Hundreds of thousands of construction workers are injured each year and thousands killed while building a commercial building, a 30-story high rise, an apartment complex, a strip mall, a new housing development, or any of a myriad of structures.

There are two broad types of construction site injuries and death: (1) accidents involving the construction workers themselves, and (2) accidents involving bystanders and passers-by.

With respect to injuries caused by the carelessness (“negligence”) of an employee working for the same contractor as the injured employee, the injured employee is usually limited to recovering worker’s compensation benefits. However, if the worker was hurt by the negligence of another contractor’s worker, the injured worker has the right to sue the person who injured him or her and that person’s employer. The reason for trying to find a third party who is legally responsible (“liable”) to the injured person is crucial, because if the injured employee’s injuries or death are deemed to come within the parameters of the worker’s compensation system, his or her damages will usually be significantly less than they would be if the injured worker (or the survivors of a deceased worker) could hold a third party liable.

As for bystanders and passers-by, suppose a crane is moving some beams from the ground to the fifth floor of the building under construction, and because of the crane operator’s negligence, the beam falls from the sky and kills the people below. In such a situation, you can sue the crane company for the wrongful death of the persons who were killed. If the crane itself was defective, a lawsuit may be filed against the manufacturer and distributor of the crane under the doctrine of “products liability.”

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or killed in a construction accident, contact an experienced personal injury lawyer immediately so he or she can start working right away to obtain all the monetary compensation you are entitled to. Even if the worker was seriously injured or killed by a fellow worker who worked for the same contractor, there are certain situations in which the contractor can be held liable for the injuries or deaths to his or her own employees outside of the worker’s compensation system. Thus, it is worth talking to a personal injury lawyer to see whether any theories of liability would be available to sue the employer outside of the worker’s compensation system.