Scaffold construction site injury sends man to hospital

On behalf of Jeffrey Frederick of Frederick & Hagle posted in Workers’ Compensation on Friday, June 19, 2015.

An Illinois construction worker is in the hospital following a devastating accident at a hospital construction site. Despite the well-known risks of poorly constructed or maintained scaffolds, falls and other related injuries persist as a common cause of construction site injury. It is unclear why some employers do not appear to take the very real dangers of scaffolds seriously when it is the life of workers on the line.

Scaffolds are a very common feature of construction sites, but their commonality does not mean they are always safe (see our Jan. 5, 2015 post: “Scaffolds common cause of a construction accident”). The scaffolding that a construction worker recently fell from was at least 30 feet tall in order to allow workers to reach higher stories on the outside of the building. After the initial fall, the worker hit multiple objects, including a retaining wall, before striking the ground.

Suffering from serious internal injuries, emergency personnel transported him to a local area hospital for treatment. The Illinois Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident. Its goal is to determine whether safety protocols were properly implemented and if fall protections were appropriately in place.

While the results of an OSHA investigation might result in citations against the company for improper safety protocols, it has no bearing on an employee’s workers’ compensation benefits. With heavy equipment and high scaffolds utilized at most work sites, a construction site injury can be an especially serious matter that can put an employee out of work for a significant period of time. Workers’ comp ensures that victims of workplace injuries have sufficient funds to address medical bills and wages lost during the recovery process.

Source: centralillinoisproud.com, “Construction Works Falls 30 Feet from Scaffolding”, May 28, 2015