Arizona Construction Accident Lawyer Blog

A construction worker died after he was struck by a forklift at the Phoenix Children's hospital expansion site. According to a KTAR news report, the worker suffered significant trauma. Firefighters attempted to resuscitate him, but pronounced the worker dead on the scene. Officials say the fatal construction accident in Phoenix seems to have occurred as the worker was bending over to pick something up.

According to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), most forklift accident fatalities and injuries can be attributed to lack of safe operating procedures, lack of safety rule enforcement and insufficient or inadequate training. Many employees are injured when lift trucks are inadvertently driven off loading docks, lifts fall between docks and an unsecured trailer or when they are struck by a forklift.

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The Brain Injury Association of America estimates that nearly 1.5 million Americans sustain a brain injury every year. More than 50,000 die each year as a result of a traumatic brain injury. Nearly one million Americans survive a brain injury, but must endure serious life changes and other challenges as a result.

Construction accidents, especially falls or being struck by falling objects, can result in traumatic brain injuries. These are catastrophic injuries, which means that they will affect the victim for the rest of his or her life.

Brain injuries can affect the way a person thinks, feels and acts. The most common symptoms of a traumatic brain injury include severe headaches, confusion, loss of consciousness, spinal fluid leaking out of nose or ears and dilated pupils. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms immediately or shortly after a construction accident, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible.

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Falls are the leading cause of construction accident fatalities and injuries in the United States. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that each year, approximately 150 to 200 construction workers die and more than 100,000 are injured as a result of falls at construction sites. OSHA lists several safety standards that employers are required to follow to keep their workers safe in construction sites.

Here are the most common requirements to prevent fall injuries and fatalities at Arizona construction sites:

• Where protection is required, employers must select fall protection systems such as guardrails, appropriate for given situations.


• Always use proper construction and installation of safety systems.


• Make sure employees are supervised properly.


• Use safe work procedures.


• Train workers in proper, selection, use and maintenance of fall protection systems.

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Arizona construction accidents often result in serious, debilitating injuries. Like any injury accident, it is imperative that you get immediate medical attention if you have been involved in an Arizona construction accident. While getting prompt attention is important for your physical well-being, it is also important from the point of view of filing an injury claim. If you were injured on the job, you will be entitled to receive workers compensation benefits through your employer. Failing to get proper medical attention and treatment could jeopardize your claim on many levels.

Immediate investigation and preservation of evidence is also a critical part of proving a personal injury case involving construction accidents. Investigation in a construction accident usually involves careful examination of the scene soon after the incident. If there is a delay in this crucial part of an investigation, important evidence such as hazardous materials or defective machinery may get lost. An experienced Arizona construction accident lawyer can send a letter to your employer requesting that all evidence be preserved so it can be independently examined and documented. Prompt investigation and interviewing of witnesses who saw the accident is also critical to an injury case or claim.

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Construction accidents are very common but also very complex. In fact, most workers who suffer serious injury on a job site face any number of different sets of rules and guidelines that affect their abilities to move forward after their injury. There are OSHA regulations that govern the employer and there may be an OSHA investigation. There are guidelines that were set out by the employer for that job site, not to mention all the other employers who may have been out at the job site due to the various subcontractors. A workers’ compensation claim will be made, even though that can be contested by the workers’ compensation carrier. On top of all that, there is a potential personal injury claim that can be brought under certain circumstances.

This can be very overwhelming to the worker who is injured through no fault of their own. Thus, many injured workers and their families try to find the best construction accident personal injury lawyer in Arizona that they can find. However, they will not find a “top ten accident lawyer” list anywhere, in all likelihood. Instead, unfortunately, workers are left to fend for themselves.

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Many construction sites are filled with different subcontractors all going about their own job. When everybody follows the regulations of the job site, follows all safety measures, and stays in compliance with OSHA, worker safety if far more likely to occur. However, there are times when one subcontractor does not look out for the safety and well being of the other subs on the site. When this occurs, very often there can be falling objects on the job site which lead to very serious injury or even death of an innocent worker below.

When falling objects lead to serious injury or fatalities at a construction site, there may be a right to make claims above and beyond the workers’ compensation system.

However, there is a general prohibition against bringing a claim against ones own employer. This is known as the “exclusive remedy” provided by workers’ compensation, whereby an injured worker can make a workers’ compensation claim but cannot file a lawsuit against a fellow co worker or the construction company for which the injured worker was employed.

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Construction sites are dangerous places for workers and very often serious injuries are suffered at the job site. Many times, improper use or maintenance of scaffolding directly contribute to serious injury or even the wrongful death of somebody who was on a job site.

