Helping Injured Construction Workers and Their Families in Merrillville
Construction work requires experience, physical skill, and trust in the people and companies working around you. A worker may do everything expected of them and still suffer a serious injury because equipment failed, another contractor created an unsafe condition, fall protection was inadequate, or proper safety procedures were not followed. When that happens, the consequences can extend far beyond the construction site.
At Allen Law Group, we represent construction workers in Merrillville and throughout Indiana who have suffered serious and life-changing injuries on the job. Our attorneys understand that an injured worker may suddenly be facing medical treatment, time away from work, reduced income, and uncertainty about whether they will be able to return to the trade they spent years learning. Our role is to investigate what happened, identify the individuals and companies that may be responsible, preserve important evidence, and help our client understand the legal options available to them.
A Serious Construction Injury Can Change More Than Your Workday
Construction workers depend on their physical abilities to earn a living. An injury to the back, neck, shoulder, knee, hand, brain, or spinal cord can make it difficult or impossible to perform the same work. Even after treatment, a worker may be left with permanent restrictions involving lifting, climbing, standing, operating equipment, or performing other physical tasks required by their trade.
The effects are also felt at home. A person who was previously independent may need help with transportation, household responsibilities, childcare, or everyday activities. A spouse may need to take on additional responsibilities at the same time the family's income has been reduced.
Allen Law Group takes the time to understand those changes. We want to know what our client did before the accident, what their work required physically, how the injury has affected their family, and what their doctors expect for the future.
Those details help us understand the full impact of a construction injury rather than looking only at what appears on a medical bill.
Construction Accidents Can Cause Serious Injuries in Many Ways
Construction sites can involve workers from several trades, heavy machinery, temporary structures, electrical systems, elevated work areas, moving vehicles, and materials being lifted or transported throughout the project. Our construction accident attorneys represent workers injured in accidents involving:
- Falls from ladders, scaffolding, roofs, lifts, and elevated work areas
- Falling tools, building materials, and other objects
- Crane and rigging accidents
- Forklift and heavy-equipment accidents
- Workers caught between or crushed by equipment
- Collapsing scaffolding or temporary structures
- Trench and excavation accidents
- Electrical contact and electrocution
- Fires and explosions
- Defective tools or machinery
- Inadequate fall protection
- Unsafe ladders and access equipment
- Vehicle accidents on construction sites
- Dangerous conditions created by another contractor or subcontractor
Sometimes the cause of an accident appears obvious. Other construction injuries require a much closer look at what happened before the worker was hurt. Our attorneys work to understand not only what caused the injury, but what allowed the dangerous cause to exist in the first place.
Several Companies May Share Responsibility for a Construction Site Injury
Construction projects are different from many other workplaces because one jobsite may involve numerous independent companies. A property owner may hire a general contractor. The general contractor may hire several subcontractors. Other companies may provide cranes, lifts, scaffolding, equipment, transportation, materials, maintenance, or specialized services.
Workers employed by all of these companies may be performing different jobs in the same area. When one company fails to perform its work safely, a worker employed by another company can be seriously injured.
For that reason, determining responsibility after a construction accident may require examining the roles of:
- General contractors
- Subcontractors
- Property owners
- Construction managers
- Equipment owners
- Equipment rental companies
- Maintenance companies
- Material suppliers
- Manufacturers
- Trucking and delivery companies
- Other companies working on the project
Understanding who controlled the work, equipment, or area where the accident occurred can become an important part of the investigation.
A Construction Injury May Involve More Than Worker's Compensation
A worker injured while performing their job may be entitled to worker's compensation benefits.
Worker's compensation can provide important benefits involving medical treatment, lost income, and disability if you are injured within the course and scope of your employment. It does not necessarily address the responsibility of another company that caused or contributed to the accident. Construction projects frequently create situations where someone other than the injured worker's employer may be responsible.
When the negligence of a general contractor, subcontractor, property owner, equipment company, manufacturer, or another third party causes or contributes to an injury, the worker may also have a third-party liability claim. That distinction matters. A third-party personal injury claim may provide compensation for losses that are not addressed in the same way through worker's compensation, including pain and suffering and other long-term consequences of a serious injury.
Allen Law Group investigates the circumstances surrounding the accident to determine whether our client may have legal options beyond worker's compensation.
