NYC Scaffolding Accident Lawyer
When construction accidents occur on New York City's countless building projects, the consequences can be devastating for workers and pedestrians alike. At Arye, Lustig & Sassower, P.C., we understand the complex nature of scaffolding accidents and have dedicated our practice to protecting the rights of those injured in these incidents. As your NYC scaffolding accident lawyer, we bring decades of experience representing clients throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation to discuss your case and learn how we can help you move forward after a serious scaffold accident injury.
Financial Compensation You May Be Entitled To After a Scaffold Accident Injury
At Arye, Lustig & Sassower, P.C., we understand that scaffold accidents can have devastating financial and personal consequences. As your NYC scaffolding accident lawyer, we work diligently to secure every type of compensation you deserve under New York law. Here are the various forms of financial recovery you may be entitled to receive, which includes recovery under workers' compensation and also recoveries through a third party claim:
- Medical Expenses: Compensation for all past and future medical treatments, including emergency care, surgeries, rehabilitation, physical therapy, and ongoing medical equipment needs.
- Lost Wages and Income: Recovery for all missed work time, including regular wages, overtime, bonuses, and other employment benefits you lost while recovering from your scaffold accident injuries.
- Diminished Earning Capacity: Financial compensation for any reduction in your ability to earn income in the future due to permanent injuries or disabilities from your scaffolding accident.
- Pain and Suffering: Monetary damages for physical pain, emotional distress, and trauma experienced during and after your scaffold accident in New York City.
- Permanent Disability: Compensation for any lasting impairments, including modifications needed for your home or vehicle, ongoing care requirements, and lifestyle adjustments.
- Loss of Quality of Life: Recovery for the impact your injuries have had on your ability to enjoy daily activities, hobbies, and time with family following your scaffolding injury.
- Family Impact Damages: Compensation for the effect on your family relationships, including loss of consortium and the strain on family members who must provide care.
- Out-of-Pocket Expenses: Reimbursement for transportation to medical appointments, medication costs, medical devices, and other injury-related expenses you've paid directly.
- Vocational Rehabilitation: Coverage for job retraining programs or educational courses if your scaffold accident injuries prevent you from returning to construction work.
- Property Damage: Compensation for any personal items damaged during the scaffold accident, including tools, equipment, or other belongings.
How a Scaffold Accident Lawyer Can Help To Maximize Compensation
Our role as your NYC scaffolding accident lawyer extends far beyond simply filing paperwork. We employ proven strategies and thorough legal processes to maximize the compensation you deserve after a scaffolding accident. Here's how we seek to secure the best possible outcome for your case:
- Immediate Investigation: Our scaffolding accident attorney in New York City team launches a prompt investigation to preserve crucial evidence, photograph the accident scene, and document safety violations before conditions change or evidence disappears.
- Expert Consultation: Our construction accident lawyer may collaborate with construction safety professionals, medical authorities, and economic analysts who can provide authoritative testimony about your accident's causes and its impact on your life and future earning capacity.
- Complete Documentation: We gather and organize all relevant documentation, including accident reports, OSHA violations, medical records, witness statements, and construction site safety logs to build a comprehensive case file.
- Multiple Liability Sources: We seek identify every potentially responsible party, from property owners to equipment manufacturers, ensuring no source of compensation is overlooked in your scaffold accident case.
- Insurance Negotiation: We handle all communications with insurance companies, protecting you from potentially damaging statements while advocating for maximum compensation through skilled negotiation tactics.
- Medical Evidence Development: We work closely with your healthcare providers to fully document your injuries, future medical needs, and long-term impact, creating strong support for your compensation claim.
- Strategic Case Building: We develop a compelling legal strategy that anticipates and addresses potential defense arguments, strengthening your position for both settlement negotiations and potential trial.
- Timely Filing: We seek to ensure all legal deadlines are met and required documentation is filed correctly, protecting your right to pursue compensation under New York's complex legal framework.
- Settlement Evaluation: We provide honest, informed guidance about settlement offers, helping you understand whether accepting an offer or pursuing litigation better serves your interests.
- Trial Preparation: We prepare every case as if it will go to trial, demonstrating to opposing parties our readiness to fight for your rights in court if a fair settlement isn't offered.
