Articles Posted in Construction Accidents

An explosion at a home on Wooden Horse Trail in Murrieta has killed a utility worker and injured at least a dozen others. The explosion leveled the home completely.

News reports state that a contractor working on the house damaged a natural gas line, requiring the presence of Southern California Gas Co. workers. Apparently, the contractor was working on solar panels on the home. The explosion killed one of the workers the other was transported to the hospital.

All others injured were transported to the hospital for evaluation.murietta-possible-explosion-300x168

zachary-shakked-628023-unsplash-copy-300x200Whether you work at a construction site in Poway or elsewhere in San Diego County, it is important to know about construction accident risks and ways to mitigate hazards. In particular, scaffolding collapses can result in serious and deadly fall-related injuries. According to a recent article in U.S. News & World Report, a scaffolding collapse that occurred at a building site in San Diego resulted in injuries to four construction workers. Of those, three construction workers were listed as being seriously injured. At least one of the workers is said to have suffered life-threatening injuries.

How did the scaffolding collapse occur? According to fire officials, the construction workers were “hanging drywall in an unfinished apartment building near Petco Park Wednesday morning when the scaffolding collapsed and they tumbled 16 feet to the ground.” Officials are still investigation the accident. What else do you need to know about scaffolding collapses and construction accident injuries?

Scaffolding Collapse Accidents Happen More Often Than You Might Think

matthew-hamilton-159691-copy-300x200According to a recent article in U.S. News & World Report, a San Diego County construction worker from Escondido suffered fatal injuries following the collapse of a concrete wall. The accident also resulted in nonfatal injuries to another construction worker on the scene. Construction accidents often are preventable, and it is important to understand steps to take to keep workers safe.

Investigating Wall Collapses and Preventable Construction Accidents

As the article clarifies, the construction accident occurred while construction workers were digging a trench at an auto dealership in San Diego County. During the trench digging for a new wall, a concrete wall collapsed and crushed the 51-year-old construction worker. Firefighters and emergency responders arrived at the scene, but it took about 90 minutes to clear the cinderblock rubble from the victim, and he was pronounced dead by the time the responders were able to reach him. As we noted above, another worker at the scene sustained more minor injuries and was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.

construction siteFatal Crane Accident Reported at Southern California Construction Site


Many jobs are dangerous, but certain jobs pose more injury risks than others. According to a recent report from NBC 4 Southern California, a SoCal Edison worker recently suffered fatal injuries in a crane accident. The incident took place at around 4:00 p.m. in the Los Angeles area at a West Hollywood construction site. The fatally injured worker was transported to a nearby hospital by emergency medical responders, but he was pronounced dead upon arrival. An article in the Los Angeles Times also covered the story, detailing how the contractor was “crushed between a construction crane and a trailer.”

The accident occurred in an area heavy with construction, as it has seen a “redevelopment boom in recent years.” A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department described the incident as an “industrial accident.” Soon after the worker sustained these deadly injuries, representatives from the California division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“Cal/OSHA”) arrived at the scene to investigate.

construction siteConstruction sites can pose serious construction accident dangers to workers as well as to passersby. According to a recent report from ABC 10 News, a crane collapse in San Diego caused serious injuries to a laborer. At construction sites, employers have a duty to keep workplaces safe for employees. When accidents such as this one occur, it may be possible to seek financial compensation by filing a construction accident lawsuit.

Crane Collapse on a Southern California Freeway


As the report explains, construction workers on State Route 15 had been using a crane to move concrete barriers for a freeway ramp. That crane actually “toppled over,” and it pinned the injured worker between two barricades. An article in The San Diego Union-Tribune also discussed the accident, noting that the crane was a large one involved in the Caltrans construction project. In addition to severely injuring the employee, the accident also blocked lanes on the freeway for about five hours. During that time, motorists largely remained stranded until officers from the California Highway Patrol could arrive to reroute traffic.

Construction work takes place every day in sunny California. While many construction projects reach completion without any dangerous accidents or injuries, construction work can be extremely hazardous. Indeed, construction accidents often result in severe and fatal injuries. According to a recent article from ABC 7, a freeway bypass collapse in Willits left four construction workers with serious injuries and another trapped beneath debris.

