Chicago road construction workers may be on the job at one of the many Rebuild Illinois infrastructure projects, or they may be working on road work plans where new streets, road, bridges, routes, or highways are being built as part of independent private construction developments. Chicagoland is filled with all kinds of road work zones today, giving road construction workers an unprecedented opportunity to find work and build expertise. For more, read Chicago Road Construction Worker Accidents: List of Third Parties Potentially Liable for On-the-Job Injuries.
This promising horizon does not come without clouds and storm warnings, however. With all these endeavors comes a great risk of on-the-job injuries, where one or more road construction workers may suffer debilitating harm or even die in a work accident.
Construction work is infamous for being one of the most dangerous lines of work in this country. Road construction is particularly dangerous since road construction workers often face hidden, buried hazards as part of the process of demolition, excavation, and otherwise building roadways.
Accordingly, it is vital for road construction workers and their loved ones to know they have legal rights to investigate and pursue legal claims for justice after a serious road construction accident.
This is something that can happen independently of any filing of a worker’s compensation claim with their employer’s workers’ compensation insurance policy.
It will be burdensome. Illinois and federal law both insist that the accident victim has the responsibility to prepare and file legal claims against those who have caused the victim’s harm.
Those who breached duties of care and safety, no matter how egregious, are not required to do anything to help the worker victim. Even if they are well aware of the event and how their actions, or failures to act, resulted in the person (or people) being hurt or killed, legally they can be silent, do nothing, and deny culpability.
List of Things to Do After Road Construction Work Accident in Chicagoland
The following “to do” or task list is provided to help Chicago road construction work accident victims and their loved ones in their legal fight for right. It does not list everything. And it does not include things that pertain to medical care and recovery (like getting immediate medical attention after the accident; etc.).
1. Organize Road Construction Accident Medical Care Documentation
The worker victim in a serious road construction accident will likely have weeks or months of continuous medical care, and this is assuming that the victim has been blessed to have survived the accident. It is prudent to have a family member take point on keeping track of all the documentation that results from treatments, medications, surgeries, therapy, and rehabilitation.
The file may be huge. Lots of things, from receipts, to calendars, to invoices, need to be kept and organized. This file will be very important when it comes time for the road construction accident victim to prove up medical damages in their injury claim.
2. File Formal Accident Report With Employer
Most construction workers are employed by companies that have procedures in place to address a work accident. The company, as well as its insurance carrier, may have standardized forms as well as deadlines for the worker victim to use in reporting what happened.
As soon as possible, the construction worker should have an official accident report on file with the employer. It will help in the filing of the workers’ compensation claim. It will also help in the worker’s third-party injury claims.
3. Gather Evidence From the Scene of the Road Work Zone Accident
Of course, some road construction accidents are so horrific that it is not possible for the worker victim to get any potential evidence at that point in time. However, it may be possible for some workers at the road work zone, and it is doable by the worker’s loved ones and advocates who are helping in the pursuit of justice.
Evidence from the accident scene can involve things like images or videos captured by the worker’s phone or those of co-workers and witnesses (like dashcams of passing vehicles). These can provide information on many things, from weather conditions to equipment and machinery and tools on site at the time, and other things. It will also involve a list of all those people who may be witnesses to the accident or its aftermath. They can help provide facts to support the worker’s claims.
It will also include the police report that documents the accident. This will be a detailed record from a professional trained in observing an accident scene and it may also have valuable descriptions in witness statements taken by the officer.
4. Safeguard Physical Evidence in Possession of the Accident Worker Victim
The road construction worker victim may be discharged from the hospital and have potential evidence of liability in things like torn clothing, damaged personal protective equipment, or other property that came with the worker from the scene. This should be safeguarded for possible use in expert analysis of the accident’s causes and possible third-party failures in safety or care.
