Construction Accident Lawyer Staten Island

Construction is a vital occupation for the social and economic well-being of our country. However, it can also be dangerous. Because of the high rate of construction site accidents in New York, the state has passed several laws to protect those who have suffered a personal injury due to a construction accident. Labor Law 240, alternatively known as the Scaffolding Law, is just one such example. This labor law holds general contractors and employers responsible for injuries that occur when they do not provide construction workers with proper safety devices to prevent height-related falls.

Labor Law 240 is just one of several similar laws intended to help accident victims in the construction industry. If you have sustained a serious injury on a construction site, we urge you to contact the personal injury law firm of O’Dwyer & Bernstien today. You will work with an experienced Staten Island construction accident lawyer from your initial consultation until your case settles.

As a local law firm serving Staten Island, Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and other parts of New York City, we have helped injured residents obtain more than $500,000,000 in financial payouts from negligent parties. O’Dwyer & Bernstien has roots dating back more than 100 years when Paul O’Dwyer, William O’Dwyer, and Oscar Bernstien founded our law firm in New York City in the early 1900s. We continue to uphold their ideals by fighting hard for the underdog. This includes people injured in construction accidents.

Who is a Construction Worker?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just over 1.6 million Americans worked in the construction industry in 2018. The general definition of a construction worker is one who performs physical labor at a construction site. This covers a range of positions, including the following:

• Carpenters
• Electricians
• Equipment operators
• Ironworkers
• Masons
• Laborers
• Pipefitters
• Plumbers

Regardless of your specific position in the construction industry, your risk of serious injury or death is significantly higher than that of other professions. The nature of the work itself increases the potential for devastating, life-changing injuries. Our law office will work with you to pursue maximum compensation for any significant injury you sustained in the construction industry.

Most Common Types of Construction Accidents Leading to Serious Injuries

Working with heavy machinery and at extreme heights are just two of the factors that can make construction site accidents more severe than other workplace injuries. Some common causes of work site injuries include:

• Backovers
• Building collapse
• Crane collapse
• Crushed between two vehicles, a building and heavy equipment, and other scenarios
• Electrocutions
• Explosions
• Falls from heights, ladders, or scaffolding
• Heavy machinery accidents
• Hoist accidents
• Industrial code violations
• Scaffolding collapse
• Slip and fall accidents
• Struck by a falling object
• Trench collapse

Remember that these represent only the most typical ways a construction worker can sustain a serious injury or suffer wrongful death. Our personal injury lawyers can assist with any type of construction accident cases.

Types of Injuries You May Suffer in a Construction Accident

While a minor injury might require only a few weeks at home to recover, serious injuries could leave you with the inability to work and sizable medical bills. Chronic injuries like repetitive use or muscle strains might not produce the same severity, but they can affect your day-to-day life for years to come. Regardless of your situation, you can depend on a construction accident attorney from O’Dwyer & Bernstien to fight for maximum compensation.

Examples of serious personal injury cases we have assisted other clients in the NYC area with include:

• Amputation of a limb, toe, or finger
• Broken bones
• Burns caused by explosions, electrocutions, and other types of fire
• Eye injury, including blindness, when an object impales a construction worker
• Fractures
• Hearing loss, including deafness, from repeated exposure to construction site noise or lack of proper hearing protection
• Heat stress leading to wrongful death as well as kidney, heart, or brain damage
• Frostbite or hypothermia causing toe and finger amputations and even partial loss of the face
• Lacerations and deep cuts from machinery, nails, tools, and more
• Lead exposure
• Paralysis, including paraplegia and quadriplegia
• Pneumoconiosis diseases related to asbestos, black lung, and silicosis
• Post-traumatic stress disorder from your own construction accident or witnessing an accident that killed or seriously injured a co-worker
• Toxic chemical exposure
• Traumatic brain injury

As with accident causes, these accident types are just some examples of those suffered by New York State construction workers. O’Dwyer & Bernstien is on the side of injured workers. Please don’t hesitate to reach out for legal advice today regardless of the type of injury you suffered.

More About Construction Labor Laws in New York State

New York enforces three labor laws specific to the construction industry. We touched on Labor Law 240, the scaffolding law, above. Your situation might also fall under the guidelines of Labor Law 200 or Labor Law 241.

Labor Law 200

Also known as Common Law Negligence, requires general contractors and construction company owners to use reasonable caution and provide everyone with a safe working environment. It also offers legal protection if you’re injured during a visit to a construction site but didn’t actually work at one yourself.

Labor Law 241

Specifically addresses injuries that occur during demolition, excavation, or while using certain types of safety equipment. It requires general contractors and employers to set up sites and equipment in such a way that it minimizes the potential for injury.

While the workers’ compensation system in New York doesn’t normally allow injured workers to sue their employer, you may have a legitimate personal injury claim under one of these three labor laws. Your best course of action is to request a free consultation with O’Dwyer & Bernstien as soon as possible since labor laws and workers’ compensation issues can quickly become complex and overwhelming.

In New York, you have three years from the date of your construction accident to file a personal injury claim. This drops to two years for a wrongful death claim when a close family member dies from a construction site accident. The timeframe can be as little as 90 days if your construction accident involved any local, state, or federal government entity.

Contact Us for a Free Case Evaluation Today

Even if you currently collect workers’ compensation benefits, it’s worth your time to learn whether you would benefit from hiring personal injury attorneys for your construction accident case. We invite you to use our contact form to request an initial consultation with O’Dwyer & Bernstien. After learning more about your situation, we will provide an honest assessment about your best course of action going forward.

Our construction accident attorneys understand that your life is on hold due to the negligent actions of a general contractor, your employer, or another party.