Falls Can Leave Construction Workers With Lasting Injuries
Falls remain one of the most serious hazards construction workers face. Workers may be performing their jobs from scaffolding, roofs, ladders, lifts, structural steel, temporary platforms, unfinished stairways, or other elevated surfaces. Open floors, unprotected edges, unstable access points, and inadequate fall protection can turn a routine task into a life-changing accident. Allen Law Group's work-related fall attorneys represent workers who have suffered injuries involving the brain, spine, back, shoulders, knees, legs, and other parts of the body.
A construction fall investigation may involve the condition of a ladder or scaffold, the availability of fall protection, guardrails, tie-off points, safety equipment, site conditions, and the responsibilities of the contractors overseeing the work. Even a worker who survives a significant fall may face surgeries, extensive rehabilitation, permanent restrictions, or the inability to return to the same trade.
Heavy Equipment and Machinery Can Cause Catastrophic Injuries
Cranes, excavators, forklifts, skid steers, loaders, lifts, hoists, and other heavy equipment are part of everyday construction work. When that equipment is operated carelessly, poorly maintained, improperly positioned, or defective, workers nearby can suffer devastating injuries. A worker may be struck by equipment, pinned between objects, trapped beneath machinery, caught in moving components, or injured when a load shifts or falls. Allen Law Group's equipment and machinery accident attorneys investigate the circumstances surrounding these accidents. Liability may involve the equipment operator, contractor controlling the work, equipment owner, maintenance provider, rental company, manufacturer, or another business involved with the machinery. Maintenance records, inspection documentation, safety devices, operator training, equipment design, and the way the machine was being used can all become important.
Electrical Injuries, Fires, and Explosions
Construction workers frequently perform their jobs near temporary wiring, energized electrical systems, overhead power lines, underground utilities, welding operations, combustible materials, and other hazards capable of causing severe injuries. Electrical contact can cause burns, neurological injuries, cardiac complications, brain damage, or death. Fires and explosions may result in extensive burns, respiratory injuries, scarring, disfigurement, and permanent physical limitations. Our electrocution attorneys investigate whether electrical systems were properly controlled, whether workers received appropriate warnings, and whether the actions of another contractor contributed to the accident. When a fire or explosion occurs, the investigation may also involve equipment, chemicals, fuel sources, ventilation, work procedures, and the companies responsible for maintaining safe conditions.
Serious Construction Injuries Can Have Long-Term Consequences
The injuries suffered on a construction site can require much more than emergency treatment.
Some workers undergo several surgeries followed by months of therapy and rehabilitation. Others are left with permanent conditions that affect how they work and live for the rest of their lives.
Serious construction injuries may include:
- Traumatic brain injuries: A fall, falling object, equipment accident, or other impact can injure the brain. Symptoms may affect memory, concentration, speech, judgment, balance, mood, and the ability to work independently.
- Spinal cord injuries: Damage to the spinal cord can affect strength, movement, sensation, and bodily functions. Severe spinal injuries may result in partial or complete paralysis and require lifelong medical care or personal assistance.
- Neck and back injuries: Construction accidents can damage the vertebrae, muscles, ligaments, joints, and other structures of the neck and back. Persistent pain and reduced mobility can make returning to physically demanding work difficult.
- Herniated and damaged discs: Falls, lifting accidents, or heavy impacts can damage spinal discs and place pressure on surrounding nerves, causing pain, numbness, weakness, or tingling in the arms or legs.
- Broken bones: Serious fractures involving the legs, arms, pelvis, feet, hands, or other areas may require surgery and extensive rehabilitation. Some workers are left with permanent limitations in strength or movement.
- Crushing injuries: Workers trapped between equipment, vehicles, materials, or structures can suffer severe damage to muscles, bones, nerves, and internal organs. Crushing injuries may result in permanent disability or amputation.
- Amputations: Machinery, equipment, and crushing accidents can result in the loss of fingers, hands, arms, feet, or legs. An amputation can affect a worker's independence, employment, mobility, and long-term medical needs.
- Burn injuries: Electrical accidents, explosions, fires, chemicals, and hot materials can cause deep burns requiring skin grafts, surgeries, rehabilitation, and ongoing medical care.
- Nerve damage: Trauma or compression can damage nerves and lead to weakness, numbness, burning pain, reduced sensation, or loss of function.
- Internal injuries: Blunt-force trauma and crushing accidents may damage organs or blood vessels. These injuries can require emergency surgery and may not always be immediately apparent after the accident.
- Scarring and disfigurement: Burns, lacerations, surgeries, facial injuries, and other trauma can leave permanent scars or changes in appearance.
