This guest post is from Mr. Joseph Peterson — a professional legal blogger who frequently writes on topics involving personal injury law and work-related accidents.
There are an estimated nine million construction industry employees across the United States, making it one of the largest professional fields in the country. Unfortunately, the construction industry is also one of the most dangerous fields in the country. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports that there are roughly 150,000 construction accidents annually, injuring one out of every ten workers.
One injury that is unfortunately common on construction sites is traumatic brain injury (TBI). An estimated 1.7 million individuals suffer a traumatic brain injury every year with a large majority of them coming from work-related accidents. TBIs and other construction accidents can have a devastating impact on one’s life and may leave a victim disabled and unable to work for weeks or even months.
Luckily, injured workers may be able take legal action and recover financial compensation to pay for medical bills and other costs related with their injury by filing for workers’ compensation benefits or pursuing a lawsuit against their employer with the help of a personal injury lawyer. Recovering financial compensation is more than just a dream. In fact, earlier this month, a construction worker from New York was awarded $11.5 million in a personal injury settlement – one of the largest for an individual construction worker and one of the largest settlements of the year in the entire state of New York.
The injured victim, Alejandro Alpirez, was injured on Feb. 11, 2008, when an improperly-secured large metal pipe broke from the ceiling and struck Alpirez in the head causing him to fall off an unsecured scaffold, landing on his head. The then 37-year-old suffered a serious traumatic brain injury causing him to lose sight in his right eye and also suffer from a number of other neurological and cognitive disabilities.
The lawsuit was brought against the general contractor, WBB Construction Inc., the building owners, Tessler Developments LLC and 1107 Broadway LLC, and also Alpirez’s employer All Waste Interiors LLC. Along with receiving $11.5 million in damages for negligence, the plaintiff also received more than $300,000 in workers’ compensation benefits.
Along with traumatic brain injuries, construction workers are also at risk of suffering a number of other injuries on construction sites. These include eye injuries from welding, electrocution, severe burns, and injuries due to faulty or defective equipment.
