Understand Your Right to Collect Damages for Construction Injuries
Many injured workers mistakenly assume that if they are hurt on the job, they are limited to workers’ compensation benefits as their only source of payment. This can be a very costly mistake. While workers’ compensation may be the exclusive remedy against the worker’s employer, the Labor Law routinely provides construction workers with the right to seek damages from companies or contractors other than their employers, such as the building or property owner, the general contractor and construction manager. The amount of damages recovered in construction accident cases is often very substantial.
With many different contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and vendors involved in different aspects of a construction project, our NYC Construction Accident Lawyercan often prove that someone unrelated to your own company was responsible in whole or in part for your accident. This gives you the right to pursue an injury claim even while your workers’ compensation application is going through your employer’s insurance carrier.
File for Workers’ Compensation Benefits & Consult with a Construction Accident Attorney
You can have a personal injury lawsuit and a workers’ compensation claim going on at the same time. In most cases, personal injury lawsuits cover a wider range of damages and losses and will provide a much greater recovery than a workers’ compensation claim, so it works to your advantage to sue a negligent third-party for personal injury whenever the facts and the law will support the civil action. Unlike workers compensation claims, you have the right to a jury trial in personal injury cases where you can recover substantial pain and suffering damage awards that are not available in a workers’ compensation claim.
At The Pryor Law Firm, we can give you a clear understanding of your legal rights following any injury or accident on a worksite. New York City construction accident lawyer Kenneth A. Pryor represents construction workers from all trades, such as carpenters, electricians, steamfitters, plumbers, iron workers, laborers, HVAC, masons, demolition, bridge painters, sandblasters, heavy equipment operators, roofers, road workers, welders, gas company workers, utility company workers, landscapers and drivers who have suffered injuries on the job.
Our New York City Construction Accident Attorney will help you develop and prove your personal injury case for money damages across a variety of circumstances:
- Fall from scaffolds
- Falls from ladders
- Falls from heights
- Injuries caused by falling objects
- Trip and fall injuries on construction site
- Slip and fall injuries on construction site
- Eye injuries from debris or flying objects
- Accidents caused by a structural collapse
- Injuries while using power tools and other construction equipment
- Injuries due to unsafe construction practices
- Injuries due to OSHA violations and safety code violations
- Trip-and-fall injuries caused by poorly stored materials or debris
- Excavation accidents and trench collapses
- Manhole accidents and steam injuries
- Crane accidents
- Electrical shock injuries
- Fires, explosions, burn injuries and chemical burns
- Excavation accidents
- Construction vehicle accidents
While working on your case, The Pryor Law Firm can also help you gain access to the best possible medical treatment for your injuries. We are ready to help you and get started working on your potential case.
Presenting Construction Accident Claims Under New York State Labor Law
While most personal injury lawsuits require the injured party to prove that someone else was careless or negligent before damages will be awarded on the claim, such as car accident cases, many work-related construction site accidents require no proof of negligence or fault before damages will be awarded or paid to the injured worker.
Several sections of the New York Labor Law and the Industrial Code of New York create special rules in favor of workers engaged in employment such as construction, building rehabilitation or repair, building renovations, window cleaning, installation, painting and the like. When people are injured in a so-called “labor law” case, there is often no need to prove negligence. Instead, you may only have to prove that one of these Labor Law or Industrial Code safety sections applies to your situation and that you were injured as a result of a violation of the Labor Law.
Understand Your Rights Under New York Labor Laws
To get the maximum benefit from your rights in a New York labor law case, it helps to work with an attorney who understands how to use the legal tools available for your protection. Contact The Pryor Law Firm for a free consultation. We have recovered millions of dollars for injured construction workers under Labor Law Section 240, Labor Law Section 241 and Labor Law Section 200 and we can help you understand your rights and protect your interest in full payment for your injuries.
With offices in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Nassau County, our firm is convenient for injured workers throughout New York City and Long Island. If you can’t come to visit us, we can visit you at your home or in the hospital.
Legal Protection in Ladder or Scaffold Injury Cases
Section 240(1) of the Labor Law is a statute that protects workers who work at an elevated height or above ground level and, therefore, risks serious injury, disability or death if they fall from a height and holds certain contractors and property owners strictly liable for injuries resulting from this type of work. This statute requires not just employers, but various contractors and even the property owners to provide suitable safety equipment and protective devices for workers who work at elevations, including work on scaffolds and ladders. It further requires that such equipment and devices be properly assembled and installed, and the workers need to be trained in their proper use. Any violation of Labor Law Section 240 that results in injury will render the property owner and certain contractors strictly liable and responsible to pay the full amount of the injured person’s losses, whether or not anyone else was at fault. In fact, this law does not allow the defendants in the case to claim that the worker was at fault, in whole or in part, in causing his/her own accident as a defense to liability, except in limited circumstances.
Section 240 of the Labor Law is often known as New York’s “scaffolding law” because it frequently applies to injuries suffered on ladders, scaffolds or any other overhead structure used for construction, painting, window washing and other work performed at heights. The Pryor Law Firm’s experience and familiarity with the details of labor law litigation represents a major advantage for anyone who has been hurt in a work-related fall.
Labor Law Section 241 Protects Other Construction Workers
Section 241(6) of the New York Labor Law similarly gives broad legal protection to all workers, including ground-level workers, engaged in construction, demolition, repair, rehabilitation and other worksite activities. The Pryor Law Firm represents many construction workers who have been injured due to a wide variety of safety code violations on construction sites and we are intimately familiar the exhaustive list of safety codes, rules, and regulations that are designed to protect construction workers from injuries.
Many construction workers don’t realize that they are protected by a broad range of safety code provisions on all construction sites. For example, most workers probably don’t know that Industrial Code Regulations require all floors and similar work areas on a construction site to be kept free of any tripping hazards, including materials and debris and free of slipping hazards and slippery conditions. (12 NYCRR §23-1.7(d)(e)). If a worker should trip, slip or fall on a condition such as construction debris, loose materials, snow, ice, wet cement, garbage, grease, oil, loose planks or similar hazards, then the property owner, general contractor and others may be responsible to pay the injured worker the full amount of his/her damages, even if the owner or general contractor was not at fault in causing or allowing the dangerous condition to exist.
Whether you need a lawyer’s advice about a scaffold collapse, a fall from a ladder, a trip-and-fall or any type of injury at a construction site, New York City construction accident injury attorney Kenneth A. Pryor and The Pryor Law Firm can help you. The Pryor Law Firm works with injured construction professionals in all five boroughs of New York City and Long Island.
Reach Out to The Pryor Law Firm Today
Find out how an experienced construction accident attorney can protect your rights and the value of your legal claims. We have collected millions of dollars in compensation for workers injured on job sites. Our team is here to serve clients in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Nassau County
Contact The Pryor Law Firm at any of our three New York locations for a free consultation. Call (855) 889-5311 today.
