According to the Florida Chamber Safety Council’s Workplace Safety Data Report 2020, there were 1,950 workplace deaths over a recent decade, and 28% of those deaths were in the construction industry. The report also found that in one year, the construction industry saw 75 fatalities involving equipment, 69 fatalities involving falls, trips, and slips, and 61 fatalities involving exposure to toxic substances. Keep in mind that you have certain rights as a construction worker and that your employer is legally required to keep you safe while you’re at work. If you’re suffered serious injuries at work and need help with your workers’ compensation claim, don’t hesitate to reach out to South Florida construction accident attorneys of Rosenthal, Levy, Simon & Sosa for legal guidance.
The Worker’s Compensation System in Florida
As with almost all occupations, if you’re injured at work, you’re entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. Workers’ compensation insurance follows the no-fault system for paying out benefits. Essentially, this means that you don’t need to prove that another individual or entity acted negligently and that negligence contributed to or caused your workplace injury. You would only need to prove that you got injured and your injury occurred during the scope and course of your employment. Most employers in Florida with four or more workers are legally required to carry workers’ comp insurance. Construction industry employers, however, must carry workers’ comp insurance even if they only employ one person. Injured construction workers may be entitled to the following benefits:- Medical Benefits – Your employer must pay for all the medical treatments necessary for treating your injury or illness. These include hospitalization, diagnostic tests, doctor appointments, medications, physical therapy, and even expenses related to going to and from your doctor visits.
- Temporary Disability Benefits – You’re entitled to these benefits if you’re unable to go back to your previous construction job at the same capacity and working hours before you got injured.
- Permanent Disability Benefits – When your doctor determines that your injury or condition has been resolved and stabilized and you’ve reached maximum medical improvement (MMI), you’ll qualify for other workers’ comp benefits. You may collect permanent partial disability benefits if you experience a permanent loss in your earning capacity or permanent loss of a body part of function, even if you are still capable of working to some degree. But if your injury deems you incapable of holding any kind of gainful employment, you may collect permanent total disability benefits.