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Construction Accidents - Personal Injury: | ||
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Your legal representative should have experience in the inspection of worksites, identification of critical witnesses and preservation of importance evidence. While there exists a myriad of laws that may impact your ability to recover for a worksite accident, an attorney can help by providing accident victims or their employers with information regarding the practical and legal aspects of personal injury law, workers' compensation laws, and construction site claims. Although the Code of Federal Regulations (OSHA requirements) have mitigated certain risks in the construction workplace, construction remains the second most dangerous work environment (second only to agriculture, and excluding highway fatalities). In the United States, there are about 1200 fatalities per year on construction sites. Approximately one third of those are related to falling hazards. In addition to fatalities and injuries, construction accidents have obvious economic consequences. It is estimated that about 6% of total construction costs are for repairing structural failures; soft costs from delays and business interruption create other losses. Construction accidents take many forms. The most common type of accident resulting in fatality or injury is falling to a lower level (about one-third of all construction-related accidents). Other common accidents include transportation-related accidents (1 in 4 fatalities), impacts and collapses (1 in 5), and electrocutions (1 in 10). Although the causes vary, responses to construction accidents often have common elements. After the victims have been cared for, the accident area is evaluated, and unsafe conditions, such as unstable debris or dangerous materials, are mitigated so that investigation and clearing of the site can proceed. Once the possible causes are identified, hazards related to other similar conditions at the site are mitigated, and appropriate repairs are engineered and implemented. An important aspect of the response is preservation of key evidence so that the investigation can continue after the construction has resumed. Evidence preservation can include photographic and/or video documentation of the site and preservation of the materials or components involved in the accident. Preserved materials may then be sampled for laboratory testing to determine whether material or construction defects contributed. Often the desire to resume construction as soon as possible conflicts with the desire to preserve the accident conditions until all parties are satisfied with their investigation. Parties with any potential liability should have access to the evidence prior to its destruction. Typical processes after an accident include:
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