Construction accidents

Personal Injury · Accidents

Workers' compensation is not the end of the conversation in Texas.

Texas is unusual: private employers are not required to carry workers' compensation. What happens after a job site injury depends on which situation you are in, and most injured workers are never told the difference.

• Your employer has comp. Benefits are usually your exclusive remedy against that employer — but not against anyone else on the site.
• Your employer is a non-subscriber. They can be sued directly for negligence, and they lose the common-law defences that normally protect an employer. These are frequently the strongest cases.
• Someone other than your employer caused it. A general contractor, a subcontractor, the property owner, a crane or scaffold company, or an equipment manufacturer. A third-party claim runs alongside comp benefits.

The injuries we see on Houston sites

• Falls from scaffolding, ladders, roofs and unguarded openings.
• Struck-by injuries from falling material, swinging loads and moving equipment.
• Caught-in and crush injuries in trenches, machinery and between vehicles.
• Electrocution from live lines and unlocked circuits.
• Equipment failures, from defective lifts to missing machine guarding.
• Heat illness on Gulf Coast summer sites, which is far more often a staffing decision than an accident.

What has to be documented immediately

Report the injury in writing and keep a copy. Photograph the location and the equipment before the site is cleaned up, because it will be. Get the names of the other trades who were working nearby — subcontractor crews rotate off jobs and become very hard to find. Ask for the incident report and any OSHA notice. If you are being pushed toward a company clinic, you are still entitled to your own doctor in most situations.

Immigration status is not the issue here

Immigration status does not bar an injured worker from bringing a claim in Texas, and it is not a subject the other side is entitled to turn your case into. We handle these matters in Spanish every week, and we say this plainly because the fear of asking is the single most common reason a worker never calls.

What it costs

Injury cases are handled on a contingency fee: nothing to talk to us, nothing upfront, and the firm is paid out of the recovery. If there is no recovery there is no fee. The percentage and how case expenses are handled are in writing before you sign anything.

Common questions