22 NW 23rd Place, Suite 203 Portland, Or. 97210
22 NW 23rd Place
Suite 203
Portland, OR 97210
Oregon and Portland Personal Injury Attorneys Aldrich & Brunot have obtained over $10M from insurance companies for their clients.If you’ve been injured, then book a consultation or contact Aldrich & Brunot for more information.
Construction sites across Oregon present dangers that can change lives in seconds. When you’re injured on the job, the path forward becomes complicated quickly. You’re dealing with medical bills, lost wages, and a system that seems designed to confuse rather than help. Understanding your rights and options isn’t just important, it’s essential to your recovery and financial future.
Oregon construction accident claims operate within a complex legal framework governed by state statutes, workers’ compensation law, and workplace safety regulations. Most construction site injuries fall under ORS Chapter 656, which establishes the state’s no-fault workers’ compensation system. This means you’re entitled to benefits regardless of who caused the accident, but it also limits your ability to sue your employer directly.
The system provides medical coverage and partial wage replacement, yet many injured workers discover these benefits don’t fully address their losses. Pain, suffering, and the complete financial impact of catastrophic injuries often exceed what workers’ compensation alone can provide.
Oregon recorded 54 fatal work injuries in 2023, with construction remaining one of the most dangerous industries. The state has set a targeted fatality reduction goal, aiming for a rate of 1.6 per 100,000 workers by 2025. Despite these efforts, workers continue facing serious risks daily.
See also: Worker’s compensation for auto accidents – do you need a lawyer?
Construction sites concentrate numerous hazards into confined spaces where dozens of workers perform interconnected tasks. Understanding how accidents happen helps workers recognize risks and strengthens legal claims when injuries occur.
Falls remain the leading cause of construction deaths, responsible for 38.5% of construction fatalities in 2023. These incidents rarely result from worker carelessness alone. More often, they stem from inadequate fall protection systems, poorly maintained equipment, or pressure to complete work quickly without proper safety measures. Roofing contractors faced particularly high risks, comprising 26% of fall-related deaths.
OSHA documented 7,188 violations for lack of fall protection in 2023, making it the most cited construction safety violation. This reveals a troubling pattern: many falls occur because basic safety protocols weren’t followed.
Working at elevation demands rigorous safety protocols. Scaffolding must be properly assembled, regularly inspected, and equipped with guardrails. Personal fall arrest systems need correct anchor points and regular equipment checks. When contractors cut corners on these requirements, workers pay with their bodies.
A recent case illustrates the devastating consequences of safety failures. A worker fell through an uncovered skylight after a contractor failed to comply with OSHA safety rules requiring protective covers over roof openings. The contractor who violated these regulations was held liable, and the injured worker received a $101,000 trial verdict. This case demonstrated that contractors cannot escape responsibility for failing to provide a safe work environment, even when pressure to complete work quickly creates incentives to skip safety measures. The verdict reinforced that OSHA violations establish clear negligence when workers are injured as a direct result.
Construction equipment creates power measured in tons of force and hydraulic pressure. Cranes, excavators, forklifts, and power tools demand operator training, systematic maintenance, and site coordination. When these elements break down, workers suffer crush injuries, amputations, and fatalities.
Equipment accidents frequently involve defective machinery, inadequate maintenance schedules, or unsafe operation protocols. These scenarios often create liability beyond standard workers’ compensation.
Electricity kills efficiently and without warning. Electrocutions comprised approximately 8% of construction deaths in recent years. Contact with live wires, overhead power lines struck by crane booms, or underground utilities hit during excavation can result in severe burns, cardiac arrest, or death. Workers who suffer electrical injuries face burns, shocks, or fatal electrocution from contact with live wires, faulty equipment, or underground utilities.
Struck-by incidents account for nearly 17% of construction workplace deaths. Workers face dangers from falling tools, swinging loads, moving vehicles, and collapsing materials. These accidents often occur when multiple activities happen simultaneously without proper coordination.
Caught-between accidents trap workers between equipment, materials, or structures, comprising approximately 2-5% of construction deaths. These crushing injuries typically involve complex liability questions about site supervision and safety protocols.
Trenches deeper than five feet require protective systems, yet collapses continue killing workers who enter unprotected excavations. The weight of collapsing soil crushes with deadly force, and victims often cannot be rescued in time.
Chemical exposures, asbestos, silica dust, and other toxic substances create health problems that may not appear for years. Construction workers face immediate dangers from chemical burns and respiratory distress, along with long-term risks of cancer and chronic illness. Employers must provide proper protective equipment, training, and exposure monitoring.
Construction accidents produce injuries across the severity spectrum. Musculoskeletal injuries made up over 20% of nonfatal construction cases, including strains and sprains requiring substantial recovery time and physical therapy.
