Compassionate Attorneys for New Jersey Excavation and Trench-Digging Accidents

Whether for laying wire or digging a foundation, the need to dig trenches and to excavate arises commonly on construction sites. Trenching and excavation can come with serious risks to workers when job site managers fail to adhere to important safety guidelines, due to the challenges of stabilizing soil and working in confined spaces. Workers can receive serious, even fatal, injuries from excavation and trench injuries which can keep them off the job for weeks or months, if not permanently.

If you’ve been injured in a trench-digging or excavation accident in New Jersey, seek legal help that will ensure you get the money you need to care for your family and get back to full health. At Massood & McCluskey, we’ve represented hundreds of New Jersey construction accident victims and will aggressively pursue the recovery you’re owed from insurance companies and negligent third parties. Contact our Wayne offices today to begin seeking the money you deserve after getting hurt at work.

Risks from trenching and excavation accidents

There are a number of different hazards which can injure workers during an excavation, including:

• Trench collapse: Soil is extremely heavy. In fact, a cubic yard of soil can weigh as much as a car. Without the use of reinforcements along the trench or other protective measures to prevent collapse, workers can easily be suffocated beneath heavy soil after a trench collapse.
• Objects or materials falling from above: Soil that is removed from a trench or excavation site must be relocated away from the opening of the trench or excavation site, and heavy equipment should never be allowed to remain near the edge of an open excavation or trench. Failing to follow these important safety guidelines can place pressure on excavation walls, causing them to cave in, or the soil or equipment itself to fall on the workers in the trench below.
• Injury after making contact with utilities: When job site managers or subcontractors fail to determine where utility lines and pipes run near a job site, this can result in unwitting workers making contact with these dangerous pathways. This can result in serious electrocution injuries, or burst pipes flooding a narrow trench.

Seek help after a construction site injury

If you’ve been hurt on the job, you’re entitled to receive support while you recover from your injuries, including compensation for missed work and medical expenses. For help obtaining the benefits you deserve through the Workers’ Compensation system, or to explore the possibility of a third party claim where a subcontractor or product manufacturer’s negligence is responsible for your injuries, contact the experienced and determined New Jersey trenching and excavation accident lawyers at Massood & McCluskey for a consultation, at 973-696-1900.