More often than not, construction accidents cause serious and sometimes fatal injuries. Construction accident injuries are not only painful and distressing, but they are also very expensive, making you entitled to some compensation.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), spinal cord injuries, loss of limb, and severe burns are among the most expensive construction injury victims sustain, and some of the most common. Damages from these injuries include medically necessary treatments, lost wages, and pain and suffering. If your only option is a Workers’ Compensation claim, you cannot get non-economic damages for a workplace construction injury. A third-party construction injury lawsuit might be possible, in which case our lawyers could seek full compensation for all damages.

Call the Graves Injury Law Firm at (305) 614-2767 for your free case analysis from our attorneys for construction injuries.

What Are Some of the Most Expensive Construction Injuries?

With the high cost of medical treatment today, almost any construction accident injury sustained on the job or when passing by a construction site can be very expensive.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Treatment for traumatic brain injuries can include surgeries, medications, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. Diagnosing brain injuries often requires expensive imaging tests like CTs and MRIs, increasing the overall cost to injured construction workers.

Traumatic brain injuries can be permanent, forever lowering or eliminating a person’s earning capacity and preventing them from earning a meaningful income.

Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries are also extremely expensive. The most common cause of spinal cord injuries and paralysis on construction sites is falls. Even after a spinal cord injury is stabilized, the injured worker may have to remain in the hospital’s intensive care unit for ongoing monitoring for days or weeks. Surgical intervention to remove bone fragments or foreign objects or fuse vertebrae to relieve pressure, medication for pain relief and spasticity, physical therapy, and occupational therapy are often medically necessary for spinal cord injuries.

Limb Loss

Getting caught in between machinery or using defective power tools can cause limb loss, another expensive injury. Surgical intervention is essential to assess the possibility of reattachment, clean the wound, remove damaged tissue, and close the wound. Additional damages can come from physical and occupational therapy, prosthetics, and mental health support.

Severe Burns

After suffering severe burns, construction workers require wound cleaning and debridement to prevent infection, fluid resuscitation after massive fluid loss from the burns, and excision of deep burns. Especially deep burns may only be closed with skin grafts, which is a very expensive procedure.

What Are the Most Common Damages from Construction Injuries?

Various economic and non-economic damages can come from construction injuries. Keep in mind that the same compensation that is available from a personal injury lawsuit is not available from Workers’ Compensation.

Medical Bills

Most of your damages from a construction injury may come from medical bills. If you are injured while working on a construction site, only seek care from physicians who are authorized by your employer and their Workers’ Compensation carrier. For emergency treatment after suffering a TBI, spinal cord injury, limb loss, severe burns, or another serious injury, you may go to any doctor and still get damages from Workers’ Compensation.

Even if you can also pursue a third-party construction accident case, you should still protect your access to Workers’ Compensation benefits by seeing only authorized physicians for the bulk of your care.

Lost Wages

Most construction workers cannot resume working immediately after suffering injuries. When there is no liable third party, injured construction workers get lost wages from Workers’ Compensation. Lost-wage benefits only pay a portion of your wages while you cannot work at all or can only work on a restricted basis.

Getting compensation for all lost wages is only possible through a construction accident lawsuit, which is not always an option for all injured workers. Although Workers’ Compensation may protect your employer from employee lawsuits, it does not stop you from suing a negligent third party for your damages with help from our attorneys for construction injuries.

Pain and Suffering

Workers’ Compensation does not provide damages for the pain and suffering from construction accident injuries. If you can file a lawsuit because a third party is at fault, your employer lacks Workers’ Compensation coverage at the time of injury, or your employer exhibited intentional misconduct, you may recover non-economic damages.

Answering Top Construction Injury FAQs

What Are the Leading Causes of Construction Injuries?

The following are some of the leading causes of construction injuries in Coral Gables:

  • Trips, slips, and falls
  • Falling objects
  • Exposed wiring
  • Defective equipment
  • Vehicle accidents

Do You Have to Report a Construction Injury to Your Employer?

You should report a construction injury to your employer to safeguard your future Workers’ Compensation claim. You have 30 days to report an injury in Florida, but you do not have to wait that long.

How Long Do You Have to Get Damages for a Construction Injury in Florida?

You have 2 years to seek damages from Workers’ Compensation in Florida. You also have 2 years to bring a third-party injury lawsuit for additional damages that Workers’ Compensation does not pay.

Why Must You Get Immediate Medical Attention for a Construction Injury?

Getting immediate medical attention helps prove when, where, and why you were injured. If you wait too long to go to the hospital and get assessed, it can be harder to connect your injury to a previous workplace incident.

Why Do You Need an Attorney After Suffering a Construction Injury?

After suffering a construction injury, you need an attorney’s help to confirm your best path to recovery, gather evidence that could be lost or destroyed, estimate your deserved Workers’ Compensation benefits or potential recovery from a lawsuit, and advocate for you as you seek damages.

Get Compensation for Your Construction Injury

You can call our attorneys for construction injuries at (305) 614-2767 for a free case discussion with the Graves Injury Law Firm.