More severe accidents result in traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, severe burns, crushing injuries, and amputations. These catastrophic injuries permanently alter lives, eliminating the ability to return to construction work and often requiring lifetime medical care.
The construction industry’s nonfatal injury rate of 2.2-2.3 cases per 100 full-time workers reflects approximately 167,600 nonfatal injuries in 2023. The average median days lost from work per injury was 10-11 days, though severe injuries keep workers out far longer.
Oregon law provides multiple avenues for injured construction workers to seek compensation. Understanding how these pathways work together maximizes your total recovery and protects your rights.
Workers’ compensation serves as the foundation for most construction injury claims. This no-fault system provides medical treatment and wage replacement benefits without requiring you to prove anyone’s negligence. You’re entitled to full medical coverage for injury-related treatment and partial wage replacement while you cannot work.
You must report injuries within 90 days to preserve your claim, and formal filing must occur within one year under most circumstances. The system provides benefits regardless of whether you, your employer, or another party caused the accident.
Current benefits pay 66 2/3% of your average weekly wage, up to a maximum of $1,331.48 per week for claims between July 2024 and June 2025. Permanent partial disability and permanent total disability follow similar calculation methods, with benefits tied to impairment levels and wage loss.
However, workers’ compensation has significant limitations. You cannot recover damages for pain and suffering, emotional distress, or the full extent of lost earning capacity. The system compensates for medical bills and partial wages but doesn’t address the complete impact of serious injuries. You generally cannot sue your employer for negligence, even when their safety violations caused your injury.
When someone other than your employer or a co-worker contributed to your accident through negligence, you may file a personal injury lawsuit against that third party. These claims operate separately from workers’ compensation and allow you to recover damages not available through the workers’ compensation system, including pain and suffering, full lost wages, and loss of life enjoyment.
Common third-party defendants include general contractors who controlled worksite safety, subcontractors whose negligence created hazards, equipment manufacturers whose defective products caused injuries, and property owners who maintained unsafe conditions. Oregon law provides a two-year statute of limitations for these personal injury claims under ORS 12.110.
Third-party lawsuits require proving negligence, unlike the no-fault workers’ compensation system. You must demonstrate that the defendant owed you a duty of care, breached that duty, and directly caused your injuries.
Oregon’s Employer Liability Law creates a middle ground between workers’ compensation and third-party claims. Under ORS 656.020(2), you can sue your employer directly if they either had actual knowledge of a dangerous condition and deliberately failed to correct it, or if they violated a statutory safety standard that constitutes negligence per se.
ELL claims particularly apply when general contractors or entities with employer-like responsibilities exercised “actual control” over risk-producing activities. If a general contractor directed unsafe work methods, failed to provide fall protection, or created electrical hazards through direct instructions, they may face ELL liability despite not being your direct employer.
Recent Oregon cases have emphasized this “actual control” doctrine. When a general contractor instructs a subcontractor to build a temporary platform without fall protection and a worker is injured, the general contractor may face ELL liability due to its control over the risky work.
Construction sites involve multiple companies, contractors, and entities, each potentially bearing responsibility when accidents occur. Identifying all liable parties significantly impacts your potential compensation.
General contractors typically maintain overall control of construction sites, even when subcontractors perform the actual work. This control creates potential liability when the general contractor fails to enforce safety standards, creates dangerous conditions, or directs unsafe work practices.
Subcontractors face liability for their own negligence, particularly when their work creates hazards affecting other trades. A plumbing subcontractor who leaves trenches unprotected, an electrical subcontractor who fails to properly secure live wires, or a framing subcontractor whose unsafe construction methods endanger others all may bear legal responsibility for resulting injuries.
A landmark 2025 case demonstrates how liability extends beyond traditional boundaries. In Twigg v. Admiral Insurance Company, homeowners hired Rainier Pacific Development LLC to repair their garage floor using a specific overlay product. The contractor failed to install required control joints, causing the new surface to crack and form voids worse than the original problem. When the homeowners pursued compensation, the contractor’s insurer initially denied coverage, claiming the damage resulted from breach of contract rather than an insured “accident.”
The case wound through arbitration, resulting in $150,000 in damages for property repairs. The critical legal battle centered on whether Commercial General Liability insurance covered construction defects when liability was based on contract breach rather than negligence. The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that coverage doesn’t depend on how the claim is legally framed but on whether the facts support liability for accidental damage. The contractor’s “mistake” in failing to follow specifications could constitute an accident triggering insurance coverage.
This ruling expanded insurance coverage for contractors and clarified that accidental damage may qualify as a covered “occurrence” even when framed as breach of contract, provided the facts support tort liability. The case illustrates why thorough investigation matters: identifying all potential insurance coverage sources, understanding how different legal theories interact, and pursuing every avenue for compensation. What initially appeared to be an uninsured contract dispute became a covered insurance claim through strategic legal analysis.
