What are the Top 4 Construction Fatalities?

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Fatal Four construction injuries are the deadliest construction site injuries in New Jersey. Because of the high risk of serious injury, employers have a triple safety responsibility in this area. Employers must provide proper safety equipment, effectively instruct workers how to use it, and stress the importance of this safety equipment.

The Fatal Four construction injuries are also perhaps the most preventable construction site injuries in New Jersey. However, mostly for cost reasons, many employers don’t take necessary precautions. To them, employee safety is an unnecessary additional cost, since they already have workers’ compensation insurance. Many people are less likely to buy security systems if their goods are fully insured.

SFatal Four survivors usually have several legal options under state law. Only an experienced injury lawyer effectively evaluates your case and sorts out these legal options. We realize that legal action is probably the last thing on a family’s mind in the wake of a fatal workplace accident. But, quite frankly, these families need money to move on with their lives, and a skilled attorney knows how to obtain it.

Falls

When buildings are under construction, their floors are usually covered with dirt and other debris. A wrong step could mean a serious slip-and-fall injury. A fall from a height is even more likely to be fatal. Most people don’t survive a fall from higher than four stories above ground level.

Internal hemorrhaging is often the official cause of death in these cases. Falls cause internal organs to grind and bump against each other. The friction usually causes severe bleeding, since internal organs don’t have protective skin layers. Such internal bleeding is hard to detect and locate, especially for emergency responders who don’t have sophisticated diagnostic equipment. It’s also hard to stop at a hospital.

Construction companies could prevent most or all fatal falls if they stressed PPE (personal protective equipment) use, like a safety harness, perimeter protection, and gap sealing, as well as ladder and scaffolding safety.

Falls and other construction injuries could affect workers and non-workers alike. Most non-worker construction accident victims are people caught in poorly-labeled construction, demolition, or renovation zones. More on that below.

Electrocution

These injuries sometimes overlap with falls. When a person touches a live electrical wire, the power surge arc blast usually throws the victim through the air. If the victim was far above ground at the time, a deadly fall is almost inevitable.

Other times, an electrical surge triggers involuntary muscle contractions in the hand (the no-let-go response). If that happens, the victim touches a wire that’s hotter than the surface temperature of the sun for at least one or two seconds.

Those few brief moments are more than sufficient to cause third or fourth-degree burns. Such wounds require extensive, and expensive, treatment at regional burn centers. Additionally, the average burn injury-related hospital stay is much longer than the average injury-related hospital stay. As a result, medical costs skyrocket.

A failure to account for overhead power lines causes many electrocution injuries, followed by using power tools that aren’t double grounded.

Workers’ compensation usually covers worker Fatal Four injuries. These matters are no-fault cases. To obtain compensation for injured non-workers, a North Jersey personal injury lawyer must usually prove negligence, or a lack of care. 

The assumption of the risk defense may apply in some of these cases. A “Construction Zone: Keep Out” or other such warning sign may make this defense available.

However, a sign isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. In New Jersey, the defendant must still prove that the victim:

• Voluntarily Assumed: Many older people have poor eyesight and cannot see warning signs in nursing homes or other long-term care facilities, especially if the light was poor.
• Known Risk: Many New Jersey injury victims are LEP (limited English proficiency) individuals who cannot read English words like “caution.” Other victims are young children who cannot understand the risk involved.

If a court determines that a non-employee construction accident victim voluntarily assumed a known risk, perhaps by ignoring a sign, the court usually reduces the victim’s compensation accordingly.
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Struck By

Falling objects often cause serious injuries at construction sites. If Tim drops a wrench on his foot, he might break his toe. If Tim drops a wrench from fifty stories above ground, the victim will sustain a much more severe injury.

Hard hats prevent some, but not all, head injuries. As mentioned above, distributing such equipment and posting a “hard hat required” sign isn’t enough. Employers must also enforce the rule and tell workers why the rule is important.

TBIs (Traumatic Brain Injuries) kill about 50,000 Americans every year. These injuries are permanent and degenerative. Dead brain cells don’t regenerate. 

Worker carelessness, as opposed to unsafe conditions, usually causes struck by injuries. In some states, if a negligent co-worker causes an injury, a civil claim may be available. But in New Jersey, workers’ compensation is usually the exclusive remedy in such cases.

To prevent such injuries, supervisors should tell workers that a hand tool is like a hand gun. Never take it out unless you intend to use it.
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Caught Between

This final category usually includes motor vehicle collisions and excavation trench injuries. Many victims are caught between a large motor vehicle and a fixed object, like a retaining wall. Unreinforced construction trenches are prone to collapse, and the victim is caught between the falling rubble.

Once again, workers’ compensation usually covers caught between injuries. These no-fault benefits replace lost wages and pay medical bills. However, insurance companies don’t hand out these benefits like candy on Halloween. Lawmakers have steadily reduced workers’ compensation insurance premiums over the years. Since there’s less money in the system, attorneys must work hard to obtain a fair-sized piece of a shrinking financial pie.

Work With a Dedicated Lawyer

Injury victims are entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Newark, contact CourtLaw. The sooner you reach out to us, the sooner we start working for you.
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