Construction sites are one of the most dangerous places to work at. In 2016, 21% of worker fatalities occurred in the construction industry. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the majority of construction-related fatalities are caused by either, falls, being struck by an object, electrocutions and caught-in/between incidents.
If you ever find yourself involved in a construction accident, then it’s important that you make sure that you aware of what you need to do next. You need to know how to protect yourself and what your rights are. There are a few things that you need to make sure that you sort out as soon as you are involved in a construction accident. So, keep on reading to find out what your next steps are going to be.
Seek Medical Attention
The first thing that you need to make sure that you do is seek medical attention. You need to seek medical attention as soon as you are involved in a construction accident. It doesn’t matter how minor the injury may seem; you should still get checked out. A serious injury might not exhibit any symptoms straight away, so you might mistakenly think that you are perfectly fine.
For example, if you end up getting a concussion, you probably won’t show symptoms of the injury straight away. It might take hours before you start to experience dizziness, nausea, headaches and other common symptoms of concussions. Don’t just sit around and wait for these symptoms to occur. You should go and get a doctor to check you over, just to make sure that you didn’t end up injuring yourself severely.
Document All Evidence
In order to support your case, you need to make sure that you can get as much evidence as you can. If possible, see if you can return back to the scene of the accident and gather as much evidence as you can from that. If there was any equipment that was involved in your accident, then you should also make sure to take a photo of that. There are a few other things that you should take a photo of as well.
You should make sure to take photos of any visible injuries and also what clothes you were wearing at the accident. This seems like a small and insignificant thing, but a small tear in your clothes could help you argue your case. It’s not just photos that can be used as evidence either, if there were any witnesses at the accident, you should make sure to ask for their contact details so that you can get in touch with them later. Lastly, make sure you keep a note of all doctor’s notes regarding any injury that you receive.
Contact a Lawyer
Construction accidents are often catastrophic, with the potential for life-altering consequences. Therefore, taking immediate steps to seek medical attention, document all evidence, and consult with a knowledgeable lawyer becomes crucial in safeguarding your rights and securing compensation for injuries sustained.
The next step is to get in contact with a lawyer (like this lawyer rosenberg, minc, falkoff & wolff), who has experience handling construction accident cases. They will investigate the accident and determine why it happened. This will help when it comes to filing a worker’s compensation or personal injury claim, particularly if the worker wasn’t at fault. Your lawyer will then work to recover any compensation for your injuries once liability has been proven.
It’s important to note though that every case is different, so you should make sure to talk to your lawyer first in order to get a better understanding of how much you should expect to recover. It will also depend if you are after a worker’s compensation claim or a personal injury claim. As the amount awarded to worker’s compensation claims is limited. To help avoid having to deal with an injury on a construction site, then you should make sure to know what the safety priorities are for a construction site.
