Jonathan Rosenfeld | Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers
If you are a Chicago construction worker, then you probably cannot sue your boss for injuries you sustain on the job. Yet, if someone else caused the accident, including the general contractor, then you may be able to sue them for financial compensation.
We can work with you to figure out who was responsible for your Chicago construction accident. General contractors play a unique role on these job sites and that comes with special responsibilities.
General Contractors’ Responsibilities on Construction Sites
General contractors are responsible for their subcontractors’ work as well as the safety of the job site overall. Weber v. N. Ill. Gas Co., 10 Ill. App. 3d 625 (1st Dist.1973). They must make reasonable efforts to hire only qualified subcontractors without a history significant violations.
Also, general contractors must instruct all subcontractors and other parties in a way that ensures state and federal (OHSA) compliance and construction site security. However, this role does not extend to liability for the negligence of their subcontractors unless they maintained some specific form of control over that person or party. Damnjanovic v. United States, 9 F.3d 1270 (7th Cir.1993).
When are General Contractors Liable for Construction Accidents?
Now, we would like to go over situations where the general contractor may be liable for your harms and personal injuries. In order to show that they were responsible and should be held liable for the construction accident, you need to establish that they were negligent and here is how you do that:
- The general contractor owed you a legal duty.
- The general contractor breached that duty.
- The breach of that legal duty caused your injury and damages.
Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 414.
For example, if the general contractor failed to thoroughly clean off the loading zone and you slipped and fell off, then you might be able to bring a claim against it. Another case would be if the general contractor did not properly screen one of the subcontractors and that party’s negligence caused your injuries (i.e. their faulty wiring caused your electrocution), then you might also be able to sue the general contractor for its negligent hiring of the sub in the first place.
Alternatively, if the general contractor did not adequately fence the area and intruders came in and attacked you, then you might have a cause of action against it.
These examples illustrate when a general contractor might be responsible to you for your construction accident injuries.