Florida Construction Accident Lawyer Near You

At Abrahamson & Uiterwyk, we help construction accident victims in the greater Tampa area fight for fair compensation. In many cases, construction workers will have two ways to seek compensation. The first is a claim for workers’ compensation: As an employee, you are entitled to limited “no-fault” benefits from your employer. The second is a claim for personal injuries: If someone other than your employer was to blame, our construction accident attorneys can help you seek full compensation for your injuries and losses.

Contents hide
1 Two Ways to Seek Compensation for Construction Accident Injuries in Florida
1.1 1. Workers’ Compensation Benefits
1.2 2. Personal Injury Compensation
2 Common Causes of Construction Accidents
3 Top Causes of Construction Site Fatalities – The “Fatal Four”
4 Florida Injury Case Types

Two Ways to Seek Compensation for Construction Accident Injuries in Florida

1. Workers’ Compensation Benefits

Under Florida law, most construction companies are required to provide workers’ compensation benefits to employees who get hurt on the job. As we mentioned above, these are “no-fault” benefits, which means that your employer has to pay regardless of whether it was to blame for your injuries.

However, securing workers’ compensation benefits is not as easy as it sounds. Employers don’t like to pay workers’ compensation benefits – paying means losing money, and it also means having a record of a job site injury. In addition, most companies cover the costs of workers’ compensation through insurance, which means that you will most likely need to deal with your employer’s insurance company in order to collect the benefits that you deserve.

For these reasons, if you have been injured on a construction site, it is strongly in your best interests to hire a job site injury attorney to assist you with your claim. An experienced workers’ compensation attorney will be able to deal with your employer and its insurance company for you – while helping make sure that you take all of the steps necessary to collect the benefits you deserve.

2. Personal Injury Compensation

In addition to filing a claim for workers’ compensation benefits, it is critical that you speak with a construction site injury lawyer about filing a claim for personal injury compensation. Why? Workers’ compensation does not provide full coverage for injured employees’ losses. Workers’ compensation benefits cover accident-related medical expenses and a portion of your lost wages, but they will not cover the wide range of other losses that often result from a serious construction site injury.

By filing a personal injury claim, you can seek full compensation for your:

  • Past and future medical expenses
  • Counseling, therapy, and rehabilitation costs
  • Lost wages and loss of future earning capacity
  • Pain and suffering
  • Loss of companionship and consortium
  • Loss of enjoyment of life
  • Other financial and non-financial losses resulting from the accident

Under Florida law, in most cases, workers’ compensation is the only remedy that you can seek from your employer. In exchange for the opportunity to receive “no-fault” benefits through workers’ compensation, employees lose the right to file personal injury lawsuits against their employers for additional compensation. But, on construction sites, in many cases there will be other parties that are to blame for accidents and injuries.

Examples of companies that may be fully liable for your construction accident injuries include:

  • Contractors
  • Property owners
  • Subcontractors
  • Tool, equipment, and machinery manufacturers
  • Trucking and shipping companies
  • Utility companies

When you contact us about your case, we will conduct a thorough investigation in order to identify all of the parties that are responsible for your losses.

In addition to handling personal injury claims, we also represent family members in cases of wrongful death. If you lost a loved one in a construction site accident, we encourage you to call so that we can help you seek justice for your loved one’s death.

Common Causes of Construction Accidents

Construction accidents can result from a wide range of factors. As a result, injured workers can often seek workers’ compensation benefits and file claims for personal injuries. While you may ultimately need to repay some of your workers’ compensation benefits if you receive a settlement or verdict in your personal injury case, filing both types of claims can help insure that you recover the money you need as quickly as possible.

Examples of issues that can entitle injured construction workers to file personal injury claims in Florida include:

  • Negligent supervision
  • Poor or insufficient training
  • Improper use or maintenance of tools and equipment
  • Defective tools and equipment
  • Misuse of tools and equipment
  • Crane, hoist, and harness-related accidents
  • Scaffolding accidents
  • Collapsed structures
  • Falling objects
  • Falls from high elevations
  • Slips and falls
  • Compressed gases
  • Toxic substance exposure
  • Electrical accidents
  • Welding accidents
  • Explosions and fires

Top Causes of Construction Site Fatalities – The “Fatal Four”

Out of the many causes of construction site accidents, four causes account for nearly two-thirds of all construction-related fatalities. OSHA refers to these as the “Fatal Four.” According to OSHA’s latest statistics:

  • Falls account for nearly 40 percent of all construction-related deaths.
  • Electrocutions account for over eight percent of all construction-related deaths.
  • Being struck by an object accounts for over eight percent of all construction-related deaths.
  • Being caught in or between objects accounts for over four percent of all construction-related deaths.

Alarmingly, the rate of fatal falls on construction sites has actually increased over the last few years for which data are available. This goes to show that construction companies, contractors, subcontractors, and other companies working on construction sites simply are not taking the steps necessary to mitigate workers’ risk of fatal injuries.

Due to the fact that workers’ compensation claims are often highly complex and exceedingly fact-specific, our law firm commonly works with other law firms in and around Tampa that have considerable experience in these types of cases. As a result, we may refer your workers’ compensation claim to a separate firm with which we typically associate and work on a co-counsel basis.

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Florida Injury Case Types

The highly-experienced Florida personal injury law firm of Abrahamson & Uiterwyk provides:

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