Construction work is among the most dangerous occupations in Massachusetts. Falls from scaffolding and ladders, struck-by accidents involving heavy equipment, electrocutions, and cave-in accidents kill and seriously injure workers across the state every year. If you or a family member was hurt in a construction accident, understanding your full legal rights – beyond basic workers’ compensation – is essential to achieving full financial recovery.
Workers Compensation Is Not Your Only Option
Most injured construction workers assume that workers’ compensation is their only remedy after a job site accident. That assumption often leaves significant money on the table. Workers’ compensation provides medical benefits and partial wage replacement, but it does not cover pain and suffering, and it is generally capped at less than your full pre-injury income. When a third party – meaning anyone other than your direct employer – contributed to your injury, a separate personal injury lawsuit may be available alongside your workers’ comp claim.
Third-Party Liability in Massachusetts Construction Accidents
Construction sites in Massachusetts typically involve multiple parties: the property owner, the general contractor, multiple subcontractors, equipment manufacturers, material suppliers, and others. Each of these parties has independent obligations to maintain safe conditions. When any of them is negligent, they can face personal injury liability to injured workers – even if that worker is employed by a different contractor on the same site.
Common third-party defendants in Massachusetts construction accident cases include: general contractors who fail to maintain safe site conditions or coordinate safety across trades; property owners who allow dangerous conditions on sites they control; manufacturers of defective tools, machinery, or safety equipment; suppliers of defective materials; and engineers or architects whose design errors create dangerous conditions.
Third-party claims are valuable because they can recover the full range of damages that workers’ comp does not provide – most importantly, pain and suffering, which is excluded from workers’ compensation benefits in Massachusetts entirely. In serious construction accident cases, the combined recovery from workers’ comp and a third-party personal injury lawsuit is often substantially higher than either would provide alone.
OSHA Violations as Evidence of Negligence
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Massachusetts OSHA enforce detailed safety regulations for construction sites. Violations of these regulations – including failures to provide fall protection, inadequate scaffolding safety, improper electrical safety measures, and failures to protect workers from struck-by hazards – are powerful evidence of negligence in a personal injury lawsuit. When an OSHA investigation finds violations after a construction accident, that documentation often becomes central to the civil liability case.
The Four Leading Causes of Construction Fatalities
OSHA calls them the “Fatal Four”: falls, struck-by incidents (being hit by tools, materials, or vehicles), electrocutions, and caught-in/between incidents (being caught in or compressed by equipment or objects). These four hazard types are responsible for the majority of construction worker deaths nationwide – and each is governed by specific OSHA standards that create a framework for establishing negligence when violations occur.
Contact Larson Law After a Massachusetts Construction Accident
Construction accident cases require prompt investigation to identify all responsible parties, preserve site conditions and safety records, and engage appropriate expert witnesses. At Larson Law, we handle construction accident cases throughout Massachusetts on a contingency fee basis. Contact us for a free consultation to understand your full legal options after a serious construction site injury.