- Damage Calculation: We perform detailed calculations of all damages, including future costs and non-economic impacts, to ensure your compensation claim reflects the full extent of your losses.
Common Injuries Associated with Scaffold Accidents
Scaffold accidents often result in severe, life-altering injuries that require extensive medical treatment and long-term care. Below are the common types of injuries our construction accident lawyers encounter in scaffolding accident cases:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries: Impact to the head during falls or from falling objects can cause severe brain trauma, potentially resulting in cognitive impairment, memory loss, personality changes, and long-term disability.
- Spinal Cord Damage: Falls from scaffolding frequently cause devastating spinal cord injuries of construction workers that may lead to partial or complete paralysis, requiring lifelong medical care and assistance.
- Multiple Fractures: The force of scaffold falls often results in multiple broken bones throughout the body, particularly in the legs, arms, pelvis, and ribs, requiring extensive surgery and rehabilitation.
- Internal Organ Damage: The impact from falls or crushing injuries can cause severe damage to internal organs, leading to life-threatening complications and potential long-term health issues.
- Crush Injuries: Scaffold collapse incidents can trap workers between materials or equipment, causing severe tissue damage, organ failure, and potential limb loss.
- Fatal Injuries: Tragically, many scaffold accidents result in worker deaths, leaving families to cope with devastating emotional and financial losses while seeking justice through wrongful death claims.
- Neck and Back Injuries: Even when not resulting in paralysis, scaffold accidents frequently cause serious neck and back injuries that can lead to chronic pain and permanent mobility limitations.
- Severe Lacerations: Contact with sharp edges, tools, or debris during scaffold accidents can cause deep cuts and tears, potentially resulting in significant blood loss and permanent scarring.
- Joint Injuries: The impact of falls often causes severe damage to joints, particularly knees, hips, and shoulders, potentially requiring multiple surgeries and resulting in chronic pain.
- Electrical Burns: Contact with power lines near scaffolding can cause severe electrical burns, leading to tissue damage, nerve injury, and potentially fatal complications.
- Psychological Trauma: Beyond physical injuries, survivors of scaffold accidents often experience severe psychological trauma, including PTSD, anxiety, and depression that require long-term mental health treatment.
Common Causes of Scaffold Accidents on Construction Sites
Here are the primary factors that contribute to scaffolding accidents on construction sites:
- Improper Assembly: Scaffolding structures that are incorrectly assembled or missing crucial components can become unstable and collapse, leading to catastrophic accidents that could have been prevented with proper installation protocols.
- Inadequate Maintenance: Regular wear and tear combined with lack of proper maintenance can cause scaffold components to deteriorate, creating dangerous conditions that put workers at risk of falls and equipment failures.
- Overloading Issues: Exceeding the scaffold's weight capacity with too many workers, tools, or materials can lead to sudden collapse, particularly when load limits aren't clearly marked or enforced on the construction site.
- Missing Fall Protection: Absence of proper guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall arrest systems creates dangerous conditions that significantly increase the risk of fatal falls from heights.
- Poor Platform Conditions: Unstable planking, slippery surfaces, or gaps in walking surfaces can cause workers to trip or fall, especially when combined with adverse weather conditions or poor housekeeping practices.
- Electrical Hazards: Improper clearance from power lines or failure to implement proper electrical safety measures can result in severe or fatal electrocution accidents on scaffolding structures.
- Weather-Related Risks: High winds, ice, rain, or snow can create hazardous conditions on scaffolding, particularly when work continues without proper weather-related safety protocols in place.
- Inadequate Training: Workers who lack proper safety training or instruction in scaffold use face increased risks of accidents, especially when working at significant heights or with complex scaffolding systems.
- Equipment Defects: Manufacturing defects in scaffold components or safety equipment can lead to unexpected failures, even when the scaffolding appears properly assembled and maintained.
- Communication Failures: Poor coordination between different trades or lack of clear safety protocols can result in dangerous situations, especially when multiple crews work on or around scaffolding simultaneously.
- Insufficient Inspections: Failure to conduct regular safety inspections or address identified hazards can allow dangerous conditions to persist and worsen over time.
