Thousands of construction workers are injured or
killed in construction site accidents each year.
Construction companies must inspect each site with safety
engineers and provide safety programs, but unfortunately
accidents still occur due to the inadequacy of these
provisions.
When a construction site accident occurs, the owners,
architects, insurance companies and manufacturers of
equipment can be held responsible for inadequate safety
provisions. The general contractor and all subcontractors
are required to provide a reasonably safe site, to warn of
hazards inherent in the site and work, to hire careful
employees, to coordinate job safety and to supervise
compliance with safety specifications.
Third Party Negligence
Manufacturers of construction equipment are responsible
designing and maintaining safe products. Defective products
may include the following: scaffolding,
cranes, power tools, derricks, hoists, conveyors,
woodworking tools, ladders, winches, trucks, graters,
scrapers, tractors, bulldozers, forklifts, back hoes, heavy
equipment, boilers, pressure vessels, gas detectors and
other types of construction equipment.
It is often possible to find liable third parties in the
event of a construction accident or construction injury. Since most sites involve
many subcontractors, it is very common to locate several
potential third party Defendants. A Rhode Island
construction accident lawyer may also
consider claims against the general contractor, who may be
responsible for supervision and my be contractually
responsible for the injury. In more complex cases, the legal
principles of Agency and analysis of Corporate law may lead
to sophisticated determinations as to who is technically an
"employee" and who the "third parties" are in a given
situation.
Workers Compensation
Rhode Island
Workers' Compensation law is designed to help injured
workers as well as employers in dealing with the problems of
health insurance. The Rhode Island Workers Compensation Act
provides
benefits to workers who are injured on the job or suffer an
occupational disease arising out of and in the course of
employment. The benefits under RI Workers Comp include weekly
payments based on a percentage of the employee's average
weekly wage for temporary total disability, partial
disability, permanent and total disability and permanent
loss of function and disfigurement. RI Workers Comp also
covers medical expenses for treatment that is reasonable,
necessary and related to the industrial injury and
vocational rehabilitation services.
Unfortunately Rhode Island Workers Compensation alone may be
insufficient compensation especially in the case of very
serious and catastrophic personal injuries. As indicated
above it is necessary to look for a negligent third party
such as the manufacturer of a dangerous or defective
product, improper safety devices or some other party who is
at fault. These cases require immediate attention and
expertise because the responsible third party may be
difficult to locate and evidence (such as a piece of
defective machinery) needs to be preserved.
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