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Why are construction sites so dangerous?
Construction sites pose many serious risks to those working at and around the area. Although construction companies and contractors are trained to maintain a safe environment, there are thousands of construction workers injured or killed on the job each year. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, construction workers suffered over 135,000 injuries on the job in one year. Of these, 1, 178 were fatal injuries, the highest number of fatalities for any industrial sector.
Starr Austen and Miller, Indiana construction accident lawyers, focuses on representing individuals and their family members in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases, such as those often involved in construction site accidents. If you or a loved one have been harmed in a construction site accident, contact us for a free consultation to discuss your case.
What if failing equipment caused my injury?
Construction workers must rely on manufacturers and equipment providers on sites. Poorly designed or maintained scaffolding, ladders and safety equipment fails everyday causing lifelong consequences. Indiana only allows workers to sue manufacturers or sellers of equipment for 10 years after their product is put into use. However, that law does not relieve the providers of equipment from their duty to properly maintain and inspect the equipment. Don’t let someone else’s mistake, laziness, or inattention to detail cause your injury to go unnoticed. Starr Austen & Miller, LLP has handled many class action and product liability lawsuits. We can properly advise you on these complex issues.
Starr Austen and Miller, construction accident lawyers in Indiana, focuses on representing individuals and their family members in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases, such as those often involved in construction site accidents. If you or a loved one have been harmed in a construction site accident, contact us for a free consultation to discuss your case.
What is “Fall Protection” and why is it so important?
The leading cause of worker fatalities in construction work is from falls. In addition to the over 100 deaths per year caused by falls thousands more construction workers are injured each year by them, according to OSHA statistics. Therefore, the issues of fall protection and training are often large issues in construction site accident litigation.
Common Types Of Fall Protection
The type of fall protection that must be utilized in certain construction situations is highly regulated by OSHA, and the number of regulations can seem staggering. Each of these regulations applies to a specific type of construction situation, and not to others, and often there are exceptions and gray areas which require a high level of expertise in workplace safety to properly interpret and implement. That is why an experienced construction site accident attorney should be consulted if you or a loved one were injured during a fall at a construction site.
However, here are some of the main types of fall protection often utilized on construction sites, for both commercial and residential construction, to protect workers from injuries from falls:
- Guardrail systems
- Safety net systems
- Personal fall arrest systems
- Warning line systems
- Safety monitoring systems
- Controlled access zones
If appropriate fall protection systems were not used or not properly constructed or installed on the construction site and a worker is injured or killed from a fall liability may ensue.
Workers Need To Be Properly Trained In Fall Protection
Not only do OSHA regulations require the use of certain types of fall protection in various situations on the construction site, but in addition these regulations require proper training for workers. Specifically, the regulations require that employers “train workers in the proper selection, use and maintenance of fall protection systems.” 29 CFR 1926 Subpart M.
The failure to properly train workers can lead to disastrous results, including injury or death. This means that the issue of training also plays an important role in many construction site accident cases involving falls. Experienced attorneys can help determine whether proper and adequate fall protection training was actually done at the construction site, including the proper written certifications of that training which are required by OSHA regulations.
Starr Austen and Miller, construction accident lawyers in Indiana, focuses on representing individuals and their family members in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases, such as those often involved in construction site accidents. If you or a loved one have been harmed in a construction site accident, contact us for a free consultation to discuss your case.
[Source: 5 Fall Protection Myths: Clear Up Construction Industry Misconceptions, by Mark Stromme]
What damages can a victim receive in a construction accident case?
The most common damages that victims of construction site accidents seek compensation for in Indiana are lost income, medical bills, pain and suffering, and loss of the enjoyment of life. The spouse of a victim may also have his/her own claim for the loss of services of the victim in the household.
Starr Austen and Miller, construction accident lawyers in Indiana, focuses on representing individuals and their family members in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases, such as those often involved in construction site accidents. If you or a loved one have been harmed in a construction site accident, contact us for a free consultation to discuss your case.
Who will prove what went wrong?
Our team of construction accident lawyers may also retain a professional with expertise in the various facets of construction accidents and OSHA compliance as an expert witness. An expert witness can help prove the liability of a general contractor, subcontractor, architect, or equipment manufacturer.
When should I talk to a lawyer about a construction accident?
If you or a family member has been injured at a construction site, it is important to get in touch with an experienced construction site accident lawyer right away. You may have as little as six months to take action to protect your suit and future recovery by complying with the Indiana Tort Claims Notice laws. These laws force victims to notify all negligent government entities of an accident within six months or they lose the ability to sue. We think you should talk to us first, but even if you don’t, talk to another attorney and protect yourself as soon as possible.
What can Starr Austen & Miller do to investigate my accident?
After your initial consultation meeting at our office with one of our construction accident lawyers, our team of attorneys will begin to investigate your accident. Our experienced team will carry out a comprehensive investigation of the accident scene and perform an in-depth examination of the equipment, materials and parties involved. Our staff will also search for eyewitnesses and record their accounts of what happened.
Using physical and eyewitness evidence, our team of construction accident lawyers will work diligently to prove that you were a victim of inadequate construction training, negligent supervision and/or maintenance of equipment, or alcohol and drug law violations, if possible.
It is imperative that you contact our firm as soon as possible after an accident, as the construction companies and their insurers will dispatch their own teams of experts to the scene shortly after the incident. As the reliability and accuracy of our investigation will depend on the timeliness of our response, it is in your best interest to reach Starr Austen & Miller as soon as possible after an accident.
How do I get started?
The construction accident attorney team of Starr Austen & Miller, LLP will review your case in a free consultation session and advise you on how to proceed. Time is of the essence to collect and maintain evidence of the accident and put all negligent parties on notice of their fault. Contact us today.
Why shouldn’t I face the construction company or their insurer alone?
Construction companies, their insurers, and their lawyers will sometimes attempt to offer a quick settlement outside of court to victims who have not yet found legal representation. They do so in order to avoid an official admission of blame and the possibility of being forced to pay a large judgment after a trial.
The construction company and its insurer will have their own team of experts that will be ready to investigate the scene of the accident immediately after it occurs. They may then use any information they gain from this investigation in combination with their legal expertise to intimidate a victim without legal representation into taking an unfair and insufficient settlement. However, we believe that you deserve the full and just amount of compensation available to you by law.
Starr Austen and Miller, as Indiana construction accident attorneys, focus on representing individuals and their family members in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases, such as those often involved in construction site accidents. If you or a loved one have been harmed in a construction site accident, contact us for a free consultation to discuss your case.
Please note that results of past cases cannot guarantee future success. To our present and future clients, we commit our best efforts. However, because each case involves many different factors, results will always be different from case-to-case. Cases that may seem similar to the cases listed here are not guaranteed to have the same or similar result. Each case is dependent upon its own set of facts and the only common factor in all the cases summarized here and throughout our website is that Starr Austen & Miller, LLP represented the client.