- Material Handling Errors: Improper methods of raising or lowering materials and tools on scaffolding can result in falling object accidents that endanger both workers and pedestrians below.
Who is Liable For My Scaffold Accident Injuries?
Under New York Labor Law Section 240, known as the Scaffold Law, various parties may be held responsible for your injuries. Here are the potential liable parties we investigate in scaffold accident cases:
- Property Owners: Under New York's Scaffold Law, property owners hold absolute liability for height-related accidents, regardless of their direct involvement in the construction work or presence on site.
- General Contractors: These companies bear primary responsibility for site safety and coordination between subcontractors, making them liable for accidents resulting from inadequate safety measures or poor oversight.
- Construction Managers: When given authority over site safety and worker coordination, construction managers may share liability for accidents resulting from their failure to maintain proper safety protocols.
- Subcontractors: Companies responsible for scaffold assembly, maintenance, or related work may be liable if their negligence contributed to the accident,
- Other Subcontractors: Trade contractors working on or around scaffolding may share liability if their actions or negligence contribute to unsafe conditions or accidents.
What To Do If Injured From a Scaffold Accident
Taking the right steps immediately after an injury can significantly impact your ability to recover compensation. Here are the essential actions you should take if you're injured in a scaffold accident:
- Seek Immediate Medical Care: Even if you think your injuries are minor, get immediate medical attention to document your condition and prevent potentially serious complications from developing.
- Report the Accident: Notify your supervisor or site manager immediately and ensure an official accident report is filed, documenting all details of the incident while they're fresh in your memory.
- Document the Scene: If possible, take photos or videos of the accident scene, including the scaffolding structure, any safety violations, weather conditions, and your injuries before anything is moved or changed.
- Collect Witness Information: Gather names and contact information from anyone who witnessed the accident, including fellow workers, pedestrians, or nearby business employees who may have seen what happened.
- Preserve Evidence: Keep your work clothes, shoes, safety equipment, and any other items involved in the accident in their post-accident condition, as they may serve as crucial evidence.
- Record Your Account: Write down or record a detailed description of how the accident occurred while your memory is fresh, including the time, date, weather conditions, and any safety concerns you noticed.
- Avoid Recorded Statements: Decline giving recorded statements to insurance companies or signing any documents without first consulting a scaffolding accident attorney in New York City.
- Track Your Losses: Keep detailed records of all medical bills, prescriptions, lost wages, and other expenses related to your scaffold accident injuries.
- Note Witness Accounts: Write down or record any statements made by supervisors, co-workers, or others about the accident or safety conditions that may have contributed to it.
- Save Communications: Preserve all emails, text messages, or other communications about the accident or your injuries, as they may contain important information for your case.
- Contact Legal Representation: Reach out to an NYC scaffolding accident lawyer as soon as possible to protect your rights and preserve critical evidence.
- Monitor Your Recovery: Keep a daily journal for your lawyer documenting your pain levels, limitations, and how your injuries affect your daily life and ability to work.
Get Help From Our NYC Scaffold Accident Lawyers
Don't face the aftermath of a scaffold accident alone. At Arye, Lustig & Sassower, P.C., our experienced legal team stands ready to protect your rights and fight for the compensation you deserve. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation to discuss your case and learn how we can help you move forward after a serious scaffold accident injury.
Scaffold Accident Lawyer FAQs
What if the accident was partially my fault?
New York's Scaffold Law provides absolute liability protection for workers in height-related accidents. This means that even if you were partially at fault, the property owner and general contractor may still be fully liable for your injuries, provided the accident resulted from inadequate height-related safety protections.
What if I was injured as a pedestrian by falling debris from scaffolding?
Pedestrians injured by falling objects from scaffolding have the right to pursue compensation from responsible parties, including the property owner, construction companies, and others responsible for scaffold safety. Different legal standards may apply, but you still have strong rights to seek damages for your injuries.
What if my scaffold accident aggravated a pre-existing condition?
You can still recover compensation if a scaffold accident worsens an existing injury or condition. The key is establishing how the accident impacted your pre-existing condition and what additional treatment or limitations resulted from the new injury.