Property owners and site managers controlling construction sites owe duties to workers performing construction. When they retain control over safety aspects, fail to correct known hazards, or create dangerous conditions, they may face liability for resulting injuries.
Defective equipment causes construction injuries when manufacturers design products inadequately, manufacture them improperly, or fail to provide adequate warnings about known dangers. Product liability claims operate independently of workers’ compensation, allowing injured workers to pursue compensation from manufacturers whose defective products caused harm.
These cases require proving that a design defect made the equipment unreasonably dangerous, a manufacturing defect caused the specific unit to malfunction, or the manufacturer failed to warn adequately about known risks.
Construction sites attract numerous other potential defendants, including architects whose designs create safety hazards, engineers who specify dangerous construction methods, material suppliers who provide defective or inappropriate materials, and utility companies whose negligence creates electrical or other dangers.
Recent Oregon Supreme Court decisions have clarified that non-employer third parties may be held liable when workers suffer injuries from those parties’ negligence, even when the workers’ compensation system initially found injuries non-compensable.
Understanding the full range of available compensation helps injured workers recognize what they’re entitled to receive.
Workers’ compensation provides several benefit categories. Temporary total disability pays while you cannot work at all, currently providing 66 2/3% of your average weekly wage up to $1,331.48 weekly. Temporary partial disability covers situations where you can work but earn less than before your injury.
Permanent partial disability benefits depend on the body part injured and impairment level, calculated using statutory schedules. Permanent total disability applies when injuries prevent any gainful employment, paying benefits at the temporary total disability rate for the duration of your disability.
Medical benefits cover all necessary treatment related to your injury, including surgeries, medications, physical therapy, and necessary medical equipment. The system also provides vocational rehabilitation when injuries prevent you from returning to your former occupation. Death benefits support surviving spouses and dependent children when construction accidents prove fatal.
Third-party lawsuits allow recovery of economic damages including all medical expenses past and future, full lost wages rather than the partial replacement workers’ compensation provides, lost earning capacity when injuries prevent you from performing your previous job, and costs of necessary home modifications or ongoing care.
Non-economic damages address pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of life enjoyment, disfigurement, and loss of consortium claims by spouses. These damages often substantially exceed workers’ compensation benefits, particularly in catastrophic injury cases.
Punitive damages may apply when defendants acted with wanton disregard for safety. The severity of injury significantly influences settlement amounts, with catastrophic injuries such as spinal cord damage, traumatic brain injury, paralysis, or amputation substantially increasing compensation. Oregon’s modified comparative negligence law reduces compensation proportionally when you share fault for the accident, though you can still recover if you’re 50% or less at fault.
Your actions immediately following a construction accident protect both your health and your legal rights. Ensure someone calls for medical help if injuries are serious. Your health takes absolute priority.
Report the injury to your supervisor immediately. Oregon law requires prompt reporting of workplace injuries, and delays can jeopardize your workers’ compensation claim. Even if injuries seem minor initially, report them. Many serious conditions worsen over time or reveal themselves later.
Document everything you can about the accident scene. Take photos showing the exact location, equipment involved, hazards present, and safety equipment or lack thereof. Write down exactly what happened while details remain fresh.
Get names and contact information from anyone who witnessed the accident. Witness testimony proves critical when facts are disputed. Ask witnesses to write brief statements about what they saw if possible.
Seek medical attention as soon as possible, even for injuries that don’t seem severe. Some serious injuries don’t cause immediate pain, and prompt medical evaluation creates documentation linking your injuries to the workplace accident. Follow all treatment recommendations (gaps in treatment give insurance companies ammunition to deny or minimize claims).
Contact an Oregon construction accident attorney familiar with construction injuries before giving detailed statements to insurance companies. Insurance adjusters often use initial statements against injured workers. Aldrich & Brunot offers a free case review to help you understand your options without financial risk.
Many clients are surprised by what actually happens after filing a work injury claim. Understanding these realities helps you prepare for the road ahead.
Initial Settlement Offers Come Fast and Low. Insurance companies often contact you within 48 hours offering quick settlements. These initial offers rarely reflect the true value of your claim. Accepting early means giving up rights to additional compensation when the full extent of your injuries becomes clear. Most cases ultimately settle for significantly more than these first offers, particularly once medical treatment progresses and the complete impact of your injuries emerges.
Claim Denials Happen More Than You’d Expect. About 12% of Oregon workers’ comp claims are denied , above the national average. If your claim is denied, you’re not alone. Denial doesn’t mean the end of your case. The most common denial reason in Oregon is failure to establish that work was the ” major contributing cause ” of your injury. This accounts for about 45% of denials . Oregon uses the strictest causation standard in the US, requiring that work-related factors be the primary cause of your condition, not just a contributing factor.
