CONSTRUCTION SITE INJURY

Construction Site
Construction Site

You may have a construction site injury which is covered under workers compensation laws. Work injuries may occur at a construction site that is not on land owned or controlled by your employer.  If your work duties require you to be at a location outside of the employer’s offices, Missouri Worker’s Compensation Laws cover you. For injuries suffered at the employer’s workplace, see my page on Warehouse Injuries.

Injuries are covered on the construction site itself.

Whether you work construction, install systems at a third party location, or any other job where you report to some place other than your employer’s office, work comp applies.  If you are injured at such a location, this may be a covered injury.  The worker is injured many times due to  falling at the site,  or while using equipment, or sometimes accidentally by a co-worker.   Workers comp insurance pays for the ambulance and for your medical treatment at the hospital.  The injured worker does not pay  co-pays or deductibles.

After the injured worker is discharged from the hospital, the employer chooses the doctor.  Yes, you have the right to a second opinion, but you have to pay for that.  Health insurance will normally not cover any expenses that could be paid by workers comp insurance.

I may have been hurt due to my own fault.

You may have accidentally caused the injury, but if you followed workplace safety rules, you will be covered.  Consequently, this is different from accidents on your own time, where fault matters.  You are responsible to obey the rules, so here is where to find them:

  1.  OSHA Rules. This is the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational  Safety & Health Administration. OSHA makes safety standards for every industry.  Its rules may be found at https://www.osha.gov/law-regs.html .
  2.  Many employers have work safety rules of their own.  These may be posted at the site, or found in an employee handbook you received.  The supervisor may have told you the rules.

I was driving to the construction site and had an accident, is this covered?

Driving from your home to work, or leaving work at the end of the day is generally not covered under Missouri Workers Compensation laws.  This is even true if your job provided a vehicle for you to take home at the end of the day.  However, if you are required to report to the employer’s business and dispatched from there to a job site, you are covered, because your employer has benefited from being able to send you out on assignment

For more general information on worker’s comp procedure, Click Here!