Demolition Construction Accident Verdicts

Some of the most hazardous construction operations involve the demolition of structures. In June of 2013, a building being demolished in Philadelphia collapsed onto an adjacent structure killing a half dozen people and seriously injuring more than a dozen more. This case brought to the front page news what our firm has seen time and time again in demolition construction accidents—there is no requirement under most state and local ordinances requiring a company obtaining a demolition permit to show any level of competence.

Several of our cases have highlighted this sad fact. Two years ago, a young husband and father was killed when a two-story chimney on house he was demolishing on the TCU campus collapsed on top of him. Our lawsuit against the employer revealed the company was a paving contractor that had only ever demolished portable buildings (cheap mobile home structures used at schools for temporary classrooms) on a single occasion. But when this paving company applied for a demolition permit from the city of Fort Worth to demolish nearly a dozen brick buildings (including a large church and a two story apartment building) no inquiry at all was made into the qualifications of a company that spent its entire time building and paving parking lots. When deposed, the company’s owner and superintendent admitted none of the crew, including the deceased, had any experience before the day of the collapse in demolition. He also admitted that he was completely unaware of any of the OSHA or industry demolition safety standards and he had no written demolition plan for any of the structures.


The remains of the demolished house on the TCU campus

Subpart T of the OSHA construction safety standards lays out the minimum requirements for demolition safety.

The very first section of the standard requires that an “engineering survey” be performed by a competent person before demolition operations begin. The stated purpose of this standard is to prevent any “unplanned collapse” during the demolition of the structure that could endanger workers or bystanders. This standard is almost universally violated in every demolition lawsuit we have pursued—usually because an inexperienced or incompetent company decides to take on a demolition job that it is not qualified to perform.

But this failure to perform engineering surveys is not just ignored when a paving company decides to become a demolition subcontractor. In another case, an actual demolition contractor failed to perform an engineering survey prior to beginning operations. As roof joists were being cut, the building collapsed upon other workers killing our client. What is unforgivable is that our investigation revealed the company had been cited by OSHA 3 years earlier for failing to perform an engineering survey during a surprise inspection by OSHA. Here are excerpts of our cross examination of the demolition company’s safety director that was hired just months after the first citation:



Following this deposition, we settled the gross negligence only death case (the employer had workers’ compensation insurance) for the full amount of all available insurance.

Contact Us
Miller Weisbrod has partnered with law firms across the state of Texas on a referral and joint venture basis to pursue cases of catastrophic injury and wrongful death arising from construction and work site incidents. We would welcome the opportunity to work with you to obtain justice for your clients injured or killed on the job.

Contact our office in Dallas at 214.987.0005 or toll free at 888.987.0005. You may also contact us by e-mail today for prompt answers to your questions or to schedule an appointment.