According to research published by the National Library of Medicine, “occupational burn injuries remain a workplace safety concern.” The research revealed that more than a million non-fatal occupational burns were treated in emergency departments in the United States over the course of a single decade, and 450,000 burns in 2013 alone necessitated medical treatment. Burns can be serious, very costly to treat and can leave lasting scarring. Burn injuries can also be fatal to affected workers.
Burns can happen in many different industries, including the field of construction. Just recently, News 10 reported on a fire at a construction site that luckily did not lead to burn injuries in this particular case, but which could easily have caused harm to nearby workers if the fire had not been contained. When burn injuries do happen, the New York City construction accident lawyers at RMFW should be consulted to provide assistance to victims and the families of those killed in fatal fires or by other deadly burn injuries.
A Closer Look at Burn Injury Risks at Construction Sites
The recent fire that was reported on by News 10 took place at a New York City hospital building which is currently under construction. The building is scheduled to open for business in 2018. Witnesses who saw the fire described “thick black smoke and flames rising from a roof as people in hard hats worked nearby.” The incident occurred shortly after 12:00 noon on a Wednesday and the Fire Department of New York was at the scene quickly to handle the blaze.
In this incident, there were no immediate reports of injury and the cause of the fire still remains under investigation. Unfortunately, when fires break out at construction sites, there are many situations in which workers are not able to escape unscathed. Fires can spread quickly and can cause serious or even fatal burns.
Fires at construction sites can happen for lots of different reasons, from equipment that sparks to faulty wiring to fires caused by improper use of dangerous equipment such as welding tools. Electrocution is one of the “fatal four” top causes of construction deaths, and electrocution can also result from the same faulty wiring that could cause serious or fatal burn injuries. Burns can also happen on construction sites from causes other than heat, as chemical burns are a risk as well when certain toxic products are used.
It is imperative that any NYC burn victim who sustained his or her injuries while working on a construction site, regardless of its cause, consult with a skilled attorney at RMFW as soon as possible The expense of treating serious burn injuries can be astronomical, as multiple surgeries may be required by skilled plastic surgeons. Contact us today.