- Chronic pain and permanent physical limitations: Some workers continue to experience pain or physical restrictions after treatment is complete. Those limitations can affect employment, sleep, family responsibilities, hobbies, and independence.
Allen Law Group looks beyond the initial injury to understand what that condition may mean for the client's future.
Preserving Evidence From an Active Merrillville Construction Site
Construction sites rarely remain the way they were on the day an accident occurred. Scaffolding may be dismantled. Equipment can be repaired or returned to service. Materials are moved. Contractors complete their work and leave the project. Unsafe conditions may be corrected shortly after someone is injured. That makes preserving evidence especially important.
Depending on the accident, our attorneys may examine photographs, video footage, incident reports, safety documentation, inspection records, equipment maintenance records, witness statements, project contracts, training materials, and other information related to the site.
We may also work with engineers, safety professionals, medical experts, vocational experts, or other specialists when their knowledge can help explain how an accident occurred or how an injury will affect our client in the future. Our jobsite injury attorneys understand that the first explanation of an accident does not always provide the full picture.
We work to preserve the evidence and develop that picture for our client.
Representing Union and Non-Union Construction Workers
Allen Law Group represents both union and non-union construction workers. Our firm's connection to the trades is personal. Founding attorney Kenneth J. Allen worked as a piledriver, millwright, teamster, and railroad trackman before becoming an attorney. Allen Law Group also includes attorneys who have worked with the trades or come from union families. The firm represents Indiana union workers from many trades, including laborers, carpenters, iron workers, millwrights, electricians, pipefitters, piledrivers, operating engineers, and steel workers.
We understand that these are careers built through apprenticeships, training, experience, and years of physically demanding work. When a serious injury threatens a worker's ability to continue in that career, the loss can be much greater than several missed paychecks.
When an Injury Changes Your Ability to Earn a Living
Construction workers often earn their living by doing work that requires strength, mobility, coordination, endurance, and specialized physical skills. A permanent restriction can dramatically change someone's employment options.
A carpenter who can no longer lift may not be able to return to carpentry. An iron worker with balance or mobility limitations may no longer be able to work at height. An operating engineer with significant nerve damage may be unable to safely control equipment.
Even when an injured worker can return to some form of employment, they may not be able to return to the same position, hours, overtime opportunities, or earning level they had before the accident.
Allen Law Group considers those long-term employment consequences when evaluating a serious construction injury.
In appropriate cases, vocational professionals, economists, medical providers, and other specialists may help determine how permanent restrictions are likely to affect the worker's future earnings and employment opportunities.
Understanding the Full Impact of a Construction Injury
A serious construction accident can create financial pressure at the same time a family is trying to concentrate on recovery.
Depending on the circumstances and the type of claim available, losses may involve:
- Emergency medical treatment and hospitalization
- Surgery and follow-up care
- Physical and occupational rehabilitation
- Future medical treatment
- Long-term care and assistance
- Lost wages during recovery
- Reduced future earning ability
- Permanent disability and physical restrictions
- Physical pain and suffering
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Loss of normal activities and independence
The same injury can affect two workers very differently. A person's age, trade, physical job requirements, family responsibilities, medical recovery, and long-term restrictions all matter. We take the time to understand those individual circumstances so that the claim reflects what the injury has actually changed in our client's life.
A Merrillville Office Serving Construction Workers Throughout Northwest Indiana
Allen Law Group's Justice Center is located at 3700 E. Lincoln Highway in Merrillville, providing a local office for injured workers and families throughout Merrillville, Lake County, and Indiana. Our attorneys represent clients injured on construction sites, industrial properties, mills, factories, road projects, and other workplaces throughout the region. For injuries involving other types of employment, you can also learn more about our Merrillville work accident attorneys.
Having an office in Merrillville gives our clients access to a law firm that not only represents construction workers throughout Indiana but has a longstanding presence here in Northwest Indiana.
Talk With Allen Law Group After a Construction Accident in Merrillville
A serious construction accident can leave you dealing with pain, medical appointments, lost income, and uncertainty about whether you will be able to return to the work you know. You should not also have to determine on your own which contractor was responsible, what evidence needs to be preserved, whether another company contributed to the accident, or whether you may have a third-party claim in addition to worker's compensation.
Allen Law Group is here to listen to what happened, investigate the circumstances surrounding your injury, explain your legal options, and help you understand what comes next.
Contact Allen Law Group to speak with a construction accident lawyer in Merrillville, Indiana. Your initial consultation is free, and there are no attorney fees until we recover compensation for you.
