According to the Associated Press, a construction worker was killed on a work site at a single-family home in New Jersey slightly before noon on Saturday, December 2. In the construction accident, a cable pulling a metal trash container onto a truck snapped. A worker was sitting in the cab of the truck, and the cable smashed through the truck’s back window. The cable hit the worker in the back of the head, leaving him partially decapitated. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
While not all construction accidents result in such graphic injuries, the construction industry does have a high rate of fatal accidents. In fact, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the construction industry had more fatal injuries on the job than any other industry in the U.S. in 2010. In addition, fatal accidents in the construction industry accounted for one of every five work-related deaths in the U.S. in 2009.
Much construction work is intrinsically dangerous because of the heavy equipment, powerful machinery, uneven or unsteady surfaces and work at elevation inherent to the job. Possible accident risks at construction sites include:
- Ladder and scaffolding falls
- Defective machinery and equipment
- Falling equipment
- Electrocution and burns
- Entrapment in machinery
Legal remedies are available to help construction workers injured on the job, but the procedures can be complex, so the assistance of an attorney with experience in construction accident cases is beneficial.
