If you are hurt at a construction site as a pedestrian or other type of non-employee, then you could have legal recourse to recover damages for your injury. Medical costs, lost wages, pain & suffering and an inability to do what you once did can all arise from a serious construction site injury, so recovering this money can be critically important to resuming your life.
When trying to pursue damages for a construction site injury, legal professionals must examine the nature of the injury and the possibility of negligence. Establishing negligent behavior can provide a relatively direct cause of action as long as the factors needed are present. When evaluating your possible options and weighing a claim against a construction company, consider the following information.
Types of Construction Mistakes That Can Lead to Injury
There are many possible types of injury that can result from an improperly managed construction site, but here are some of the specific conditions that could commonly lead to such injuries:
Insufficient Signage
Pedestrians and drivers need to have plenty of advance warning regarding the perils of a construction site in their vicinity. Even with barricades and overhead nets in place, these bystanders must have notice of possible risks up above them or around them in order to take actions that preserve their own safety.
Insufficient Barricading or Protections
Depending on the type of project and the surrounding development, getting too close to a construction project can invite tremendous risk. Construction workers must wear specific protections like hardhats to mitigate these risks, but pedestrians will not have these protections. Project supervisors, therefore, have a duty to keep people from accidentally entering the job site or straying too close to a high-risk area.
Failure to Secure Tools, Materials, and Other Equipment
Falling tools and other materials are extremely common causes of serious injury near construction sites. Job supervisors for all teams have an important duty to train workers on safe habits, monitor sites for dangerous conditions and provide equipment like tool hooks and adequate tool belts in order to prevent these accidents.
Failure to Maintain Equipment
Construction equipment such as cranes or scaffolds should be regularly inspected in order to reduce the risk of equipment failure, which can easily lead to a traumatic accident. When investigating negligence, legal teams often look to evidence of regular inspections and proper follow-through — or a lack thereof.
Filing a Negligence Claim After Getting Hurt at a Construction Site
In order to pursue damages for your injury, you will need to prove these three things to establish a negligence claim:
- A duty of care on the part of a construction company to prevent dangerous site conditions, as outlined above
- A breach of the duty that led to a dangerous condition or a direct accident
- A personal injury that directly resulted from the breach of duty
Regarding the last point, construction companies may try to allege that injury victims contributed to their own injury or that the injury was otherwise not the direct result of a breach of their duty of care. They may also try to deny liability, stating that some other company like a subcontractor should ultimately have taken responsibility for the site conditions.
Both situations demand expertise, experience, and professional dedication when pursuing a construction injury claim. Consider hiring a New Jersey workers’ compensation lawyer to handle your claim and increase your chances of successful damages recovery.
You can contact the Law Offices of Peter N. Davis to receive a free consultation and to potentially start your injury claim today.