Work in the construction industry is notoriously dangerous, and construction workers are injured every year in preventable accidents. Speak to a lawyer about your accident and injuries to determine if you have a valid claim for damages.
Numerous steps are involved in the legal process of getting fair compensation. You need to report your injury to your employer, get to a hospital, contact the appropriate authorities, and meet with an attorney as quickly as possible. Construction accidents occur under a variety of circumstances. Falls, defective tools, inadequate safety procedures, and other risk factors are common across many cases. How your accident occurred might influence the severity of your injuries and the nature of your damages.
Call (732) 838-9769 and speak to our construction accident and injury lawyers about scheduling a free case review with us at Legal Care New Jersey.
What to Do to Get Financial Compensation for Construction Accidents and Injuries in Trenton, NJ
A lawsuit can help you get full and fair compensation for your many damages after being hurt in a construction accident. The road to compensation is often longer and more arduous than people realize. Taking certain steps might make your lawsuit a bit smoother of a process.
Report the Injury
You should report your injuries to your employer as soon as possible, ideally immediately after the accident. Workers are sometimes afraid to report accidents and injuries to employers. First, they fear they might be blamed for the accident and fired. Second, they fear their employer will deem them too injured to work and fire them. While the potential consequences are intimidating, you should report the accident to those in charge right away.
Reporting the accident helps to create a record of the accident you might need later during your lawsuit. It might be difficult to sue your employer or other liable parties for damages when they were never informed of the accident in the first place.
Records of when you were injured help us establish a timeline for your case. Our construction accident and injury attorneys can definitively identify the date of your accident based on records maintained by your employer. If you do not report the accident, there are no records of the accident, and proving your claims might be harder.
Get to a Hospital
Once your employer has been notified, you should get to a hospital immediately. Even if you feel like your injuries are not severe and that a visit to the emergency room is unnecessary, you should still be checked out by a doctor. First, seeing a doctor is better for your overall health. You might have invisible or internal injuries that need urgent care. Second, your medical records are important for assessing damages.
The sooner you get to the hospital, the sooner doctors can document your injuries and treatment. Waiting to seek treatment might mean your medical records are less than accurate in terms of the severity of your injuries. We need these records to help us establish your damages and argue for compensation.
Contact the Authorities
Another important step involves contacting the authorities. While many constriction accidents are unintentional mishaps, others are not. Perhaps someone wanted to hurt you, or maybe a disgruntled former employee intentionally set up the accident. In such situations, you should contact the police, even if your employer tells you not to. The police might investigate the situation and uncover evidence and information we can use in a lawsuit.
You might also want to contact the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) about the accident. It is not unusual for construction workers to be forced to work under very unsafe conditions. OSHA has very strict guidelines regarding worker safety in construction. A violation might lead to an OSHA investigation, which might uncover important information regarding how the accident occurred and who is to blame. OSHA violations can be reported anonymously, so your boss will never know you made the call.
Call a Lawyer
You also need to call a lawyer right away. Construction injuries are complex, and various legal options might be available. Sometimes, injured workers are covered by Workers’ Compensation. Workers are often not covered because they are classified as independent contractors. Unfortunately, many workers are misclassified by their employers so their employers can avoid paying for Workers’ Compensation insurance. An attorney can help you determine the best legal options for your case.
Your attorney can also help you determine who should be held liable. While your employer might be an obvious culprit, third parties like manufacturers of defective power tools might also share liability.
How Your Construction Accident and Injuries Might Have Happened in Trenton, NJ
Construction sites are risky places to work, and a myriad of injuries and accidents are possible when safety protocols are not imposed or ignored. Some of the most common and most serious kinds of injuries are falling injuries. Even a fall from the top of a standard ladder can leave workers badly injured. Greater falls from rooftops or high windows can be especially devastating, if not deadly.
Workers are also frequently injured by faulty or damaged power tools and equipment. Perhaps a nail gun misfired, or the guard on a table saw failed. In those cases, the manufacturer of the faulty equipment might be liable. Proving such claims is difficult but not impossible. We must show that the defect or damage existed when you purchased the equipment and that you were using the equipment in a safe manner for its intended purpose.
Inadequate safety protocols are another very common cause of construction accidents. Employers are responsible for making sure that construction zones are as safe as possible for workers. Since construction is an inherently dangerous field, a lot of work is involved in ensuring safety. Employers should provide adequate training and safety gear and abide by mandated safety protocols.
Call Our Trenton, NJ Construction Accident and Injury Attorneys for Legal Support
Call (732) 838-9769 and talk to our construction accident and injury attorneys about arranging a free case evaluation with us at Legal Care New Jersey.