Other common denial reasons include:
The Timeline Stretches Longer Than You Think. Construction accident claims take an average of 29% longer to resolve than claims in other industries. Straightforward cases might resolve in several months, but complex cases involving multiple parties, disputed liability, or catastrophic injuries can extend for a year or more. Factors that extend timelines include extensive medical treatment, disputes over permanent impairment ratings, and negotiations involving multiple insurance companies.
Returning to Work Creates Unexpected Challenges. Most clients tell us the hardest part isn’t the paperwork, it’s the uncertainty about whether they can return to construction work. Physical demands of construction mean even “moderate” injuries can end careers. Employers may not accommodate modified duties or temporary restrictions, creating financial pressure to return before you’re ready. The struggle to prove less visible injuries, such as repetitive stress conditions or back injuries, adds frustration when your limitations aren’t obvious to others.
Oregon’s Strict Deadlines Catch People Off Guard. The two-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims and complex construction defect deadlines (six years from discovery but no more than ten years after substantial completion) create confusion. Missing these deadlines means losing all compensation rights permanently.
Many clients assume they have more time than they actually do, only to discover their claim is barred when they finally seek help.
Understanding these challenges doesn’t make the process easy, but it removes the surprise factor and helps you prepare for what’s ahead. Experienced legal representation becomes particularly valuable navigating these obstacles.
Oregon strictly enforces time limits for filing construction accident claims, and missing deadlines can permanently bar your right to compensation.
Workers’ compensation claims require notice to your employer within 90 days of the accident. The formal claim must be filed within one year in most situations, though limited exceptions may apply for injuries with delayed manifestations.
Personal injury lawsuits against third parties must be filed within two years from the date of injury under ORS 12.110. This applies to claims against general contractors, subcontractors, equipment manufacturers, property owners, or any other non-employer defendant.
Employer Liability Law claims follow the same two-year statute of limitations as other personal injury actions.
Construction defect claims face both statutes of limitations and statutes of repose. You must file within two years of discovering the defect, but Oregon law also imposes an absolute deadline of 10 years after substantial completion for residential or small commercial structures, or six years for large commercial structures under ORS 12.135.
These strict timeframes make early legal consultation critical. Evidence deteriorates, witnesses become unavailable, and memories fade as time passes.
Construction accident claims involve specialized legal knowledge that general practice attorneys typically lack. The intersection of workers’ compensation law, personal injury principles, OSHA regulations, Employer Liability Law, and insurance coverage disputes creates complexity that demands focused expertise.
Most construction accidents create multiple potential claims (workers’ compensation, third-party lawsuits, and possibly ELL actions). Managing these claims simultaneously requires understanding how they interact. Workers’ compensation insurers hold subrogation rights, allowing them to recover payments from third-party settlements. Coordinating settlements to maximize your net recovery while satisfying legal requirements demands sophisticated legal handling.
Insurance companies employ experienced adjusters and attorneys whose job is minimizing payouts. They often delay processing claims or use bad faith tactics to pressure injured workers into accepting inadequate settlements. Building strong medical evidence, securing expert testimony, calculating future care needs, and documenting the full impact of injuries all contribute to maximizing compensation.
Third-party claims require proving negligence, which demands thorough investigation using experts to uncover exactly what happened and who bears responsibility. OSHA violation records, safety protocols, equipment maintenance logs, and industry standards all provide evidence of negligence. This investigation often reveals additional defendants and compensation sources that injured workers wouldn’t discover on their own.
Aldrich & Brunot offers a free case review with no obligation. Contact us by phone, email, or through the website to schedule your no-cost consultation.
During the initial review, an attorney discusses your accident circumstances, injuries, and how they’ve impacted your life. This conversation provides a preliminary assessment of your claim’s strength and potential value. The attorney explains your legal options in plain language, outlining the process ahead and answering your questions.
If you decide to proceed, the firm operates on a contingency fee basis (you pay no legal fees unless they win compensation for you). This allows injured workers to access experienced representation without upfront costs during a time when finances are already strained.
The firm then begins comprehensive case development, gathering medical records, accident reports, witness statements, OSHA records, and other evidence. They identify all potentially liable parties and develop legal strategies aligned with your recovery goals.
Construction accidents create overwhelming challenges at the worst possible time. You’re dealing with injuries, medical treatment, financial stress, and uncertainty about the future. Experienced legal representation helps level the playing field against insurance companies and corporate defendants with far greater resources.
A free case review costs nothing but could make the difference between inadequate workers’ compensation benefits and full compensation that addresses all your losses. Contact Aldrich & Brunot today to discuss your construction accident case and learn how specialized legal representation can protect your rights and maximize your recovery.
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