Truck Accidents at Construction Sites
Construction sites are very busy places and constantly have large loads of materials being delivered and moved at any given moment. This places construction site workers at particular risk for injury from the negligence operation of such vehicles.
There are many different types of trucks that can be found at construction sites. Examples of trucks involved in the construction, demolition, and renovation of a building or job site include flat-bed trucks, dump-trucks, garbage trucks, 18-wheeler tractor-trailers, concrete mixers, concrete pumping trucks, and bucket trucks, to name a few. Each variety of truck is essential to performing various functions at a construction site, but each type of truck presents dangers to workers in and around the construction site if safety precautions are not taken.
Examples of construction site accidents involving trucks are:
- A worker is struck or run over by a truck
- Fatalities occur while cleaning out the drum of a cement mixing truck
- Injuries, including fractured spines, and even death in falls from flat-bed trucks
- Workers are struck by boom of truck.
- Fingers, hands, and extremities may be amputated by sudden activation of truck components (i.e. garbage truck hopper, concrete mixer pouring rod).
Many accidents are avoidable and only occur due to the failure of general contractors and owners failing to take adequate, appropriate, and required safety measures to prevent such occurrences. For instance, accidents in which a truck backs over a worker can happen for a variety of reasons. In some cases, the driver simply fails to see a worker. In other instances, the worker may not hear the backup alarms because the worksite may be extremely noisy or because the alarms are not functioning. Such accidents are easily avoidable with simple precautions. The operator of a truck can be assisted by a spotter who, with a wider and unimpeded field of vision, can assist the driver by guiding him and preventing a collision.
Other preventative measures include the use of video cameras with in-vehicle displays, proximity detection devices to alert drivers when an object is directly behind them. There is also wearable technology, in the form of tags that can be worn by workers and which will alert them when they walk near a vehicle which is equipped technology that can communicate with the tags. Other simpler and less expensive options exist, but are no less effective. For instance, creating a traffic control plan that designates where trucks drive in and out of a work site, combined with speed restrictions and comprehensive training can prevent accidents in which a truck backs over a worker.
When you are working at, in, or near a construction site, there are many laws to protect you against injuries related to the operation of trucks. These accidents can result in severe injuries, and can likely prevent you from returning to work and supporting yourself and your family.
If you have been injured in a truck accident you have the right to receive compensation for medical expenses, lost wages to compensate for the inability to work, your pain and suffering as a result of your injuries, and the changes that happened in your life as a result of that treatment and pain.
Call Gorayeb & Associates, to learn your rights and begin the compensation process and security for you and your family.
