Construction Site Accidents

Accidents happen, and they can be especially bad when they happen in a construction site area. Given the heavy machinery, concrete, and garbage, a construction site accident can lead to serious injury, sometimes death. In order to maximize the possible monies through settlement or trial, attorneys should be familiar with applicable New Jersey and federal statutes. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, was enacted to provide prevention; it was part of a vast overhaul of work place regulations and was meant to ensure worker safety, prevent accidents, and create statutory codes which would define who is responsible for preventing accidents. New Jersey also enacted its own statutory equivalent, found in the Construction Safety Act. When construction site leaders ignore OSHA and applicable New Jersey Statutes, the imposition of liability through tort law is essential to discourage irresponsible conduct, compensate the injured and prevent future accidents. The combination of the two laws provides real incentive for firms to invest in safety for their workers, rather than turn a profit by spending less on work area safety.

Under well-settled construction law in New Jersey, the general contractor on a work site has a non-delegable duty to maintain a safe workplace that includes "ensuring prospective and continuing compliance' with the legislatively imposed non-delegable obligation to all employees on the job site, without regard to contractual or employer obligations." Alloway v. Bradlees Inc., 157 N.J. 221, 237-38 (1999). State public policy and OSHA impose a duty on the general contractor to ensure the protection of all of the workers on a construction project, irrespective of the identity and status of their various and several employers, by requiring, either by agreement or by operation of law, the designation of a single repository of the responsibility for the safety of them all. As a matter of public policy and federal law, the general contractor is the single repository of responsibility for the safety of all employees on the job. Therefore, the general contractor bears responsibility for all OSHA violations on the job site.

Indeed, the OSHA Regulations address the Rules of Construction and explain that the general contractor/prime contractor/construction manager is ultimately responsible for compliance with all of the OSHA Regulations. Specifically, OSHA regulations state “in no case shall the prime contractor be relieved of overall responsibility for compliance with the requirements of this part for all work to be performed under the contract." 29 CFR1926.16(a). They also go on to state that “the prime contractor assumes all obligations prescribed as employer obligations under the standards contained in this part, whether or not he contracts any part of the work." 29CFR1926.16(b)

The New Jersey Supreme Court further determined that the Construction Safety Act and its implementing regulations, primarily N.J.A.C. 12:180-3.15.1, "substantially qualified" the common-law rule by imposing a non-delegable duty on a general contractor to "assure compliance with the requirements of this Chapter from his employees as well as all subcontractors," and that those legislative mandates gave rise to a duty on the part of a general contractor "to take the necessary steps to insure the safety of [the subcontractor's] employees." Bortz. at 319-20.

The general contractor and any subcontractors may make their own arrangements with respect to obligations which might be more appropriately treated on a jobsite basis rather than individually, however, in no case shall the prime contractor be relieved of overall responsibility for compliance with the requirements of this part for all work to be performed under the contract. 29 C.F.R. §1926.16.

Accidents can occur because machinery is not properly secured, because garbage has been placed in inappropriate places, or because safety equipment is not being properly used. At Bailey and Orozco, LLC, we work with accident reconstruction experts and medical providers in order to present the best case possible and help with the largest recovery possible. If you have been injured on the job due to the failure of the general contractor to maintain a safe work environment, contact us today by visiting www.bolegal.com.