Construction Injury? What to Do Next

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Construction areas are very dangerous, and people working in these areas should be careful. Despite taking precautionary measures, most people experience construction injury sites or succumb to these injuries. Therefore, you must know what to do after you or your co-workers experience an injury on the construction site.

Types of construction injuries

There are several types of construction injuries including:

  • Burns and scarring: Fire and explosions are quite common in construction sites because of chemical leaks, exposed wires, and leaking pipes.
  • Head injuries: People working in construction sites should always wear a hard hat. Falling objects such as nails, metal, and timber, might cause serious injuries when they land on the constructor’s head. Several types of head injuries include head concussions, brain injuries, and lacerations.
  • Loss of digits/ limbs: There are plenty of heavy objects in the construction sites. When these objects fall on the workers, they can cause loss of a hand, leg, toes, or fingers.
  • Repetitive motion injuries: Workers, who undertake the same repetitive tasks each day, might experience the wearing out and damages to the soft tissues, which limits movement and causes pain.

What to do after a construction injury

When an accident happens in a construction site, people might begin running all over, which causes chaos. However, there are steps that people around the construction site should take to ensure people remain calm and allow the investigators or medical personnel to save the situation. Some of the steps to take after an injury in the construction site include:

Call 911/ Seek medical attention

If construction injuries such as fires, head injuries, or limb or digits loss happen on a site, the first step would be to call an ambulance or the police. Sometimes, the injury might render the victim unconscious, and immediate medical attention is necessary. In case there is a person with first aid knowledge, they should be ready to perform first aid on the victim before the ambulance arrives. The injured victim should only seek medical attention from a recognized healthcare facility.

File a report

After seeking medical attention, the injured person needs to write a report on the cause of the accident, and present it to the supervisor. The supervisor of this construction site should notify the relevant organizations such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the accident. The report should contain important details such as how, where, and when the accident takes place. You should also notify the insurance company because they might need to pay for medical care.

Identify witnesses

Sometimes, construction injury cases end up in a court of law as the victim demands compensation. If this is the case, you might want to identify a witness who will give their side of the story to the jury. Therefore, make sure that you have the names, and contact details of these witnesses, whether they are co-workers or bystanders.

Seek legal advice

Serious construction injuries that cause loss of body parts or death will end up as lawsuits. When this happens, the victim or the dependents might want to file for compensation, which requires the intervention of a construction injury lawyer. The lawyer will take you through the legal proceedings that will allow you to receive compensation for pain and suffering. A good construction injury lawyer will take care of the legal matters while allowing you to focus on recovering. The lawyer will advise you accordingly and take you through the steps to follow to ensure full compensation.

Claim for worker’s compensation

Workers’ compensation is a necessity for all employees in the United States. To receive workers’ compensation, you should file a report about the construction injury, and send it to the workers’ compensation board. You should send this Employee Claim Form to the board within two years from the accident’s time for it to be valid. You also have the right to sue your contractor, employer, or equipment manufacturer, to receive additional compensation.

Conclusion

Construction jobs pose a major risk for workers. However, the law, insurance companies, and other organizations are always ready to help the victims of construction injuries.

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