Most construction workers in Arizona know that they have a right to make a workers’ compensation claim. However, many do not realize that in many cases where there have been injuries due to scaffolding issues in the State of Arizona, they may also have the right – in addition to their workers’ compensation claim – to make claims for personal injury in addition to those comp claims that can be very beneficial to them or to their loved ones.

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Construction site injuries are very often caused by a lack of fall protection on the job site. In fact, it has been stated that the lack of proper fall protection is the No. 1 cause of serious injury and wrongful death on construction sites throughout the country. When somebody has suffered a very serious injury or has died as a result of a fall on a construction site, there are certain things that most people expect.

Many people expect that OSHA and the Arizona enforcement arm of OSHA will do an investigation. Also, people have come to expect that the injured worker or the surviving family members of the injured worker will be able to make a workers’ compensation claim.

What many people do not recognize is that in addition to the benefits available under workers’ comp, there may also be rights available under the personal injury system in Arizona. These rights do not take away from, but actually add to, those rights available when a comp claim is made.

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Phoenix construction sites are inherently dangerous and prone to serious accidents because of the presence of heavy objects, machinery and equipment. Hundreds if not thousands of construction site workers in the United States are injured or killed due to falling objects. If you are a construction worker, you are at risk for being hit by falling objects when you are under cranes or scaffolds or where work is being done overhead. Also, there is the danger of being struck by falling or flying objects where power tools are being used. Activities such as pushing, pulling or prying may cause objects to become airborne. Injuries as a result of falling or flying objects may range from minor cuts or bruises to concussions, blindness, broken bones, brain injury or even death.

Often, the advice that is given to construction workers is: Wear your hard hats and protective gear. However, when a heavy object weighing thousands of pounds strikes a construction worker, even hard hats or other gear cannot fully protect them. A construction site worker recently died after a metal beam weighing about 1,500 pounds fell on him. The 40-year-old worker was trying to attach a safety cable to the beam when it fell. The fatal construction accident apparently occurred in an outdoor area where several beams were being erected. Officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the incident.

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Three construction site workers were hospitalized with critical injuries after they were electrocuted on the job. According to a news report, the workers were doing roof work on a commercial storage building. A ladder, which they were using to haul shingles up to the roof, fell backwards into a high tension power line. One worker sustained serious burns. The two other workers suffered cardiac arrest. All three were rushed to a local hospital. Police officials as well as investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are examining this accident.

According to the Center for Injury Sciences in Alabama, electrocution is the fifth leading cause of occupational injury deaths in the United States. It is particularly a danger faced by those who work near electrical lines such as electricians, utility workers and those employed in the construction and manufacturing industries. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reported that among 224 fatal electrocution incidents that were evaluated over a 12-year period dating back to 1994, workers did not follow proper safety procedures. In some cases, proper protective equipment was not worn. In some other cases, workers or supervisors were not provided with proper safety training. In a majority of the incidents, there was a failure to comply with OSHA and other federal safety regulations.

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Falls are among the most common causes for Arizona construction accident fatalities. Falls can also result in catastrophic injuries that could disable a construction worker for the rest of his life. Such situations may impose severe financial and emotional strain on workers and their families. Injured victims typically receive Arizona worker's compensation benefits. However, when there are major or catastrophic injuries that prevent the worker from returning to work, worker's compensation benefits may not be adequate enough to compensate for past and future lost wages, continued treatment or care, or medical bills.

A recent news article reported an incident where a worker fell 12 feet at a construction site. The incident happened when the man stepped backward and fell on to an unfinished basement floor. The construction worker sustained head and internal injuries and was transported to a local hospital.

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Trench collapses are one of the most common causes of construction site accidents in Arizona and elsewhere in the nation. According to a news report in the Shelby Star, a 30-year-old construction worker sustained fatal injuries after the dirt collapsed around him at a sewer line construction site. The man apparently fell into the hole. Workers rushed to dig him out of the collapsed trench. The worker was transported to an area hospital where he died shortly after the construction site accident.

Cave-ins are a deadly trenching hazard. There are also other dangers that lurk in trenches including asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen in a confined space, inhalation of toxic fumes, drowning, electrocution and explosions. In fact, the fatality rate for excavation work is 112 percent higher than the rate for general construction. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that workers in trenches and excavations be protected and that safety and health programs address the variety of dangers they face on the job. Trench collapses may be caused by lack of protective systems, unsafe access or exits, and failure to properly inspect the trench.

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