California Injury Blog
Four men suffered serious job injuries in a San Francisco construction accident involving a roof collapse, the morning of August 31, 2011. According to a news report in The San Francisco Chronicle, the construction accident occurred at an apartment building being constructed in the 2200 block of Third Street, close to 19th Street. The four employees of Nibbi Brothers General Contractors were doing a concrete pour when the roof collapsed over a stairwell. The workers fell a couple of floors and were also covered in wet concrete. One of the workers, 22-year-old Justin Castro, suffered a broken leg, a broken pelvis and dislocated arm. Another injured worker was identified as 29-year-old Mauricio Hernandez. Cal/OSHA investigators are looking into the cause of this construction site collapse.
My thoughts and prayers are with the injured victims of this San Francisco on-the-job accident. I wish them the very best for a complete and speedy recovery.
Construction Accident Statistics
According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, 57 roofers were killed in the year 2010. During that same year, 117 construction workers were killed in accidents nationwide involving a fall from a roof. Falls from roofs can result in serious, catastrophic injuries or even death as these statistics show.
What Caused This Serious Injury Accident?
It is not clear at the moment what exactly led to the collapse of the building’s roof. There are several unanswered questions here. Was the roof not properly braced before workers poured the concrete? Did supervisors fail to correctly inspect the stability of the building and the roof before the workers poured the concrete? Were the workers properly trained to do the job? Were they provided with the necessary safety devices such as harnesses to help prevent serious injuries? I trust OSHA investigators are looking into these and other issues in order to determine how this accident occurred and if there were any safety violations on the part of the contractor or construction company.
Liability Issues
Construction workers who are injured while working are entitled to workers compensation benefits. However, in cases where workers are seriously injured and maybe unable to work for an extended period of time, workers compensation benefits may prove extremely inadequate. In such cases, an experienced San Francisco personal injury lawyer will be able to determine whether a third party claim exists. This type of a claim is worth considerably more than workers compensation benefits, and is filed against a third party whose negligence was responsible for a worker’s injuries. Examples of third parties include general contractors, sub-contractors, property owners, and manufacturers of defective products. The best personal injury law firms will always offer a free consultation and comprehensive case evaluation to injured workers and their families.