Ironworkers and steelworkers operating in New York City’s construction sites have not just one of the most demanding and labor-intensive jobs there, but one of the most hazardous as well. These workers include construction laborers who install, repair or maintain supports for a variety of structures from skyscrapers to bridges. This means ironworkers and steelworkers are often required to work at high elevations, putting them in danger of serious or even deadly fall-related injuries.
Injuries Sustained by Ironworkers and Steelworkers
In most cases the leading cause of injuries to steelworkers and ironworkers is due
to falling accidents. This may occur as a result of a slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall or because the worker is struck by objects or equipment at a construction site. Here are some of the most common injuries sustained by ironworkers and steelworkers in construction accidents:
• Sprains and strains: Ironworkers and steelworkers are often required to handle heavy loads. This may lead to sprains or strains to muscles, tendons and joints. While these are not often categorized as serious injuries, they may still require workers to take time off work and seek rehabilitative treatment and care.
• Burns: Ironworkers and steelworkers do a lot of welding work, which means the flammable materials they deal with may result in burn injuries that require significant medical care.
• Head, back and neck injuries: Falls may result in serious injuries to the head or the spine. Both traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord trauma may result in permanent injuries that may potentially lead to lifelong disabilities.
• Impalement: Ironworkers and steelworkers are also at risk of being impaled by exposed rebar or other equipment at a worksite.
• Crush injuries: The collapse of walls or other structures as well as heavy equipment may lead to severe crush injuries to ironworkers and steelworkers on a jobsite.
• Cuts and amputations: As they work with instruments and tools, workers face the possibility of severe cuts or even amputations where they lose limbs or appendages.
• Death: Most of these severe injuries have the potential to claim a worker’s life.
Injury Protection for Ironworkers and Steelworkers
Safety equipment and proper training are extremely important when it comes to preventing injuries for ironworkers and steelworkers on the job. First and foremost, workers should be provided with job training. They should also receive safety training, particularly information in a language they can understand about how to properly use safety gear. Worksite supervisors, property owners and construction companies must comply with state and federal workplace safety regulations, especially those relating to ironworkers and steelworkers. They must also provide the necessary safeguards and safety equipment for these workers on the job including the following:
• Goggles for eye protection
• Gloves
• Steel-toe boots
• Hardhats
• Full face shields
• Personal fall-arrest systems such as harnesses, guardrails and safety nets.
• Masks or respirators
• Hearing protection
NY Laws Protecting Ironworkers and Steelworkers
There are local, state and federal laws that protect ironworkers and steelworkers who have been injured in falls at construction sites. Section 240 of the New York Labor Law is commonly known as the “Scaffolding Law.” This statute governs the use of scaffolding in work sites and provides several specific categories of construction work to which it applies, including ironwork and steelwork.
Workers injured in falls can bring civil actions against the construction company, contractor and property owner/manager, etc. responsible for the safety of the jobsite. Construction accident injuries can be debilitating and sometimes, even catastrophic or fatal. A construction accident victim can seek workers’ compensation benefits from his or her employer. In addition, workers and their families may be able to file a third-party lawsuit for substantial money damages against a number of parties, and thus have two sources of compensation.
Third-party claims are filed against parties other than the employer or co-employees and may include general contractors, sub-contractors, building owners, managing agents, construction companies, etc. In cases where a worker dies from injuries suffered on the job, surviving family members may seek death benefits through workers’ compensation and/or file a wrongful death claim against a third party.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
If you have suffered injuries in a construction-related accident, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
Our law firm recovered $3,375,576 for a construction worker (an undocumented immigrant) who was injured on the job — one of the highest construction case settlements in New York that year. Our law firm also recovered $3,000,000 for a man who fell and suffered two broken legs when he walked into an open elevator shaft. Also, one of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury, lead poisoning and medical malpractice cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
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