Construction Site Injury & Death

Experiences of a Casey Gerry
San Diego construction site injury lawyer

In its over 60-year history as a plaintiffs law firm, Casey Gerry has handled many construction injury cases for injured workers in San Diego County and in Southern California. We have represented individuals who were injured and disabled in the course of their work at construction sites, and we have represented the surviving widows and children of men who were killed at construction sites.

San Diego construction site injury lawyer and Casey Gerry partner Gayle Blatt recently represented the widow and two children of a construction worker who died from injuries he sustained when he fell from the roof of a two story building and landed on concrete. The general contractor had sub-contracted with another company to provide scaffolding as fall protection for the framers. On the morning that this young worker was working on the roof, no edge scaffolding had in fact been installed, and it was alleged that the staging did not comply with OSHA requirements. He slipped, lost his balance, and fell from the roof to the ground below. His injuries were multiple and severe, and he died within the day.

Casey Gerry showed that on the day of the fatality, neither the general contractor, who was required to provide fall protection, nor the subcontractor responsible for providing it had insured that the necessary scaffolding was in place. The arrangement for communicating the need for scaffolding was informal, and vulnerable to miscommunications. The job site superintendent was aware that roof work was being conducted on the building, and understood the need for scaffolding, but failed to recognize that it was not appropriately in place. The case was resolved with a monetary award that will compensate the widow and help take care of her young children.

Casey Gerry partner Gayle Blatt recently represented the widow and two children of a young construction worker who died from injuries sustained when he fell from the roof of a three story building. This young worker, described by his supervisor as one of his best employees, was working on the roof installing a chimney box. The 60-pound wooden box came loose and slid down the roof. The worker then lost his footing and slid down the roof. There was no protective scaffolding to catch him, and he fell three stories and landed on concrete. He was transported by Lifeflight to a hospital, but his injuries were multiple and severe, and he died within the day.

Cal/OSHA safety standards require that when workers are on the roof, protective scaffolding be in place at roof height, close enough to the roof to stop a fall. In violation of Cal/OSHA standards, the protective scaffolding around the building was neither at roof height nor close enough to the edge of the roof.

The general contractor for this multi-building residential construction project had sub-contracted with another company to provide scaffolding as fall protection for the framers and carpenters. The contractor’s construction superintendent and the scaffolding subcontractor agreed that they would communicate about which buildings would require roof-high edge protection scaffolding and when they would require it.

Casey Gerry construction attorneys demonstrated that the contractor’s construction superintendent and the scaffolding subcontractor had established only an informal process for communicating for which buildings work scaffolding would be needed and when, and when the scaffolding would need to be lowered or. The superintendent failed to formalize their process for this essential safety-related function, and relied on verbal and or telephonic communication between the owner or the vice-president of the scaffolding firm. Casey Gerry attorneys further established that neither the owner nor the vice president who had contracted to provide fall protection for framers and carpenters had knowledge of the Cal/OSHA scaffolding requirements.

On the day this young husband and father lost his life, the superintendent was aware that roof work was being conducted on the building, and fully understood the need for scaffolding. He failed to confirm that the edge scaffolding had been installed. In fact it was not in place; there was nothing on the roof to interrupt the worker’s deadly fall.

Cal/OSHA’s own accident investigation report stated that this fall was foreseeable by all parties. The deck of the scaffolding at the site was 54", 4.5 feet, below the roof eve. The standard is 24;" the scaffolding fall protection was at least 30”, 2.5 feet too low. Further, the report found that the lateral positioning of the planking from the structure was 1-2” out of compliance. Had the scaffolding been erected in compliance with the well-documented, Cal/OSHA regulation, it would have prevented the worker’s fall and untimely death.

The worker’s death left his widow and two young children grieving and financially devastated. Casey Gerry’s construction attorneys demonstrated that the failure of the scaffolding contractor to understand the Cal/OSHA safety requirements and the failure both by the general contractor and the scaffolding subcontractor to ensure that Cal/OSHA safety requirements were met led to the entirely preventable death of this young husband and father. They were able to resolve the case with a monetary award that compensated the widow and will help her raise her young children.