5. Find and Hire Experienced Road Construction Accident Attorney
It is amazing how fast these corporate entities (like contractors, engineering firms, manufacturing companies, planning firms, equipment repair companies, landowners, etc.) can get busy building their defense against taking responsibility for a road construction work accident. They may have years of experience in dealing with work accidents and have a process and procedure in place to respond when another injury is reported. Insurance adjusters may be on scene, as well as management, before the emergency medical team has left with the worker victim to the nearest facility.
Accordingly, the road construction worker victim is wise to balance the scales here with the support and help of an experienced construction accident attorney or law firm. Suggestions in selecting legal counsel after a Chicago road work zone accident include:
- Recognize the worker victim has the right to interview several construction injury attorneys before making a decision on who to hire. Caveat: do homework and narrow it down to two or three firms, it is important not to look like you are shopping around without serious intent.
- Get advocates with know-how in dealing with road work accidents. Construction attorneys for road work zone accidents in Illinois should have trial expertise in litigating with a variety of third-parties, from big contracting companies; to manufacturers or designers of defective equipment; or distracted drivers in a company car barreling through the work site. The worker victim has a right to ask about the scope of the possible advocate’s past road construction accident experience.
For more on finding and selecting a personal injury attorney, read our series of articles:
- Questions To Ask Your Personal Injury Lawyer About Your Injury Claim
- Questions To Ask When Choosing A Personal Injury Lawyer In Illinois Or Indiana
- How To Choose the Right Personal Injury Lawyer for You and Your Family
- What To Look For in a Personal Injury Lawyer in Indiana or Illinois
- Why a Lawyer who is a Trial Attorney Is Important for Accident Victims in Personal Injury Cases.
6. Know the Deadline for Seeking Justice
Understand there is a legal deadline to file a civil injury lawsuit. In the State of Illinois, as a general rule, the worker victim in a road work zone construction accident will have two (2) years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit against the third-parties who are responsible for their harm. If this deadline is missed, then the law will automatically bar the claim no matter how righteous it may be.
This involves filing a complaint, or petition, in the appropriate court, on or before the deadline date. This does not include any settlement negotiations or informal actions that happen outside of the filing itself. It is independent from the filing of any workers’ compensation claim.
For more, read Deadlines for Injury Victims to File Lawsuits: Statutes of Limitations.
Chicago Road Work Construction Accidents: Steps for Injured Workers After the Work Zone Injuries
Road construction workers understand that they face daily dangers on the job, but it is safe to say that no one goes to work expecting that there will be a serious accident that day where their life, and the lives of their loved ones, will be forever changed. Road construction comes with so many hazards, it is a courageous thing to choose this work to make a living.
Road construction workers have a legal right to expect that all those with possession, custody, or control of aspects of their worksite will keep them safe from harm. Illinois law as well as federal regulations and industrial standards exist to mandate legal duties of care and safety for employers and others to keep people protected from recognized hazards in the road work zone.
Nevertheless, there will be serious or fatal road work zone construction accidents here in the Chicago area in the coming years where construction workers are seriously hurt or killed in a preventable accident.
These worker victims and their loved ones will have a legal claim for recompense against all those proven to be responsible for what occurred, but the road construction worker will have the responsibility of gathering admissible and authenticated evidence that proves up both liability and damages.
Also see:
- Workers Face Great Danger from Illinois Highway Road Work Construction Accidents
- Trenching Dangers in Chicago Road Work Construction Projects: Rebuild Illinois in Chicagoland
- Struck By or Caught-In-Between Accidents in Road Work Zones: Chicago Construction Dangers
- Asphalt Dangers to Workers in Chicago Area Road Work Zones
- Electricity Accident Dangers for Road Work Construction Workers in Chicagoland
- Reckless Driving in Chicago Road Work Accidents.
Road construction work projects in Chicagoland are shockingly commonplace today. Each worker on these work sites faces a high risk of being hurt in a construction accident on the job. Victims have the legal job to enforce their rights to justice against any third parties whose failures caused the harm. Please be careful out there!
