Crown Point Construction Accident Attorneys

Common Causes of Construction Accidents

Working in construction typically means working around heavy machinery, hazardous materials, and potentially chaotic, ever-changing environments. Accidents can be caused by negligence, recklessness, equipment failure, or even simple human error. 

Some of the most common categories of construction accidents include:

• Falls. Falls from significant heights are often due to inadequate safety measures, lack of training, or failure to use protective equipment. Workers may fall from scaffolding, ladders, roofs, or through unprotected floor openings.
• Struck-by accidents. These occur when a worker is hit by an object, equipment, or vehicle. The impact could result from falling, swinging, or misplaced objects or machinery, such as a crane. These collisions often lead to severe injuries or even fatalities.
• Electrocutions. Construction sites are rife with electrical hazards, from power lines to faulty wiring. Electrocutions can cause severe burns, heart problems, and even death.
• Caught-in-between accidents. These incidents happen when a worker is caught, crushed, squeezed, compressed, or pinned between two or more objects or parts of an object. This could involve heavy machinery, collapsing structures, or trenches.

No matter the nature, severity, or cause of your injury, you likely have the right to compensation after a construction accident. Our Crown Point construction accident attorneys are happy to discuss your case and walk you through your legal options. 

If you are having trouble getting compensation for construction accident injuries, do not hesitate to call (219) 300-5204 or contact us online!

Top Construction Accident Injuries

While some accidents can seem mild or “just part of the job”, no injury should be overlooked as less critical than another. If there’s a rash of negligence at a job site, this can be a contagious condition that will only lead to more people being hurt, possibly worse.

Construction is a risky occupation, but that shouldn’t mean that injuries go unreported and workers go uncompensated. If you or anyone you know suffers from one of these 7 common construction injuries, it’s time to call a Crown Point construction accident lawyer for help.

1. Fractures and Broken Bones

A break in your bone or cartilage can be considered a fracture. This can happen when under stress or if there’s an impact where the object hitting the bone is stronger than the bone on its own. Most people suffer one or two fractures over the course of their life. While this is a common kind of injury, it shouldn’t go unreported. Older workers are at a higher risk for this type of injury than younger people.

Fractures categorized as displaced or non-displaced are broken but either out of or still in alignment. Non-displaced fractures heal much faster. Depending on the severity of the impact, the fracture can be “open” or “closed.” This will describe whether or not the fractured bone has punctured skin. The associated costs and loss of income should be calculated.

2. Sprains of Muscles or Ligaments

Whether the medical professionals you speak to use the term sprain or strain loosely, they mean different things. A sprain is when you’ve torn or stretched your ligament. Your ligaments are the bands of tissue connecting bones at each joint. These can happen due to a fall or a twist where you end up in an unnatural position. Approximately 28,000 people sprain their ankle every day. Sprains are very common. A strain is when there’s a tear or a stretch within a tendon or muscle itself.

Your tendons connect your muscle to your bone and find themselves stressed under heavy lifting or repetition. You can twist or pull your muscles or tendons due to repetitive motions. Be sure that you’re always moving in a way that feels natural for your body. Lifting and twisting heavy objects could lead to problems that affect you for a long time.

3. Spinal or Neck Injuries

Damage to your spine and neck can come from a variety of experiences. There can also be a variety of symptoms which all depend on the severity of the injury. Some small amount of numbness, weakness, or soreness could be the extent of the symptoms. However, it can get as bad as full paralysis and shock. Your spinal cord carries messages from nerves through your brain and entire body, injuries to your neck and spine should be taken seriously. Back pain from a collision on a construction site is no joke.

Paralysis is what happens when your muscles can no longer receive messages from your brain. It can be severe enough to affect the entire body or minor and affecting only a single limb or digit. You could experience it on one side or another, from below the waist or below the neck. As your muscle communication controls your breath, paralysis is actually a fatal issue.

4. Head or Brain Issues

Head injuries are a common cause of disability and fatalities. Traumatic brain injuries can cause an immediate death or can lead to difficult to measure changes in cognitive or emotional function. Injury from falling debris on construction sites can have a frightening number of impacts on the injured. An impact that injures the brain can cause damage to the skull or swelling of the brain. Bruising or bleeding in your brain tissue can lead to clouded thoughts, emotional distress or even death. If you’ve been struck on the head and have had to seek medical attention, it might be time to contact a construction accident lawyer.

5. Burns

Burns are one of the most overlooked and difficult to prevent types of injuries on a construction site. As a building is repaired or built, wiring might remain exposed due to negligence. If this active line touches any of the metal structure of the building, it could cause shock or burn workers. Another source could be a chemical burn. Chemicals that clean or bond certain materials should not come into contact with skin. When they do, they can cause irritation or burning.

Burns are broken into first, second, or third degree categories by medical professionals. The degree of the burn will determine the level of treatment. A burn can reach a fourth degree and damage muscle or bone. 

6. Blindness or Hearing Loss

Construction sites are extremely loud environments where you might find people using explosives or bright welding equipment. If workers are negligent and fail to warn their fellow workers of what they’re about to do, they could be responsible for permanent damage to people around them. Blindness and hearing loss can also happen in the case of a fall from a severe height. On demolition sites, this is more common than one might think.

Millions of people are exposed to some level of hearing loss due to working on or near construction sites. As the loss likely happens over the course of many years of work, they may not notice. If you’re suffering from accumulated permanent damage, contact an attorney to see what they can do.

7. PTSD

This is one of the harder issues to quantify, but mental health professionals have done a great job of identifying its causes over many years. If this issue keeps you from returning to work or has caused other problems in your life, you may need to seek damages.