Fort Myers construction injury lawyer Tag Archives

Suing For Work-Related Injury Damages

February 23, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

In most work injury cases, including those stemming from Florida construction accidents, workers can expect to have a single remedy against their employer: Workers’ compensation. The workers’ compensation law is a trade-off of sorts. Employers agree to a system of no-fault benefits for workers injured in the course and scope of employment, and employees agree to forfeit their right to sue the company.

However, while this provision generally also protects co-workers, it typically does not pertain to third-parties, such as product manufacturers, rogue drivers or, in some cases, other contractors on the same job site. The question recently considered in a work injury lawsuit by the Mississippi Supreme Court was whether a worker who obtained workers’ compensation benefits from a company was entitled to also sue that company, on the grounds the company wasn’t his statutory employer.

So why would a company that wasn’t his statutory employer pay benefits in the first place? According to court records, it had to do with an agreement between the defendant property owner and a contractor, which provided maintenance services. The terms of the contract were separate from state law, which did not mandate that the property owner pay workers’ compensation insurance. The fact that the property owner chose to do so as part of the contract did not mean it assumed the position of statutory employer, at least that’s what the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled when it decided plaintiff could proceed with his personal injury lawsuit against defendant, even though defendant/ defendant’s insurer had paid workers’ compensation benefits. Continue reading ›

Report: Construction Worker Injury Risk High for Sprains & Strains

January 29, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Usually when we hear about construction worker injury in Fort Myers, it’s because of some awful, dramatic accident, such as a roadside collision, major fall or electrocution. However, a new study conducted by The Center for Construction Research and Training indicated that the more pervasive problem for most construction workers is the risk of work-related injury to the joints, nerves, tendons and muscles.

Sprain and strains are a constant source of workers’ compensation claims for construction workers, with study authors opining the estimated loss of wages for private industry construction workers in 2014 was about $46 million. The injuries are caused by a number of elements construction workers face on a regular basis, including:

Excessive exposure to vibration
Bending
Twisting
Awkward work postures
Overwork
Static posture
Poorly-designed tools
Extreme temperatures
Poor work organization (i.e., not enough rest breaks, poor supervision, not enough workers, etc.)
Repetition

Florida Contractor Fined $200k for Construction Fall Protection Violations

October 2, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

A construction contractor in Florida has been slapped with $200,000 in fines by the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration for repeated, serious and willful violations related to unsafe fall protection and ladder safety practices. Although it’s likely this fine will be reduced upon settlement (which is how most of these cases end), the fact is, falls remain one of the most serious – and common – preventable risks on Florida construction sites.

That’s why it’s not really surprising that, according to ConstructionDive.com, numerous Florida construction firms have been fined for these violations in recent weeks. Those include:

A roofing company in Jacksonville cited for fall protection violations for the fourth time just in the last 12 months. The St. Augustine contractor has been fined $128,000.
A large home-building company with operations in South Florida was cited for violations in North Florida that involved failure to ensure a carpentry contractor was using the right fall protection measures while they were working at a height that exceeded 25 feet. The subcontracting workers were also using the very top step of a ladder to reach the roof trusses – which is extremely dangerous and counter to what we know about safe ladder practices.
A Miami contractor was fined $53,000 for failing to train workers and exposing them to openings that dropped more than 18 feet.
A contractor in Jacksonville was fined $145,000 for failure to properly extend a ladder and allowing workers to install roof sheathing without using proper fall protection.