Are You Prepared For Accidents?
06/23/08
Legal Considerations For The Construction Employer:
Construction projects are governed by overlapping and occasionally contradictory regulatory, statutory and common law liabilities, obligations and responsibilities. Thus a construction employer’s responsibilities under OSHA, may not parallel or correspond with the construction employer’s duties under a state’s workers’ compensation or unemployment laws, National Labor Relations Act, wage and hour, contractual, or other regulatory, statutory or common law liabilities, obligations and responsibilities. Today’s mobile workforce and multi-jurisdictional projects, may mean that a construction employer’s obligations toward the same employee may change throughout the day as that employee moves from site A to site B while engaged on a single project or that the construction employer’s obligations toward different employees each physically located at the same project site may differ from employee to employee depending upon the respective employees’ nationality or state of residence, place of hire, principal work place, etc.
In addition, the construction employer’s liabilities in relation to the employee differ throughout the day, depending upon with whom the employee interacts. Thus, an employee’s interaction with a fellow crew member creates different legal liabilities and responsibilities, than does the same employee’s interaction with the employees of another subcontractor, a delivery driver, the employees of the general contractor, the employees of the design professional, the employees of the owner, as well as employees of any regulatory governmental agency or of a member of the public associated with or on the project site.
Lastly, the construction employer’s liabilities and liabilities differ based upon the specific work being performed, as well as the type of damage or injury. An employer’s obligations to report and liabilities differ in a personal injury case from a property damage only case, as well as from an environmental damage case.
Given the inherent evolving nature of “shifting” specific legal responsibilities and liabilities on a project, it is imperative that a construction employer have in place, before an accident occurs, a “best practices” protocol that addresses the various liabilities and responsibilities in a manner that does not exacerbate damage, injury or liability arising from an accident, but also which minimizes injury, damage or liability to the injured person, the employee, the project and the employer.
See Developing Protocol For Accident Documentation; Differences Between Employee and Third-Party Accidents; Preserving The Accident Site and Other Evidence; Selecting a Company Spokesperson and What Information to Divulge; Improving Workplace Safety Procedures During Litigation: Will It Hurt Your Case?
For more general information, visit Construction Law.
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