Long Island
Construction Accident Lawyer

Protecting Injured Workers

Construction Accident Lawyer on Long Island

Construction is one of the most dangerous industries in the United States, and Long Island’s ongoing residential, commercial, and infrastructure development means thousands of workers face serious hazards every day. When safety measures fail — when scaffolds collapse, cranes malfunction, or electrical systems are left unprotected — the injuries are often catastrophic or fatal.

At the Law Office of Jason Tenenbaum, P.C., located in Huntington Station, we represent injured construction workers and their families across Nassau County, Suffolk County, and the greater New York area. New York has the strongest construction worker protections in America through Labor Law §§240, 241(6), and 200 — statutes that hold property owners and general contractors strictly accountable for jobsite safety failures. Jason Tenenbaum has spent 24 years fighting to ensure those protections deliver real compensation for injured workers.

Whether you fell from a scaffold, were struck by a falling object, suffered electrocution, or were injured in a trench collapse, the law may entitle you to full compensation from parties other than your employer — even if workers’ compensation is already covering your medical bills. Understanding which claims apply to your situation requires an attorney with deep knowledge of New York’s construction safety statutes.

Still have questions? Call (516) 750-0595 for a free consultation.

New York Labor Law Protections

New York’s Labor Law provides construction workers with protections that exist nowhere else in the country. Understanding these statutes is critical to maximizing recovery after a construction accident.

Need help understanding which Labor Law sections apply to your case? Call (516) 750-0595 to speak with an experienced construction accident attorney.

Common Construction Accident Types

Construction sites present a wide range of hazards. The most serious accidents our firm handles include:

• Scaffold falls — collapses, missing guardrails, improper assembly, and inadequate planking. Protected under Labor Law §240 as gravity-related hazards.
• Crane accidents — crane collapses, boom failures, dropped loads, and struck-by incidents involving overhead rigging operations
• Electrocution — contact with exposed wiring, power lines, improperly grounded equipment, and live electrical panels during renovation work
• Falling objects — tools, building materials, concrete, and debris falling from upper floors or elevated work areas onto workers below
• Trench and excavation collapse — cave-ins caused by failure to install proper shoring, shielding, or sloping in compliance with OSHA and Industrial Code requirements. These collapses share characteristics with slip and fall incidents involving ground-level hazards
• Heavy equipment accidents — forklifts, backhoes, bulldozers, and other machinery causing crush injuries, amputations, and fatalities
• Demolition injuries — structural failures during demolition, exposure to asbestos and hazardous materials, and unexpected collapses. Workers on demolition sites may also have premises liability claims
• Structural collapse — building or partial floor collapses caused by design defects, overloading, or removal of load-bearing elements during construction

If you or a loved one was injured in any of these types of construction accidents, call (516) 750-0595 for a free case evaluation.

High-Risk Construction Zones on Long Island

Long Island’s rapid development and infrastructure expansion create concentrated construction hazards across the region. Workers face elevated risk at several major project corridors:

• LIE (I-495) expansion and construction zones — active highway widening and interchange projects expose workers to high-speed traffic, heavy equipment, and elevated work areas along the island’s busiest corridor
• Route 110 / Walt Whitman Road corridor development — commercial construction and mixed-use projects in Huntington Station and Melville involve multi-story builds with significant scaffold and crane operations
• Downtown Patchogue and Ronkonkoma redevelopment — transit-oriented development projects with demolition of existing structures, deep excavation, and new multi-story construction
• Nassau County transit-oriented development — projects in Mineola and Long Beach involving high-density residential construction, parking structures, and infrastructure upgrades adjacent to active rail lines
• Suffolk County highway department projects — road reconstruction, bridge repairs, and drainage infrastructure work that exposes workers to trench collapse, heavy equipment hazards, and traffic-adjacent operations

If you were injured at any of these active construction zones, the property owner and general contractor may bear absolute liability under Labor Law §240 regardless of whether your direct employer was negligent.

Who Can Be Held Liable?

Unlike most personal injury claims where you must prove negligence, New York Labor Law §240 imposes a non-delegable duty on property owners and general contractors. This means they cannot escape liability by hiring subcontractors or claiming they were unaware of site conditions. Potentially liable parties include:

• Property owners — even those who never set foot on the job site bear absolute liability under §240 for gravity-related injuries
• General contractors — responsible for overall site safety and subject to the same non-delegable duties as property owners
• Subcontractors — liable under common-law negligence and §200 when their own unsafe practices cause injury to other workers on the site
• Equipment manufacturers — liable under product liability theories when defective scaffolding, cranes, harnesses, power tools, or safety equipment contribute to an accident
• Architects and engineers — potentially liable when design defects or inadequate safety specifications contribute to structural failures, collapses, or other construction site hazards

In many construction accident cases, multiple parties share liability. We investigate every potential defendant to maximize your recovery and ensure that no responsible party escapes accountability. Identifying the full chain of responsibility — from the property owner who commissioned the project to the subcontractor who failed to install guardrails — is essential to building a case that captures the full value of your damages.

