When a construction worker is injured, they typically have the right to claim workers’ compensation. However, there are situations where you may have the right to file a lawsuit in addition to your worker’s compensation claim.
Whether you have a separate lawsuit or not depends on who was responsible for your injury. If your injury was due to negligence by your boss or a co-worker, you are generally limited to a workers’ comp claim, although you should have an attorney verify this.
If your injury was due to the actions of someone who does not work for your company, you may have a personal injury claim on top of your workers’ comp claim. One of the situations where this is relatively common is when the worker is injured by defective construction equipment, such as:
- Ladders
- Scaffolding
- Power tools
- Machinery
- Safety equipment
- Vehicles
Any type of product could injure you if it is faulty or defective. This could be due to improper maintenance, such as the removal of safety equipment. It could be due to manufacturing or design defects. If you were injured by a badly designed, faulty or broken piece of equipment, you could have a product liability claim.
What is product liability?
The law is different when it comes to dangerous products. Often, you do not have to prove that the manufacturer was actually negligent. Instead, faulty products are held to a “strict liability” standard. Whenever companies put faulty product on the market, they can automatically be held liable for injuries caused by the expected use of that product.
In product liability, any company that participated in bringing the product to market could be held liable for the injuries it caused. That means that not only the manufacturer but also middlemen such as distributers and the final retailer of the product could all be held responsible.
Sometimes there are products that are necessary but inherently dangerous. In such cases, the manufacturer is not expected to make the product perfectly safe. Instead, it can specify conditions under which the product must be used, such as wearing certain safety equipment. However, the company can still be held responsible for injuries if it failed to provide adequate warnings.
If you have been injured by a defective product at work, you should have an experienced personal injury attorney review your case. You may have a product liability claim in addition to your workers’ comp claim.