Uncovered Construction Site Holes

One of the most common construction accidents resulting in death are falls through unprotected holes in flooring. Often times, holes in flooring are not properly marked, without safety barricades or covered and secured resulting hundreds of serious injuries and deaths to workers on those floors and workers below as well.

According to OSHA, falls account for approximately 35% of construction worker deaths every year. Within that 35% of construction deaths and accidents, unprotected edges, falls through floor holes and wall openings, misused fall protection, and falls to lower levels in partially complete buildings are responsible for a number of workers’ deaths. Work safety requires that employers eliminate job hazards and take reasonable efforts to protect construction workers from life-threatening falls through unprotected floor or wall openings.

The Construction Site Accident Attorneys of Miller Weisbrod will bring lawsuits against the building owner, general contractor and all sub-contractors involved in creating the open hole, allowing the open hole to exist, allowing the open hole to exist and failing to properly guard open holes.

OSHA requires Worksite employers to control the following Open-Hole situations:
Floor holes that can be accidentally walked into should be guarded with either standard railing (including toe boards) on any exposed side, or be secured and covered with appropriate warning signs. that can be accidentally walked into should be guarded with either standard railing (including toe boards) on any exposed side, or be secured and covered with appropriate warning signs. Safety nets, personal restraint systems, and fall arrest systems should also be used when necessary to prevent falls through holes in the floor.

Wall openings that have a 6 foot or greater drop and where the bottom of the opening is less than 39 inches from the above working surface should be restrained with guardrails, safety nets, and other safety systems as needed.

*Ropes, barricades and toe boards should be provided whenever there is a wall opening that is less than 4 inches above the working surface or whenever work is being performed on a floor or wall opening.

Fall protection measures for holes in the floor or other fall risks are often not assessed when beginning construction work. It is the employer and contractor’s responsibility to make sure appropriate fall protection measures are taken for any fall risks, not limited to holes in floors or walls, but additionally providing safety measures like stair railings, handrails, and safety lines.

While working on a roof, our client was moving decking when he fell through a hole. As a result, Our client was left paralyzed. Our Personal Injury Lawyers obtained a verdict of $5,500,000.

Many employers fail to recognize the severity of injury or death that can result from accidents from relatively low heights. The majority of deaths from falling in construction sites come from heights of less than 10 feet.

Either the appropriate safety harnesses to prevent falls through holes, or adequate training is not provided to employees. Many times, employers neglect language barriers, and do not provide proper training in the worker’s language. Therefore, making them less able to protect themselves or understand the severity of the danger involved in their labor.

Falling through holes in the roof, skylight openings or falling through holes in floors and walls can result in serious and debilitating injuries that can last a lifetime and/or death.

Falls through floor injuries include:

• Broken feet, ankles, legs
• Back injuries, spinal injuries, crushed and severed spinal cords
• Traumatic brain injuries, concussions, neck injuries, paralysis, paraplegia, and quadriplegia

Injuries like these often require long term medical care for the rest of the worker’s life preventing the worker from returning to work temporarily or permanently.

Contact our Work Injury Attorneys The Dallas Work Injury Lawyers of Miller Weisbrod offer informed counsel and experienced representation to clients in Texas and nationwide. To discuss your case in a free initial consultation with an experienced lawyer, please fill out the contact form on this page to schedule an appointment. You can also call us directly at 214-987-0005 or toll free at 888-987-0005.