Compensation Available for Construction Injuries

Construction accidents frequently cause severe, life-altering injuries. Recoverable compensation includes:

• Medical expenses — emergency care, surgery, hospitalization, rehabilitation, physical therapy, and projected future medical treatment
• Lost wages — income lost during recovery and diminished earning capacity if the injury prevents returning to construction work
• Pain and suffering — physical pain, emotional distress, and the psychological impact of traumatic construction injuries
• Future care costs — ongoing medical treatment, assistive devices, home modifications, and long-term attendant care for catastrophic injuries
• Permanent disability — compensation for lasting physical limitations, loss of mobility, amputation, or paralysis

New York does not cap non-economic damages in personal injury cases. In wrongful death cases, the decedent’s family may recover funeral expenses, lost financial support, loss of parental guidance, and conscious pain and suffering.

New York's Grieving Families Act (signed 2026) significantly expands wrongful death damages. Previously, only the estate's personal representative could file and recoverable damages were limited to pecuniary losses. The new law allows close family members to recover for grief, loss of companionship, and emotional anguish. For construction accident fatalities — which remain the leading cause of workplace death in New York — this law dramatically increases the value of wrongful death claims. Our attorneys can explain how the Grieving Families Act applies to your family's case. Call (516) 750-0595 for a free consultation.

To learn more about what your construction injury case may be worth, call (516) 750-0595 for a free, no-obligation case assessment.

Severe Injuries from Construction Accidents

Construction site injuries are among the most devastating of any industry. The heavy equipment, elevated work surfaces, and hazardous materials involved produce injuries far more severe than typical workplace accidents.

Traumatic brain injuries

Falls from scaffolds, ladders, and roofs frequently cause traumatic brain injuries ranging from concussions to severe TBI with permanent cognitive impairment. Struck-by incidents involving falling tools and materials also produce head trauma even when hard hats are worn, particularly when objects fall from significant heights. These injuries often require long-term rehabilitation and may permanently prevent a return to construction work.

Spinal cord injuries and paralysis

Falls from elevation — the exact hazards Labor Law §240 was designed to address — are the leading cause of spinal cord injuries on construction sites. A fall from even a single story can produce herniated discs, compression fractures, or complete spinal cord transection resulting in paraplegia or quadriplegia. These are among the highest-value construction accident cases because they involve lifetime care costs, permanent disability, and total loss of earning capacity. Our firm works with back injury specialists to document the full scope of spinal damage.

Crush injuries and amputations

Heavy equipment, collapsing structures, and trench cave-ins produce crush injuries that may require surgical amputation of limbs. These injuries are physically devastating and carry significant psychological impact. Recovery includes not only the initial trauma surgery but prosthetics, occupational therapy, phantom limb pain management, and adaptation to permanent physical limitations.

Burns and electrocution

Electrical injuries on construction sites range from minor shocks to fatal electrocution. Contact with live power lines, exposed wiring, and improperly grounded equipment can cause severe burns, cardiac arrest, and neurological damage. Burns from electrical arcs, chemical exposure, and construction fires may require skin grafts and produce permanent scarring and disfigurement.

Construction Accidents vs. Workers’ Compensation

Workers’ compensation provides limited benefits: a percentage of lost wages (capped at the state maximum), medical treatment, and scheduled awards for permanent injuries. It does not cover pain and suffering, full lost wages, or future earning capacity. Third-party Labor Law claims have no such limitations — you can recover the full value of your damages, including pain and suffering, from responsible property owners and general contractors.

In practice, the third-party claim often produces a recovery many times greater than workers’ compensation alone. You may pursue both simultaneously: workers’ comp provides immediate wage replacement and medical coverage while the third-party claim proceeds through litigation. The workers’ comp carrier will assert a lien on the third-party recovery, but this lien is subject to reduction under Workers’ Compensation Law §29.

An experienced construction accident attorney coordinates both tracks from day one — filing workers’ comp to protect immediate benefits while simultaneously building the third-party claim. We negotiate lien reductions under §29 to ensure you keep the maximum portion of your recovery. Use our settlement calculator to get an initial estimate of your potential construction accident recovery.

Navigating workers’ comp and third-party claims simultaneously is complex. Call (516) 750-0595 to discuss your options with an experienced construction accident attorney.

OSHA Violations and Your Construction Accident Case

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets federal safety standards for construction sites, and violations of these standards are powerful evidence in your Labor Law claim. When OSHA investigates a construction accident and issues citations, those citations can establish that the property owner or general contractor failed to maintain a safe work environment.

