In addition to the pain, isolation, and economic hardship caused by an on the job injury an innocent worker injured on the job will quickly find that the foreman and co workers are openly hostile and wrongfully blaming the injured worker. Recent examples and results from this firm include:
1. A drywaller was working inside a major rennovation and forced to walk up temporary scaffolding resembling a water falls to access work. In an attempt to avoid Worker’s Comp Coverage the foreman, absent from the jobsite at the time of injury, alleged the worker intentionally ‘staged’ a fall permanently rendering him cripple from a devastating knee injury, was stealing drugs from a coworker’s lunch, and had a nonexistant prior injury according to his foreman. Result: Full benefits plus civil settlement.
2. A surveyor who stepped on a covered, unmarked, unsigned vent cover to make a mark, and then fell 22 feet breaking bones in both legs, heel, and tibia permanently disfiguring him was just stupid, negligent, frolicking, and careless by stepping on the concealed hazard testifed the party chief who told him to step there. Result: Full benefits and $1.85M Civil Award.
3. A young electrician, inadequately trained fresh out of the marines, is electrocuted when unknown to him the pole he was told to climb was in fact receiving voltage from two different sources from two different directions. The foreman who told him to climb the dangerously energized pole alleged the decedent was wreckless and suicidal. Result: Full benefits and $2.5M Civil Award to his bride of two years.
4. A carpenter forced to work in the rain or quit slips and falls from a school roof falling onto his head becoming permanently brain injured requiring lifetime medical confinement. The superintendent and foreman claimed he should never have been on the roof and took the risk himself. Result: Full benefits to wife and children plus $5M Civil Award.
5. A tile setter is forced to work at night by the owner to finish. The top landing had no guardrails and he topples 17′ fracturing his patella and permanently injured, missing a year of work. The owner argues the tile setter should not have been working at night. Results: Full benefits and civil award.
Why do construction contractors hide and skew the truth? Because these working people could not talk for themselves and the employer/subcontractor/general contractor’s negligence will cost money. The injury may effect the employer-general contractor’s future contracts. The employer’s Worker’s Compensation Premiums will go up. The Subcontractor/General Contractor will be tied up in litigation and will receive a premium hike. OHSA Monetary Sanctions may be issued. These five workers each received Worker’s Compensation Benefits and recovered a total $10,000,000 civilly when the truth came out and the misinformation given the light of day.
OSHA Rules are designed to protect the worker. Company Safety Officers, Supervisors and Foreman are supposed to watch out for the worker pressed to perform. Do not be ashamed or too embarassed to seek adquate compensation. If you are injured on the job, comply truthfully with all inquiries from the employer, general contractor, OSHA, and or any official inquiries. You are not at fault for the contractor’s dangerous premises. The contractors will only look out for their interests after you are injured, not yours.