Construction workers face serious risks from heights, heavy machinery, powerful tools, hazardous chemicals, and other job-site dangers. If you or a family member was injured in a Tucson construction accident, contact the Mercaldo Law Firm today for a free consultation.
Our Tucson personal injury lawyers can investigate what happened, identify every potentially responsible party, and explain whether you may have options beyond workers’ compensation.
Why You Should Select The Mercaldo Law Firm for Your Tucson Construction Accident Case
After suffering a serious injury, it’s difficult to focus on healing when the injury causes financial consequences that impact you and your family. At The Mercaldo Law Firm, we use our deep compassion for injury victims to make a compelling claim. We bring the following to your case:
- Over 40 years of experience, knowledge, and access to key resources, such as medical experts and accident reconstruction specialists, to support your case
- A commitment to personalizing a legal strategy for every client, with the goal of maximizing their financial compensation
- A history of success in recovering over $400 million for our injured clients
We offer a free case consultation and contingency-based payment, so you owe nothing until after we’ve recovered compensation for you in your Tucson construction accident case.
Common Causes of Construction Accidents In Tucson, AZ
According to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) statistics, the construction industry has the most annual workplace fatality claims, accounting for one out of every five claims. The most common causes of construction accidents in Tucson and the surrounding Arizona region include the following:
- Slip-and-fall accidents
- Falls from heights
- Construction transportation accidents
- “Struck-by” accidents, such as getting struck by falling objects or moving equipment
- “Caught-between” accidents, such as getting a body part caught between moving equipment parts or crushed between moving equipment and a solid object
- Lifting injuries
- Scaffold collapses
- Trench collapses
- Defective equipment
- Repetitive motion
- Electrocution
- Chemical exposures
- Fires and explosions
When a construction worker suffers an on-the-job injury, it can cause temporary or permanent disability, disrupting the ability to work at their present capacity or making it impossible to return to work at all. In the worst construction accidents, the worker may suffer a fatal injury, leaving their family to file a wrongful death claim for their loss.
What Types of Injuries Occur In Tucson Construction Accident Cases?
Construction injuries range from mild, fully recoverable injuries with a single emergency room bill and a few days of lost wages to a catastrophic injury with lifelong disability or even wrongful death in Tucson. Common types of injuries in construction accidents include the following:
- Fractures
- Soft-tissue injuries like sprains, tendon damage, and torn ligaments in knees, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and ankles
- Back injuries
- Neck injuries
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs)
- Spinal cord injuries
- Crush injuries
- Traumatic amputations
- Burns, electrical burns, and chemical burns
- Chemical exposures
- Internal injuries
Serious injuries quickly become expensive as well as painful, especially when they interfere with the ability to return to work at the same time that medical expenses are adding up.
What Are My Options for Compensation In a Tucson Construction Accident Claim?
Arizona workers’ compensation may provide medical and partial wage-replacement benefits after a job-related injury. Although workers’ compensation generally limits an employee’s ability to sue an employer, an injured worker may also have a separate personal injury claim against a negligent contractor, property owner, equipment manufacturer, or another non-employer.
OSHA reports that specialty trade contractors are the most common cause of negligence-related construction accidents, leaving an injury victim the option to file a third-party personal injury claim against a non-employer. This claim proceeds independently of a workers’ compensation claim in the same case.
Common third parties in construction accident claims include the following:
- General contractors
- Subcontractors
- Property owners
- Vendors
- Drivers
- Site managers
- Equipment manufacturers
A third-party personal injury claim recovers compensation for non-economic damages that aren’t available through workers’ compensation; for instance, for pain and suffering or for catastrophic injury.
Less commonly, a non-employee, such as a contractor, customer, vendor, or even a passerby, may sustain a construction-site injury. An injury victim who isn’t an employee may file a claim against the site manager or construction company to recover compensation.
What to Do After a Construction Accident In Tucson
Construction accidents are often severe, painful, and traumatic. An injury victim may be incapacitated by their injury and unable to take purposeful action; however, if you can use a cell phone at the accident scene, you can begin to protect yourself by taking the following steps:
- First, use the phone to call 911 or arrange transportation to the hospital from the accident scene
- Then, photograph the cause of the injury, such as broken equipment or a fallen object
- Photograph the injury if it’s visible
- Report the injury to your immediate supervisor and ask them to fill out a detailed accident report
- Take the names and contact information of any eyewitnesses to the accident
- Go directly to the hospital from the workplace for treatment, and ask for a detailed medical report
After your emergency treatment, be sure to see a provider on your employer’s approved provider list to ensure that your medical care is covered by workers’ compensation.
An injury victim must report their injury to their employer and the Industrial Commission of Arizona within one year of the injury date to file a workers’ compensation claim.
Contact The Mercaldo Law Firm to Learn More About Your Legal Rights After a Construction Accident In Tucson
After suffering a serious construction accident injury, you have legal rights and options for financial recovery. We always prioritize your best interests with the goal of maximizing your compensation.
Call The Mercaldo Law Firm at (520) 624-1400 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation with our Tucson construction accident attorneys.