Construction Workers Urged to Understand Legal Rights After Job-Site Accidents

The Perecman Firm, PLLC, a leading New York City personal injury law firm with more than 40 years of experience protecting injury victims, is urging construction workers, bystanders, and contractors to understand and assert their legal rights after job-site accidents that could have been prevented. Construction sites present some of the highest risks for serious injury in the region. At The Perecman Firm, attorneys handle the full spectrum of construction accident claims, ranging from falls from heights and scaffold or ladder collapses to electrocutions, struck-by-object incidents, crane collisions, trench or hoist mishaps, and more.

Every time a worker is injured on a construction site, there is often a chain of responsible parties — subcontractors, general contractors, property owners, equipment manufacturers, according to Steven Dorfman, Managing Legal Officer at The Perecman Firm. Far too many workers believe they're limited to filing only a workers' compensation claim. In fact, they often have the right to bring a personal injury lawsuit that includes pain and suffering, lost future wages, and full medical expenses. The key is knowing your rights and acting quickly.

The Firm points out several critical steps injured workers should take to protect their legal options: Report the accident to your supervisor or site manager immediately and obtain an accident report; seek immediate medical attention, and maintain clear records of all treatments, diagnostic tests, bills, and pay stubs showing lost wages; preserve the job site condition by photographing equipment, scaffolding, guardrails, ladders, exposed wiring, and other hazardous setups; contact an experienced construction-accident attorney before providing statements to insurance adjusters, as adjuster statements can be used to deny or reduce compensation; and be aware of statute of limitations: In New York, most personal injury lawsuits must be filed within three years of the accident.

At The Perecman Firm, the team brings together litigation attorneys, former investigators and engineers, and a deep familiarity with the special protections afforded to construction workers under New York's Labor Law, including Section 240(1) (the Scaffold Law), Section 241(6), and Section 200. These laws allow injured workers to hold property owners, contractors, and others responsible for failing to provide proper safety protections, and in many cases apply even if the employer itself was not negligent directly. The firm was founded to fight for working people who built New York, representing carpenters, iron-workers, masons, painters, electricians who were hurt when someone else failed to make the site safe. For more information, visit https://www.perecman.com.