Highway construction work poses a danger to workers as well as motorists and pedestrians who travel through roadway work zones. Men and women in work zones come into constant contact with a variety of hazards, including heavy equipment in operation and vehicular traffic, often in constrained areas that offer little room to escape when accidents unfold.
North Carolina sees an average of 8.3 fatal crashes and 11 deaths each year in highway work zones, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse. About half of N.C. work zone accidents involve heavy trucks. Nationally, work zone accidents and injuries number in the tens of thousands.
The Raleigh work zone injury lawyers at Younce, Vtipil, Baznik & Banks, P.A., help workers who have been seriously injured on the job secure the benefits they deserve under North Carolina workers’ compensation laws. Our legal team includes Chip Younce, David E. Vtipil, and Joseph Baznik, and both David and Chip are Board Certified Specialists in Workers’ Compensation Law. Mr. Vtipil has also been named among the nation’s Top 100 Injured Workers’ Attorneys and is named among The Best Lawyers in America in the field of Workers’ Compensation Law.
To learn more about the benefits you or a loved may deserve as you recover from injuries suffered in a highway work zone accident, contact us today for a free claim review and advice about your legal options. Our consultations are absolutely free and a way to educate yourself. Even if you don’t hire us to fight for the compensation you deserve to have, you will know your rights.
How Are Work Zone Accidents Covered by Workers’ Comp?
Workers’ compensation is insurance coverage purchased by an employer for workers who are injured on the job and administered through the North Carolina Industrial Commission. Nearly all businesses with more than three employees in North Carolina must have workers’ compensation insurance. Workers’ compensation typically pays:
- All medical bills related to an occupational injury
- A portion of lost income (66 percent of weekly wages up to a statutory maximum)
- Continuing payments for a permanent disability related to a workplace accident
- Stipends for certain catastrophic injuries, such as loss of a limb, head or facial disfigurement, or loss of vision or hearing
- Compensation for immediate family members financially dependent on a fatally injured worker.
If you are employed as a construction worker or in another job that required you to be in the work zone where you injured, you are likely to be covered by workers’ compensation insurance.