San Antonio Construction Accident Lawyer

These days, it’s hard to travel anywhere in San Antonio without passing a construction site. Almost one million Texans work in the construction industry earning a living and providing for their families.

Although safety practices have improved drastically over the years, sometimes job sites can still be dangerous places for those who work there. In fact, it’s estimated that about one out of every 25 construction workers nationwide gets injured on the job each year and many benefit from hiring experienced San Antonio work injury attorneys.

Some of the most frequently-seen construction site work injuries include:

• Electrocution – due to exposed wiring, unfinished electrical systems, and nearby power lines
• Falling objects or debris – such as tools or building materials
• Falls from heights – involving workers who fall from scaffolding, roofs, windows, beams, ladders, or unwalled buildings
• Fires or explosions – caused by leaked gases, flames from welding and other building processes, vehicle fires, demolition materials, or unfinished piping or electrical systems
• Getting stuck – in tight spaces surrounded by falling debris, equipment, work vehicles, and walls or other immovable objects
• Machinery accidents – involving power tools, cranes, earth movers, or other equipment
• Overexertion – such as strokes, heart attacks, heat stroke, and other conditions caused by working long hours in unfavorable conditions
• Slips and trips while walking – involving holes, uneven ground, scattered tools, stray building material, or other objects
• Trench collapses – while working below ground in trenches for plumbing, cable, electrical, natural gas, or other building systems
• Vehicle accidents – involving pickup trucks, forklifts, dump trucks, equipment, or even a passenger vehicle passing by the site

Often, these accidents couldn’t have been foreseen by an employer and may not be anyone else’s fault. Still, building companies, contractors, and other firms who employ construction workers have a legal obligation to provide a safe working environment for their employees.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration is the federal agency tasked with ensuring that all employers protect their workers while on the job. Some of the OSHA rules governing workplace safety include:

• Providing and maintaining safe tools and equipment for their employees
• Eliminating common hazards from the workplace
• Creating general operating procedures (and keeping them up to date) that outline safety guidelines for their employees
• Creating operating procedures regarding the use, transport, and storage of hazardous substances
• Communicating all safety guidelines, practices, and procedures to employees and providing periodic safety training in these areas when necessary
• Reporting serious or fatal accidents that occur on the job to the nearest OSHA office
• Keeping track of workplace-related injuries and illnesses
• Offering periodic medical examinations and training

If you are a construction worker and suffer an injury on the job site, the two most immediate actions you should take are to notify your supervisor and seek medical attention. Once your condition has been stabilized, it is important to contact a San Antonio work accident and injury lawyer.

In some cases, you may feel that you are not being properly compensated for your medical bills, lost wages, and other injury-related expenses. That’s where a qualified worker injury lawyer can help. The law offices of Ronald A. Ramos, P.C. can help people who have been hurt while working on a construction site in San Antonio and the rest of Bexar County. For more information or to set up a free, one-on-one consultation, fill out our contact form or call our office today.