Scaffolding Accidents in Freeport, Texas - When a Third Party is Responsible

Scaffolding should create a safe working space for workers at elevated heights. Despite this, scaffolding accidents in the U.S. caused 3,400 injuries and over 50 deaths in 2020. Construction workers injured during these accidents in Freeport, Texas, deserve fair compensation for their losses.

Hiring a local lawyer with litigation experience ensures that victims of scaffolding accidents receive financial compensation for economic and noneconomic damages sustained in an accident. At Carabin Shaw, our expert Freeport attorneys will hold employers and third parties accountable for their negligence. We encourage you to read our client reviews if you’d like to learn more about our success stories.

Scaffolding is inherently hazardous because it elevates workers to dangerous heights, and the severity of the scaffolding injury depends on the type of accident and the height of the platform. Examples of scaffolding accidents on construction sites are:

• Loose planks causing slip-and-fall accidents
• Defective materials leading to scaffolding collapse
• Scaffolding contacting live wire and causing electrocution
• The lack of required guardrail system allows workers to plummet from a platform
• Loads exceeding the scaffolding’s capacity collapse or break the structure
• Wind from a storm blows over unsecured scaffolding
• Tools or debris fall from scaffolding, hitting a worker below

Injured workers may file a workers’ compensation claim following an accident if their employer subscribes to it. They may also file a third-party lawsuit against a liable party who is not the employer. Carabin Shaw offers our services on a contingency-fee-basis so that you can pursue your legal options without upfront financial obligations.

Pursuing a third-party personal injury claim in Texas means that your lawyer must prove the negligence of an entity that is not your employer. Negligence involves five components:

• Duty to act
• Breach of duty
• Harm
• Breach of duty as a proximate cause of injury
• Breach of duty as an in-fact cause of injury

One way for an attorney to prove negligence is to provide evidence that a party has not followed OSHA safety regulations. Some of the regulations that involve scaffolding include:

• Planking must have the ability to support the planned load weight four times.
• Platforms must not contain debris or clutter.
• Employers must give fall protection to workers on scaffolding 10 or more feet tall.
• Employees working around scaffolding must wear hard hats.
• A registered professional engineer must design scaffolding that reaches over 125 feet.

An accident lawyer in Freeport TX may also prove that a person or company was negligent in the assembly or manufacturing of scaffolding. Multiple parties, including the victim, may engage in negligence that causes a scaffolding accident. A partially at-fault victim can sue if their negligence is responsible for 50% or less of the damages.

Workers’ compensation insurance shields employers from personal liability lawsuits except in wrongful death cases involving gross negligence. However, workers can sue at-fault parties in a third party construction site accident. This includes people or companies other than the employer, who the court will hold liable. Examples of third parties include:

• Property owner
• Rental company
• Scaffolding manufacturer
• Contractor
• Subcontractor
• Engineer or architect

If you’ve suffered injuries in a construction accident in Freeport, Texas, filing a personal injury lawsuit and a workers’ compensation claim allows you to seek full compensation for monetary and non-monetary losses. This includes pain and suffering.

Scaffolding accidents cause severe injuries and sometimes death, and when someone else causes them, victims deserve compensation. Filing a third-party lawsuit is one way to hold an at-fault party accountable for their negligence and receive compensation for ALL your injuries.

Call the Freeport personal injury lawyers at Carabin Shaw toll-free at 800-862-1260 for a free case review. We have English- AND Spanish-speaking staff, and someone is available to speak with you 24/7. Don’t limit yourself to workers’ compensation benefits. Consider all your legal options, and fight for the fair compensation you deserve after a harmful scaffolding accident.

For more information:

• TDI
• OSHA
• Texas Statutes 95