regulations put in place for the protection of the worker and the job requires use of safety protection.

The hazards of welding are many and can be very serious. The ultra violet rays emitted by the welding process can give a very bad burn to not only exposed skin, but also to the lens of the eye. There are UV rays in welding and can cause what is called “arc eye” which many welders have suffered from. This is usually caused by direct exposure of UV rays to the eye.

Can I get compensation for injuries from a construction site accident?

If you are in construction then you are in a job of high risk for injury. If you are injured on a construction site, then you will probably have a case for a Construction Accident Lawsuit and there are some very good reasons for this. Construction work often requires a person to work at a higher elevation than most jobs. This poses a higher risk than most jobs and it is a proven fact that construction kills more than 362 people a year. These falls often occur on ladders, scaffolds and roofs, but can happen anywhere there is construction.

If you find yourself injured working in construction, then you have no choice but to contact a lawyer and this is best done from the beginning. They are well trained in what to investigate to make sure that the blame goes right where it belongs. None of us like to sue, but if you are injured it could mean not only your lifestyle changed by this, but also the lifestyle of your whole family. Not only would you have to suffer the pain of the injury itself, but also the financial burden of not being able to work and this can have a major impact on you and your family. Your recovery time could take months or years and that endangers the financial stability of your family as well as yourself.

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