Building Site Accidents

If you have suffered personal injuries as a result of an accident that happened on a construction site or a building site you may be entitled to compensation for your personal injuries.

Who Is Responsible?

Employers must ensure that they discharge their duty of care towards employees and have a responsibility to make sure that the safety of their employees is met.

If an employer is negligent in this regard or has failed to take reasonable care of his employee resulting in injury to you, then you are entitled to bring a claim for compensation for your injury on a building site or construction site against your employer.

Report The Accident

By law work accidents on a building site must be reported and where a person is injured at a place of work and cannot perform their normal duties for a period of three days, not including the day of the accident, then the accident must be reported.

Training in construction is very important to include the safe pass course and various construction skills certification schemes certificates.  Hazards must be identified and activities must be planned.  A building site or construction site must be designed for the safety of an employee in order to avoid personal injuries.

building site accident

Employers have the following duties towards construction workers:

  • Employers must ensure that workers have a safe place of work
  • They must ensure safe access to and from the site
  • They must ensure that regulations are in place to prevent falls for those working at a height.
  • They must provide the necessary training for all aspects of building on the site
  • The employer must do everything possible to prevent falls and it must provide equipment which would assist in falling.
  • It must prevent falls through fragile materials.
  • An employer should erect adequate scaffolding under the proper supervision.
  • An employer should ensure that an employee is protected from falling objects and it must ensure that materials and equipment on a site are stored safely.

Common Accident Types

Accidents on building sites and construction sites are so common and the most frequent types of accidents on building sites are as follows:

  • Lifting accidents causing injury
  • Falls from ladders
  • Falling from roofs
  • Falls in general from various parts of the site
  • Accidents involving machinery on the site
  • Scaffolding accidents on sites
  • Vehicle accidents on site and off site
  • Accidents involving cranes

If you have been involved in an accident on a building site or construction site which has resulted in personal injuries to you, then you may be entitled to claim compensation from your employer if your employer has failed in his duty of care to take reasonable precaution for your safety.

Sinnott Solicitors Dublin and Cork will explain the process thoroughly to you from beginning to end and will assess the strengths and weaknesses of any potential claim that you may have.

Declan’s Story: Building Site Accident Compensation Claim Case Study

Sinnott Solicitors Dublin and Cork recently acted for an employee who fell from a ladder on a building site. Declan was about 14 feet high when he fell from the ladder.

Scaffolding should have been erected in various places on the site as opposed to using a ladder to access the area where Declan was working.

Declan had a very significant fall and fell on his back injuring his back, shoulders and neck and he broke his collar bone. Declan sustained a fracture to his neck and he was out of work for approximately eight months.

Sinnott Solicitors Dublin and Cork offered various employment advice to Declan and ensured that he received his sick pay during his absence and ensured that any potential discrimination towards him as a result of his claim was avoided. He received substantial compensation in respect of his accident to include €127,000 for his injuries, his loss of earnings and his costs.

Get the compensation you deserve for your Workplace Injury

Sinnott Solicitors are located in Dublin & Cork, we have an expert team of personal injury solicitors to help you with your workplace injury claim.