I Fell at Work and It Was My Employer’s Fault. Now What?

Imagine you’re at work one day and suddenly the ground you’re standing on gives way, leaving you to fall 20 feet without any way to stop yourself. Still, you grasp wildly in vain, hoping for a miracle, but in the blink of an eye, that hope is lost as you come crashing to the ground. Maybe you’re awake. Maybe the fall knocked you unconscious. If you’re conscious, you probably landed amongst the rumble that once acted as your standing place. In addition, you may have been struck by objects and/or buried beneath them.  Regardless, you have probably suffered severe and possibly permanent injuries from such a tremendous and dangerous fall.

Recently, four construction workers in Union County experienced a scenario similar to the one described above when a truss they were trying to install fell and took them with it. The workers had to be taken to the hospital for treatment, but are expected to be okay. According to WSOC-TV, the truss the four men were working on may not have been properly set into place prior to the construction accident. The construction workers were in the process of installing a roof on a pavilion at the Providence Equestrian Center at the time of the incident. As of this writing, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was investigating the accident.

Options for Construction Workers and Their Families Following a Workplace Accident

If a worker suffered a construction accident injury and his or her employer or a co-worker was to blame, the injured worker or the family of a fatal work injury victim may be able to pursue a workers’ compensation claim. If a contractor, subcontractor, product manufacturer or another third party were at fault for a construction worker’s injury or death, then the employee or his or her family could be eligible to file a third party claim or product liability lawsuit.