Construction Site Injury: Can someone other than a comp carrier be liable?

In a construction site injury, can someone other than a comp carrier be liable for injuries?

The answer is yes says the Michigan Court of Appeals in Johnson v. A&M 2004 Mich. App. LEXIS 1142. In this case a subcontractor negligently installed a "toe board" and the plaintiff was seriously injured.

OVERVIEW: The employee was permanently incapacitated after falling from a roof on a construction job. He was delivering shingles to the roof of the home when he slid off the roof after a toe board installed by a subcontractor dislodged and failed to stop him. The employee sued the subcontractor. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the subcontractor. On review, the Court of Appeals of Michigan, found that, when the subcontractor installed the toe boards, it owed the employee a common law duty to install them in a non-negligent manner. Therefore, summary judgment was granted in error.

OUTCOME: The judgment was reversed, and the case was remanded.

RULE OF LAW: The general rule of law in construction site injury cases is that only the injured person's immediate employer--and not another subcontractor--is responsible for job safety. In some instances, though, a general contractor may be held liable to an injured party.

A general contractor can be liable under the "common work area exception," if the following elements are established: (1) a general contractor with supervisory and coordinating authority over the job site, (2) a common work area shared by the employees of several subcontractors, and (3) a readily observable, avoidable danger in that work area (4) that creates a high risk to a significant number of workers.

Even if the subcontractor had no direct duty to take proactive measures to make an otherwise unsafe work place safe, and therefore no duty to install toe boards to prevent the plaintiff from falling, the subcontractor's common-law duty remained intact: "as between two independent contractors who work on the same premises, either at the same time or one following the other, each owes to the employees of the other the same duty of exercising ordinary care as they owe to the public generally."

Thus, where a subcontractor actually performs an act, it has the duty to perform the act in a nonnegligent manner.

Comments

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That's good to know, thanks a lot!

James Ferris

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I don't know if it's fine that the judgment was reversed, and the case was remanded.

Keith

[personal injury lawyer west palm beach]

Well, when the subcontractor installed the toe boards, it owed the employee a common law duty to install them in a non-negligent manner. Therefore, summary judgment was granted in error.

Joshua Evans

[personal injury lawyer west palm beach]

Well, when the subcontractor installed the toe boards, it owed the employee a common law duty to install them in a non-negligent manner. Therefore, summary judgment was granted in error.

Joshua

[Construction Injury Claim]

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[Construction Injury Claim]

One in five of all construction workers suffer an annual work-related injury, and many of these are serious enough to warrant a construction injury compensation payment. According to the Health and Safety Authority of Ireland despite having the 3rd lowest rate of construction accidents in the EU, there were still 5,814 non-fatal injuries and 15 fatal injuries in 2008 alone.

[Construction Injury Compensation]

The construction industry is by its nature dangerous, and every year there are a large number of accidents leading to workers making an injury claim. Over 20% of all construction workers sustain an injury every year, although not all of these require them to make an injury claim. 11% of all non-fatal workplace injuries arise from the construction sector.

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[falls at work]

The Health and Safety Executive provide guidelines for employers to prevent dangerous falls at work under the Work at Height Regulations, and other laws are also in place to safeguard employees.

[Construction Injury Compensation]

Different forms of construction pose different accident hazards to workers. Some of the commonly cited accidents leading to injury in the modern construction industry are:
Slips, trips, and workplace falls
Electrical accidents
Scaffolding, crane, or equipment falls
Moving vehicle collisions
Burns, either chemical, electric, and from welding
Explosions
For injured workers, receiving appropriate medical care should be the first concern.