New Jersey Construction Accident Attorneys

What Are the Most Common Construction Accidents in New Jersey?

Like elsewhere in the United States, the most common construction site accidents in New Jersey generally fall into one of four categories:

• Falls, which include tripping and falling over loose construction debris, falling from elevations, and falling objects that strike and injure innocent construction workers.
• Collisions between construction equipment or vehicles and workers.
• Entrapments in collapsing excavations, structures, or confined spaces.
• Electrocutions from poorly-grounded equipment or contact with unshielded power lines or sources.

Apart from these categories, New Jersey construction sites have also reported scaffolding and crane collapses, exposures to toxic construction materials, chemical and physical burns, and tool-related accidents from saws, nail guns, jackhammers, and other power implements,

Many accidents leave construction workers with long-term or permanent impairments and disabilities. Workers in New Jersey have every right to recover compensation for their injuries. Regrettably, the negligent parties that cause these accidents and the insurance companies liable to pay compensation often refuse to reimburse the full amount of damages that an injured construction worker deserves to recover.

Because of this, an experienced attorney is an injured construction worker's best resource to recover the largest available award for their economic and non-economic damages. The most effective attorneys will be thoroughly familiar with the most common types of accidents at New Jersey construction sites. They will also understand what makes these sites more prone to certain accidents.

New Jersey's proximity to the Atlantic Coast, its varying terrain, geography, population density, and its multiplicity of zoning laws and regulations all contribute to the design and management of Garden State construction sites. Construction managers plan their sites and implement safety practices as a function of these and other factors.

A knowledgeable New Jersey construction accident lawyer will analyze a construction site to determine if its manager or supervisor adopted reasonable safety measures given local factors to prevent the most common accidents. Failure to adopt those measures is clear proof of negligence that will justify a significant damages award.

Damages award should reimburse the injured construction worker for all actual and anticipated medical expenses, wages that the worker is unable to earn while recovering from injuries, pain and suffering that result from injuries sustained in the accident, and all other costs that are required to make the injured worker whole. Injured workers should not hesitate to contact a construction accident lawyer as soon as possible after an accident to recover maximum compensation for all negligently-inflicted constriction accident injuries.

Third Party Liability in New Jersey Construction Accidents

Typically, construction workers can’t sue their employers when injured on the job. However, there may be a third party responsible for the incident. There are circumstances in which liability in a workplace construction site accident can be assigned to a third party. To prove this, it helps to have the assistance of an experienced construction accident lawyer.

Equipment manufacturers, architects, owners, and contractors may be held responsible for failing to implement sufficient safety measures. Both general contractors and subcontractors are responsible for implementing and maintaining appropriate safety measures at construction sites. Their obligations include:

• providing warnings of potential hazards at the site
• hiring employees who exercise caution at the site
• coordinating job safety
• checking that all safety specifications have been properly followed

Companies that manufacture equipment used at construction sites are responsible for designing and maintaining safe products. It’s not uncommon for construction accidents to occur because a product was defective or dangerous.

While it’s always dangerous to use some equipment, the risk of injury increases when proper safety measures aren’t taken. A manufacturer may be found responsible if their product resulted in death or injury. Consulting with a skilled construction accident lawyer in New Jersey can be the key to proving this liability.

Products that can cause workplace construction site accidents include (but are not limited to) the following:

• harnesses
• lanyards
• anchorage points
• scaffolding
• power tools
• hoists
• derricks
• cranes
• conveyors
• woodworking tools
• ladders
• winches
• trucks
• graters
• scrapers
• tractors
• bulldozers
• forklifts
• back hoes
• heavy equipment
• boilers
• pressure vessels
• gas detectors
• other types of construction equipment