An injury from a crane accident can leave you in the hospital for weeks or months and cause you long-lasting interruptions to your ability to work.  If you become hurt or disabled, you need a lawyer on your side to help you with your claim.

Workers’ Compensation claims are available for most construction workers, paying 66 2/3% of lost wages and covering medical expenses.  However, crane accidents can also be blamed on outside third parties in some cases, allowing lawsuits that can pay additional damages.

For your free case evaluation, call Graves Injury Law Firm’s attorneys for construction site crane injuries at (305) 614-2767 today.

How Does Workers’ Compensation Work for Construction Site Injuries?

When you get hurt in the course of your work, you can often file for Workers’ Comp instead of having to go through a lawsuit.  This allows administration of your claim and coverage for all medical care through your employer’s Workers’ Comp insurance, but you should generally work with a Workers’ Compensation lawyer to seek full benefits, challenge denials, and push the insurance carrier to cover your case.

Requirements for Coverage

Workers’ Compensation should cover most construction injuries, but they need to meet the following requirements:

  • You worked as an employee when you were hurt, as opposed to an independent contractor. Florida law includes virtually all construction workers as employees, even if they are titled as “contractors.”
  • Your injury occurred within the course and scope of your work.
  • Your injury is disabling for at least 7 days.

Filing

You start your case by filing notice of your injury within 30 days of your accident.  Certainly, your employer might already know about a giant crane collapse that happened on their job site, but this is still a requirement you must meet.

Formal Claims

Our lawyers can go back and forth with the insurance companies and push them to accept your case, but if they refuse to do so, we can file a formal claim.  This goes to the OEA (Bureau of Employee Assistance and Ombudsman) – a department within the government that handles claims.

We file a Claim for Benefits, and the case goes before a Workers’ Comp Judge (WCJ) – a specialized judge for Workers’ Compensation claims.

No Fault

Fault is not a question in Workers’ Comp claims.  Because of this, you can get compensation for injuries you caused yourself, that a coworker caused you, or that an outside party caused you.  You do not need to show that your employer was at fault; they cover all work-related injuries.

How Much is My Claim Worth?

Workers’ Comp benefits cover medical care, 66 2/3% of your lost wages, and other medical costs like home adaptations and prosthetics.

Benefit Rate

If you cannot work at all, your rate is typically 66 2/3% of your pre-injury average wages (with caps at the statewide average wage) for up to 104 weeks.  If you can work to some extent, then your rate is 80% of the difference between 80% of your pre-injury wage and 100% of your current wage – which is a bit of a complex formula.

Length of Disability

After 104 weeks or maximum medical improvement (whichever comes first), your rate might change for any residual disability.  However, if you have a permanent total injury, you may be able to keep going at 66 2/3% while you cannot work.

Permanent and Total Benefits

If your injury is serious enough that you will not be able to work, and we know that from the beginning, we can get you straight onto permanent total disability.  This is common with

  • Paralysis
  • Amputations
  • Serious brain injuries
  • Other sensory/motor issues
  • Other brain and neurological injuries
  • Serious burns over 25% or more of your body
  • Total blindness.

What Crane Injuries and Accidents Are Covered?

Crane accidents can happen in many ways, with multiple parties potentially at fault.  These are some of the most common:

  • Improper or unstable setups, allowing cranes to tip or collapse.
  • Improper lines or counterweights, causing cargo to drop.
  • User error or drunk operation leading to accidents.
  • Swinging the crane or cargo into power lines, causing electrocutions.
  • Being hit or struck by swinging or falling cargo.
  • Being run over by the crane or the vehicles bringing it to the site.

Can You Sue for Injuries?

Lawsuits are sometimes available.  Some of these causes discussed above involve injuries that outside third parties caused.  Although your employer has to cover your Workers’ Comp benefits even when third parties are responsible, you can also sue them.

No Double Recovery

When you do so, you may recover some damages twice.  These are paid back to your employer through a subrogation claim they file against you, but you can keep the other damages.

Other Damages

Workers’ Comp does not pay full lost wages (it covers 66 2/3%), and there are no pain and suffering damages.  These damages can be claimed through a lawsuit, which may result in fuller compensation.

You may also potentially claim punitive damages in some lawsuits.

Fault Required

You must prove the defendant’s fault to win a lawsuit against them.  This means that some degree of fault might be theirs, but the rest might be your employer’s.  You still cannot sue your employer for work-related injuries, so you lose damages for any portion of fault attributed to your employer or another party you cannot sue (e.g., yourself).

FAQs for Construction Accidents Involving Cranes

Can You Sue the Crane Manufacturer?

Sometimes problems with cranes involve manufacturing defects with the crane itself or the lines, hooks, or other parts.  These accidents can often be held against the manufacturer.

Can You Sue the Crane Company?

If the crane was provided by your employer and operated by coworkers, you often cannot sue for crane accidents those parties caused.  However, you may be able to sue outside crane rental companies, especially if their employee was the one operating the crane.

How Do OSHA Violations Affect Crane Collapse Claims?

Workers’ Comp does not need an OSHA violation for you to have a valid case.  However, this can help prove what went wrong and connect the injury to your work conditions.

An explicit OSHA violation also potentially helps you prove fault if you have a lawsuit you can file.  However, you cannot sue your employer for a work-related injury, even if they committed an OSHA violation.

Call Our Workers’ Compensation Lawyers for Construction Site Injuries in Miami

If you were hurt at work on a construction site, call the construction site crane injury attorneys at Graves Injury Law Firm at (305) 614-2767 to get started on your case.