Details of the Mendocino Bypass Collapse

How did this accident happen? Caltrans has been working on a freeway bypass in Mendocino County. It’s intended to be a nearly 6-mile overpass, but it has encountered a number of problems along the way. Most notable, it “has been beset by lengthy delays and cost overruns.” The bypass is projected to cost around $210 million, but it has only reached approximate 50 percent completion. It’s also two years behind schedule.

Cal/OSHA’s Campaign to Prevent Heat-Related Work Injuries

Do you have a job that requires you to work outside?  While the weather in Southern California is often warm, summertime and its heat waves can result in serious heat illness injuries to construction workers, roofers, agricultural workers, landscapers, athletes, and others who work in particularly hot temperatures.  According to a recent article in Digital Journal, this time of year means that California employers and employees alike “should take steps to prevent heat-related illnesses and injuries.”

Hot Sun
Awareness about heat-related workplace injuries is important in our state, and Cal/OSHA has “launched a campaign to educate workers and employers about the risks of heat illness and ways to stay safe while working outside in hot weather.”  According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the campaign is part of a nationwide one that aims to educate employers and employees about the dangers of working outside in hot weather, particularly in the summertime.

Earlier this month in Bakersfield, an implosion at a decommissioned steam power plant led to the severe injury of five spectators, according to a report in New York Daily News. Construction accidents often result in serious injuries, and this incident was no different. In a parking lot at 6 a.m. near the planned implosion in California’s Central Valley, more than 1,000 people had gathered to view the destruction of the plant owned by Pacific Gas & Electric.

Soon after the plant building came crashing down, police officers heard screams for help, and one officer found a man whose leg had been severed. According to Lt. Scott Tunnicliffe, “it was a piece of shrapnel that came flying out of the explosion and came across and went through a couple of chain link fences, struck him, and impacted into a vehicle.”

Power%20Plant.jpgThe plant was decommissioned in 1986, and residents of southern California have been eagerly awaiting its implosion as new development has been planned in the area. Since 1986, the area remained relatively untouched until new plans were made for the space.

Routine work at California construction sites may seem reasonably safe, but construction accidents can often lead to serious injuries and fatalities. Last month, a construction worker died in an industrial accident in Murrieta. According to the Southwest Riverside News Network, the victim was 38-year-old Antonio Toro of Riverside. Like many other construction workers, Toro died after a forklift “flipped over and pinned him.”

cloudy%20courthouse.jpgToro’s death comes quite soon after another construction fatality in Southern California. In April 2013, an Edison worker died in an accident in Menifee. The victim, 38-year-old Jose Raul Ros, had been a distribution lineman. While working on an underground vault, an explosion led to his death, according to Los Angeles’s local ABC 7 News.

Thousands of construction workers are injured on the job each year in California, and many of these injuries result in fatalities. If you or a loved one have been injured in a construction accident, you should contact an experienced construction accident lawyer today. Although you might at first assume you only have a workers’ compensation claim, you may actually be able to file additional claims for compensation.

When you are injured at work, you may wonder how you can file a lawsuit and who you can bring the lawsuit against. In many cases, if you are injured at work, you cannot sue your employer. Instead of a lawsuit, you must file a workers’ compensation claim. The workers’ compensation law and its processes are quite different from a personal injury suit.

However, if you are injured at work by someone other than your employer or fellow employees, you may be able to seek personal injury damages against the responsible party. In some cases, there may even be more than one responsible party. In those types of cases, it may be easier to make your case because you only have to make your case for liability against all of the responsible parties.Then the responsible parties must present their own evidence to show that the other party caused your injury. Generally, this “finger-pointing” can lead to a larger recovery for you, because they will essentially help you prove your case against the other party.

While injuries can occur in any type of workplace, injuries are particularly commonplace in construction and other heavy industrial environments. If you think about a construction site or other heavy industrial workplace, the dangers are immediately apparent. Such places have a lot of tools, equipment, scaffolding, and materials that can cause harm to anyone on the job site. Those items can belong to anyone on the site, because many construction and heavy industrial workplaces have a number of contractors and subcontractors present. Statistically, the more workers and more dangerous materials on the job site, the more likely that an injury will occur.

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