Common OSHA violations on Long Island construction sites include:

• Fall protection violations (29 CFR 1926.501) — failure to provide guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall arrest systems for workers at heights of six feet or more. This is consistently the #1 most-cited OSHA violation nationwide.
• Scaffold deficiencies (29 CFR 1926.451) — improperly constructed scaffolds, missing planking, inadequate guardrails, or failure to train workers on scaffold safety
• Ladder violations (29 CFR 1926.1053) — defective ladders, improper placement, failure to extend ladders three feet above landing surfaces, and lack of slip-resistant feet
• Trenching and excavation failures (29 CFR 1926.652) — failure to install protective systems (shoring, shielding, or sloping) in excavations deeper than five feet
• Hazard communication failures (29 CFR 1926.59) — failure to inform workers about hazardous chemicals, asbestos, lead paint, or other toxic substances on the job site

We obtain OSHA inspection records, citation histories, and violation reports for every construction accident we handle. Under Labor Law §241(6), a violation of a specific Industrial Code provision constitutes prima facie evidence of negligence — effectively shifting the burden of proof to the defendant. OSHA records complement this by establishing a pattern of safety failures that strengthens your case and increases the potential recovery.

If your employer or the general contractor has a history of OSHA violations, that record becomes a powerful tool in settlement negotiations and at trial. Repeat offenders face enhanced penalties, and juries take notice when a defendant has been cited for the same safety failures before.

Steps After a Construction Accident

The actions you take immediately after a construction accident can significantly impact your ability to recover compensation:

1. Seek medical attention immediately — construction injuries like brain injuries, spinal cord damage, and internal bleeding may not show symptoms right away. Emergency medical records also create critical documentation linking your injuries to the accident.
2. Report the accident — notify your supervisor or foreman and ensure the incident is documented in writing. Request a copy of the accident report.
3. Preserve evidence — photograph the accident scene, defective equipment, unsafe conditions, and your injuries. Note weather and site conditions at the time of the accident.
4. Identify witnesses — get the names and contact information of coworkers and anyone else who saw the accident or the conditions leading to it.
5. Do not give recorded statements — insurance companies for the property owner, general contractor, or other parties will contact you quickly. Do not provide recorded statements without attorney guidance.
6. Contact a construction accident attorney — Labor Law claims involve complex statutory requirements and multiple potentially liable parties. Early legal representation ensures evidence is preserved and all claims are properly asserted.

Don’t wait to get legal help. Call (516) 750-0595 now for a free, confidential case review.

Local Hospitals for Construction Injuries

Construction accidents frequently involve crush injuries, falls from height, and traumatic amputations that require immediate Level I trauma center care. Long Island hospitals equipped to handle severe construction injuries include:

• Stony Brook University Hospital — Level I Trauma Center, the only university-level trauma facility in Suffolk County
• North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset — Level I Trauma Center serving Nassau County and western Long Island
• Nassau University Medical Center, East Meadow — public hospital with full trauma and surgical capabilities
• Good Samaritan Hospital, West Islip — regional trauma center for southwest Suffolk County
• Huntington Hospital — community hospital near major Route 110 corridor construction sites

For severe construction injuries — especially crush injuries, spinal trauma, and falls from elevation — transport to a Level I trauma center can be the difference between life and death. Emergency medical documentation from these facilities also creates critical evidence for your catastrophic injury claim.

If you were taken to a hospital after a construction accident, request copies of all emergency room records, imaging studies, and discharge summaries. These contemporaneous medical records are among the most important pieces of evidence in your case.

Need help getting your medical records organized for a construction accident claim? Call (516) 750-0595 — we handle the paperwork so you can focus on recovery.

How We Handle Construction Accident Claims

Construction accident cases require a fundamentally different approach than typical personal injury claims. The involvement of multiple liable parties, complex statutory frameworks, and overlapping workers’ compensation claims demands systematic investigation from day one.

Why Hire Jason Tenenbaum for Your Construction Accident Case?

Jason has handled construction accident and Labor Law cases on Long Island since 2002. He writes his own motions and tries his own cases, which means the attorney who knows your file is the one arguing your §240 claim in front of the judge. Most large firms hand off that work to associates at different stages.

Construction accident cases demand specific expertise that general personal injury lawyers often lack. You need an attorney who understands the interplay between Labor Law §§240, 241(6), and 200 — who knows which Industrial Code provisions apply to your specific accident, and who can identify every liable party in a complex chain of property owners, general contractors, subcontractors, and equipment suppliers.

Jason handles the full process from your first call through trial or settlement. He knows the judges in Nassau and Suffolk County Supreme Court, he understands the workers’ compensation lien reduction process under §29, and he has seen enough construction accident cases to identify the strongest path to maximum recovery. Consultations are free, and you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.

Related practice areas: Personal Injury • Back Injury • Wrongful Death • Catastrophic Injury • Premises Liability • Product Liability • Slip & Fall • Settlement Calculator