On June 18, three 50,000-pound steel beams fell onto the southbound lanes of Interstate 405 in an accident that shut down the busy highway in the Los Alamitos area and injured a worker, authorities reported. As part of a project to build a new overpass in the Rossmoor area, construction crews were setting the 130-foot beams into place when the accident occurred.
Authorities said that a beam on a crane tumbled onto the roadway after it knocked over two beams that had already been set in place. Reportedly, the injured construction worker was on the inchoate overpass when he too fell onto the interstate. While the extent of his injuries was not clear immediately following the incident, the injured man required immediate hospitalization.
Construction sites can be dangerous workplaces, and construction accidents like the one in this particular case often occur despite standard safety precautions. The injuries suffered by workers as a result of these accidents can be devastating. For, not only do they often require intensive and long-term medical care, but in many cases they force the injured workers to take significant time off from work as well. However, when construction workers are injured on the job, they have the right to file a workers’ compensation claim irrespective of the circumstances surrounding their injuries.
Workers’ compensation benefits may cover hospital bills, medical expenses and rehabilitation costs related to worksite injuries. Moreover, the benefits may cover lost income if the worker’s injuries prove to be disabling. However, obtaining these benefits through the claim-filing process can be a difficult and highly adversarial task, and so many injured workers retain a workers’ compensation attorney to represent them throughout the process.
Source: abc10News, “Steel beams tumble onto Interstate 405 shutting down freeway and injuring one worker,” Associated Press, Jun. 18, 2014.
Source: KPVI, “Construction accident shuts down busiest highway in US”, June 18, 2014
