As a construction worker, there are a few things that you need to know. Construction accident law is complex and different in each state. You should understand how the law works so you can understand the justice system to your advantage if you or your loved one is ever hurt in a construction accident.

According to research data, there are over 150 thousand serious construction site accidents in the USA every year. This aspect also indicates that US companies have paid out more than 60 billion dollars for workplace injuries in a single year. 

What Costs Are Involved?

Now, if we look at the annual costs to US businesses of lost time, workplace injuries tend to be greater than the gross domestic product of more than ninety countries. As a construction worker, you should have this knowledge because there is big money on the line, if you get injured. 

You want the money in your pocket or your loved one’s pocket instead of the pocket of someone at the insurance company. So, some things are universal – no matter the state that you are injured in. 

What Has Worker’s Compensation to Do with It?

Most worksite injuries fall under worker’s compensation. This means that employees who get injured at work are essentially prevented from filing a civil action for their personal injuries. But in many states, such as New York, if employees get injured at a construction site, workers can obtain workers’ compensation and also file a lawsuit for their pain and suffering.

The affected employees can also avail of compensation for their lost earnings and all past and future medical bills. So, if you get injured while you are working at the construction site, you can get in touch with a personal injury lawyer, such as the GDH Law, where a lawyer will protect your rights and take up matters with the company and the insurance company to get you the compensation that is rightfully yours. 

What to Do After You Have Sustained Injury?

If you fall or something falls on you while you are working – you are essentially injured on the construction site. In this case, there are several things that you must do to ensure you put yourself in the best legal position and secure your highest financial settlement.

Stay Put and Call an Ambulance

The first thing you must do is to stay where you are and call an ambulance. Do not have your boss or colleague drive you to the hospital. If you allow your employer or a colleague to drive you to the hospital, you will have no record that you were injured at the construction site. 

The insurance company could claim that the accident never occurred when you claim it did. This is particularly true if you are undocumented or get paid in cash. In fact, if you are an undocumented employee, things can even be worse for you because if you are paid off the books – there are no payroll records that you even worked for the company.

Now, you know why you must stay where you are and call the ambulance, as the ambulance is the fastest way to get you to the hospital. 

Collect Evidence

The ambulance will document that you were picked up from the job site and that the accident happened at the job site. The next step is to take pictures and videos of your injuries and everything around you. If you are too injured, ask your colleague to do the needful for you. 

This step is incredibly important. A construction site is constantly changing, so you must ensure that you memorialize by taking pictures and videos of how the accident site looked at that moment in time as you got injured because it is not going to look the same for very long.

Avoid Talking to the Site Safety Inspector

The next thing that you must do is to not speak to the site safety inspector as the inspector will pretend to be your friend – but at this point, no one is your friend. Here is the truth: site safety inspectors are essentially employed by insurance companies to try to get as much information as possible from you. 

They will try to get as much information about the accident as possible so they can use that information against you later. 

Only Trust Your Doctor

The next step is to talk to the doctor and the lawyer only. You will only want to talk to your healthcare provider and your personal injury lawyer about how the accident happened and about your injuries. There are two main reasons for you to be talking to your doctor and lawyer only.

The first reason is that there are tons of ambulance chases out there, and if you are not fortunate, there are loads of unscrupulous lawyers and paralegals who could be walking into your hospital room as they might have been tipped off by someone in the medical facility.

Those unscrupulous paralegals could convince you to sign things that are not in your best interest. The truth is that there are tons of people out there waiting for the opportunity to rip you off. Sometimes, they are chasing ambulances, and sometimes, they are secret employees of insurance companies. 

No matter what – these people aren’t helping you – despite what it might look like. 

Only Trust Your Lawyer

Another reason why, at this point, you should only be talking to your doctor or lawyer about your injury and pain is that sometimes a small injury can turn into a big injury. Sometimes, the real injuries come to the surface days later and sometimes weeks later. 

If you don’t mention the pains right away, an insurance company can say that the potential injury that popped up weeks later is not caused by the accident that you sustained at the workplace or construction site. 

The insurance company will blame you and say that the injury that appeared days or weeks later is the outcome of something else that happened. 

The Takeaway

Unfortunately, accidents can happen. No one wishes accidents on anybody – but if you or your loved one get injured, you must put yourself in the ideal position to be compensated fairly and justly. The reason is that even before an accident happens, an insurance company has already planned on how to defend itself.