Does Your Job Site's History Of Accidents Help Your Case?
If you've been injured on the job, there's a chance that similar accidents have happened before. Will that fact help your case? It depends on the circumstances.
Why Do Past Accidents Matter?
Past accidents at a job site matter because they may show an ongoing safety problem. If you've been injured, you often need to prove that your employer was negligent in some way. This might be by not providing the right safety equipment, not giving you the training or time you need to do the job safely, or allowing unsafe conditions at the job site. The employer will want to defend themselves by saying it's your fault that you got hurt, so they shouldn't have to pay.
The history of past accidents is a way of showing that your employer should have done something to stop the accidents. When one worker gets hurt, it's easy for them to argue that the worker ignored procedures. When multiple workers keep getting hurt, it's hard for an employer to argue that they had nothing to do with it.
Do You Have to Show a History of Accidents?
A history of accidents can help your case, but it is not required. If your job site has been open for decades and your accident was the first ever, you can still sue your employer. While you wouldn't have past accidents as additional evidence, you can still gather other evidence showing that the job site was unsafe.
Are You Always Allowed to Show a History of Accidents?
You may not always be allowed to introduce evidence of past accidents at your job site. The past accidents have to be connected in some way. For example, if your employer has a history of failing to secure items on high shelves that then fall onto workers below, that isn't really relevant to an injury that happened in a forklift crash.
There are several different ways to tie past accidents together. One could be the same type of incident, such as those unsecured items on the high shelves. Another could be the same type of injury, such as many workers getting back injuries. You can also find common themes between different types of accidents. For example, if workers always disregard safety instructions in different types of accidents, that might show a pattern of management saying to ignore them or not providing enough training.
To learn more about how to prove your job site accident case, contact a local job site accident lawyer today.