New York hardhats face a lot of dangers while they’re working at a construction site. In most cases, an injured construction employee can pursue workers’ compensation following a serious accident. Workers’ compensation laws protect construction companies from lawsuits relating to an employee’s injuries. However, construction sites are complicated places and it’s possible that one or more non-employers are liable for your construction accident injuries.
If an additional party is liable for your job site injuries, you can pursue additional claims – on top of your workers’ compensation damages – in civil court by holding that party responsible.
Potentially liable parties following a serious construction injury
The question of who’s liable following a construction site accident can be a complicated one to answer because – at a typical New York construction site – there may be a lot of contractors and sub-contractors actively participating in the site’s day-to-day activities.
Here are a few parties that you might want to investigate for liability purposes:
— Owner of the construction site: The landowner and the owner of the project may be liable for your damages, depending on how much control he or she passes over to the general contractor of the project.
— General contractors and sub-contractors: The general contractor, often referred to as the “general” is the one in charge of the entire site, and organizes the different sub-contractors in order to get the construction project completed safely and in a timely fashion. The general contractor is responsible for keeping the site safe, and he or she must warn people on-site about hazards, dangers and defects. Sub-contractors also have a duty to keep the areas where they’re working reasonably safe and free of defects.
— Prime contractors: These contractors also need to keep their work areas and assigned project areas reasonably safe and free of dangers, and to warn others about potential defects and hazards.
— Architects and engineers: If an architect or engineer creates an unsafe design, or fails to supervise the activities of contractors to ensure that they are building safely, these individuals could be liable.
— Construction equipment and tool manufacturers: Construction workers use a lot of equipment and tools which could be negligently manufactured or negligently designed or defective.
Did you get hurt at your job site?
If you got hurt at a New York construction site, you might be able to pursue more than a workers’ compensation claim. Workers’ compensation may be sufficient to cover the costs of your medical care and time spent unable to work, but if other parties are liable, you might be able to pursue additional damages by filing a personal injury claim.