If you work at a construction site, you would have seen minor accidents happen at times. Everyone has tripped over their work radios or swung a hammer onto their thumb. Sometimes there might also have been major accidents that you would have heard about at the construction site. There are different areas where these accidents happen. For instance, scaffolding fall injuries – this is where you need to ensure you are using OSHA certified scaffolding to erect the scaffold to the highest degree of safety and rigorously test it before use.
Further more falls or falling debris could be another, as well as incorrect use of machinery. This is where all the workers involved onsite must have training in health and safety to ensure all these risks are low. Any legal claims for injuries at a construction site are affected by workers’ compensation laws of California and the Federal Government.
In fact, it is not only workers that get injured on construction sites. Health and safety extends to the security of the site to prevent entry of the public. This means barriers, bollards and signs warn of dangerous machinery, or workmen ahead. They can also direct traffic should the site be near a busy road. This helps to separate the public from the workers with a safe distance in between and ensure no accidents happen. However, working with heavy machinery and dangerous equipment puts these workers more at risk of an accident happening. So, lets talk about that.
How Do the Construction Work Injury Claims Work?
These claims also depend upon your employment and how much your employer is responsible for the injuries that happened. Your workers’ compensation lawyer will evaluate the scope of your employer’s liability in the accident. But know that there might be other, third parties like property owners, equipment manufacturing companies and contractors that could be responsible for your injuries, too.
The worker’s compensation laws will not govern how much you’re liable to recover from the third parties. There are separate laws for that.
What Does Workers’ Compensation Cover?
Workers’ compensation is a set of laws that outline the benefits that an employee injured on the job gets such as compensatory wages and medical expense coverage. It is a safety net that employers are required to have (insurance) for employees when they get injured on the job. Many companies invest in extra precautions like metal guard rails for work up high and also other equipment for on the ground. Unfortunately, accidents can still happen and so making sure insurance and cover is looked into is a number one priority when on a job.
State law varies for insurance and it does for workers’ compensation as well. It is more similar to insurance claim filing than filing a lawsuit against an employer. Here two common types of workers’ compensation for construction site workers. The other two are vocational rehabilitation and permanent disability.
Temporary Disability – If the injured party cannot work due to the injury after the construction site accident they were involved in, they can be eligible for temporary disability payments till they can recover fully. This offsets the lost wages in part.
There are minimum and maximum payment amounts for this payment but the normal amount is about 67% of the weekly gross pay, paid out every fortnight. Once the doctor confirms that the employee is unable to work at the construction site, they should receive the first disability payment in a few weeks’ time.
Medicare – When an employee gets injured on the job at a construction site, they can request their employer through a workers’ compensation claim to get access to reasonable treatments necessary to get back into shape and work efficiently. The medical bills, prescription medicine and mileage to the hospital will be provided by the employers’ insurer.
The company doctor (selected by the insurer) must treat injured employees for a month but may be changed after that time, upon written request.
“Must Dos” When Involved in a Construction Site Accident
- Report Your Injury – When the accident happens, file a report with your supervisor/employer and keep a copy of that written report for your personal record. You might need it later.
- Fill out and Submit the Claim Form – The claim form must be issued by the employer to the injured employee, as soon as the employer learns of the accident. Until that form is completed, employer is not obliged to provide workers’ compensation to the construction worker. Fill it out completely and submit it as soon as possible as delays on your part may cause further problems.
Keep a copy of this filled claim form before you file it for reference. The guidance of a workers’ compensation lawyer can go a long way in these kinds of claims to help you get better compensation for your injuries. Contact us today to get in touch with professional workers’ compensation lawyers that will help you in every step of the way.