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The New York construction accident lawyers at De Caro & Kaplen, LLP have successfully representing victims of construction site accidents for the past 26 years.
Our knowledge and experience in this highly specialized area of the law has helped our clients receive favorable verdicts and settlements. Through our study of construction practices, construction codes and safety equipment, we are prepared to show how the contractor, subcontractor, employer, site owner or manufacturer failed to provide workers with a safe work site or with safe and sufficient equipment or proper assistance.
Our construction accident law firm handles construction and workplace accidents throughout New York City including Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island as well through the surrounding areas of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland. We have also represented construction workers injured in Albany, Syracuse and throughout New York State.
Information on Construction Site Accidents
When a construction worker is injured, the working conditions leading up to the accident are frequently implicated as the precipitating cause. To prevent construction site accidents, strict Federal safety measures known as OSHA regulations and state construction safety codes are in place.
Unfortunately, these work site accidents happen because the contractor, subcontractor or construction site owner failed to take properly follow the safety code, failed to exercise proper safety precautions or failed to have proper and safe equipment on the job site.
Construction site accidents and work site accidents don’t just happen. Construction accidents and needless injuries can be prevented if proper safety precautions are taken on construction projects and industrial work sites. However, when death or serious injury does take place due to faulty construction safety practices, the construction site accident attorneys at De Caro & Kaplen, LLP are prepared to represent you or your loved.
OSHA and State Construction Safety Codes
It’s not surprising that because of the dangers of a construction site, special safety laws are in place in New York and throughout the country to protect construction workers. These laws are designed to protect construction workers from unscrupulous employers and contractors who risk health and safety for the sake of profit. At De Caro & Kaplen, LLP we are familiar with these special safety statutes and are able to prove the accident was caused because of the failure to comply with them.
Beyond Workers Comp
In many cases, a construction worker is not limited to workers compensation benefits but can bring a law suit against other entities involved in the construction project for his or her injuries. To determine if you are limited to workers compensation benefits you need to consult with lawyers who understand constructions site accident law.
Construction Injuries Caused by Falls
In cases where construction workers were injured as a result of falls, we have been able to show that the necessary safety laws which require ladders to be properly secured and of a proper height, scaffolds to be in proper repair with proper railings, holes and other openings to be properly guarded were not complied with. In these and other instances of construction site accidents, we have retained the services of trained construction safety experts including former OSHA supervisors to review the facts of the accident and determine fault.
In one case, Michael Kaplen and his partner Shana DeCaro represented a sheet rock taper who broke both his wrists when he fell from a ladder in the lobby of a Manhattan apartment building. We were able to show that the ladder that he we supplied with was to short for the required job. He was supplied with a four foot ladder and as a result, he had to stand on the top rung, a dangerous and unsteady position which caused the ladder to tip over and fall.
We have been privileged to have represented a painter, painting an elevated subway station in the Bronx. He fell 40 feet from a lift truck to the ground. The truck was not properly secured and he was not supplied with adequate safety devices including a safety harness in violation of State construction safety standards and OSHA requirements. When the wheels of the truck slipped, his resultant fall caused multiple fractures.
In another case, a construction worker fell from an unguarded opening on the deck of an elevated construction site causing severe brain damage. In yet another tragic instance of a fall caused by improperly safety precautions, a construction worker fell causing both head injury and fractures when his scaffold was not properly maintained.
Unsafe ladders cause injuries too…
Electricians and other constructions workers frequently injured because of unsafe and poorly maintained ladders they are forced to work with. We have successfully represented electricians and other workers whose falls were caused by the unsafe ladders supplied to them.
Construction Injuries Caused by Faulty Equipment and Negligent Operators
Construction equipment that is not properly repaired or permitted to be operated without proper safety guards in place are also frequent causes of injury where we are called upon to represent the construction worker.
In one case, a carpenter was using a table a saw that lacked a proper safety guard. When the wood being cut got caught in the saw blade due to the lack of a safety guard, the worker’s finger was cut off.
In another case, a garbage compactor that did not have automatic safety turn off devices was used, causing a workers arm to become trapped in the compactor’s crushing mechanism.
Cranes and Overhead Hazards
A construction worker we represented was tragically electrocuted when a crane operator failed to notice the presence of an overhead utility line. The construction worker received evere electrical injury when the crane struck the over head power line. The electric current traveled though the crane into his body while the construction worker was steadying a load being transported by the crane.
By careful recreation of the accident and a review of the general contractor’s records we were able to prove that not only was the crane operator in error, but the contractor failed to post necessary warnings about the presence of the power line, safe clearance distances and failed to properly train its employees. Through our careful preparation and precedent setting case, highway construction projects in New York State now require proper warnings near overhead wires to prevent another needless accident from happening.
