Florida Construction Injury Lawyer: 2 Workers Injured After Steel Beam Collapse

Brandon Stein

By: Brandon Stein

If you or someone you know was injured, contact our Fort Lauderdale construction lawyers today.

Just yesterday on a construction site at the University of Utah, two construction workers were seriously injured when a large steel beam collapsed.  According to reports, the construction workers had been lifting the beam when they lost control and it came crashing down on top of them.  The construction company had been performing work to a new building on the campus of the University of Utah at the time of this construction accident.  It has been reported that when the beam fell, it struck one worker and pinned another beneath it.  The two men were transported to a local hospital and were said to be in critical condition.  One construction worker sustained an injury to his hip, while the other sustained injury to his leg.  No additional injuries have been reported at this time.

As a Fort Myers construction lawyer, it does not appear at this point that the injuries sustained by the workers were due to any wrongdoing by the construction company. However, this presumption is solely based upon the limited reporting of this construction accident at this juncture.  For Naples personal injury lawyers that sue construction companies in Florida, it is usually apparent that more times than not the accident could have been avoided.

However, negligence by construction companies that lead to injury are certainly a vehicle for North Miami Beach lawyers to travel within when filing a lawsuit in Florida.  Though, as I have commented in numerous articles in the past, mere negligence is not enough to sustain a successful lawsuit against an employer.  Yet, this does not apply to injuries sustained by non-employees at or near construction sites.

Nevertheless, being a Cape Coral construction lawyer, I have come to recognize that with the ever-changing landscape of the state of Florida, construction is a constant, and as a result, construction site accidents are a constant.  With respect to the construction accident referenced above, that oversight by the construction workers led to serious injury to themselves — but as South Florida construction lawyers come to recognize, oversights by construction companies can often lead to devastating injury for clients.  So, if at all possible, when you come across a construction zone, walk the other way.

 

Florida Construction Injury Lawyer: The Dangers of Nighttime Construction

Brandon Stein

As a North Miami injury lawyer that helps victims of construction accidents on highways, it never ceases to amaze me how often tragedy strikes on the roadway. And every single time a person is injured in an accident, people are always shocked and wonder aloud how something like this could happen.  More times than not, when a person is injured, whether it be a construction employee injured while working on a job site or some lay person injured near a construction site, usually someone did something wrong that led to the accident.  The most recent tragedy occurred on a freeway in Santa Monica, California during the early morning hours when a construction worker was crushed and killed by a falling steel beam.

Highway construction had been ongoing since 2009, and according to reports, this construction site injury is the first major accident to occur.  The steel beam that took the construction worker’s life weighed well over one ton — even more scary is that fifteen co-workers witnessed this horrific accident.  Nevertheless, a transportation authority spokesperson assured the public that the construction would be ceased immediately until further safety tests and investigation is undertaken.

A key fact that must be noted is that this construction accident occurred during the nighttime/overnight shift hours, which certainly raises the question as to just how safe the working conditions are for construction being performed at night.  Certainly, many factors come into play during the course of nighttime construction.

For one, the workers are operating on an extremely limited amount of sleep, which leads to fatigue and perhaps careless or negligent work.  Also, inadequate resources may be available during nighttime construction, as opposed to work performed during daytime hours.  Not to mention, when performing construction to roadways at night, the number one risk that construction workers take out with them every time they clock in is the possibility of a serious car accident at the construction site. Tough to see at night, poor lighting, failure to abide by the traffic signals — these factors all lead to accidents causing serious injury, and sometimes even death.

At this point, it remains unclear as to whether this construction site accident resulted from nighttime construction and the various dangerous factors that come along with it. However, you can be certain of one thing — it is definitely a more dangerous task to perform construction during nighttime hours.

If you or someone you know was injured in a construction site accident or a car accident at or near a construction area, please contact us today.

By: Brandon Stein