Vehicular Injuries

On job sites, contractors must develop and enforce the “rules of the road”. On construction jobs, airport tarmacs, shipping terminals, industrial facilities, quarries and logging sites, the standard “rules of the road” that drivers must obey while operating passenger and commercial vehicles on public highways generally do not apply. The contractor or entity in control of a particular premises is always responsible for adopting and enforcing site-specific traffic controls and rules, such as speed limits, right-of-way preferences, stop and yield signs, etc. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that “chaos reigns” on some busy job sites. Simply put, because many drivers and operators are not conscientious about paying careful attention to their immediate surroundings, workers on foot or in smaller vehicles are frequently injured or killed when struck by inattentive drivers.

In Washington every employer must make sure that its employee-driver is validly licensed before the employer allows its employee to drive any motorized company vehicle on a public roadway. Additionally, all company vehicles must be properly maintained and all government mandated safety devices must be in good working order at all times.

With regard to specialized vehicles that are to be operated only on a job site and which are not licensed to be driven on public highways, state law requires employers to train and certify each employee assigned to operate such a specialized vehicle. Each driver must be trained in the proper and safe operation of the vehicle before the employer turns the employee loose with the vehicle. Moreover, the employer is legally required to regularly evaluate and re-certify each and every employee assigned to operate a specialized motorized vehicle.

When an employer fails to maintain its vehicle, or when an employer allows an unqualified employee to drive a company vehicle, or when an employee negligently operates a vehicle in such a way as to strike and injure another worker not employed by the same employer as the driver, the employer and the employee-driver will be held legally responsible for the injuries.

Over many years of legal practice, the seasoned personal injury lawyers at Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC have represented workers who have been struck by forklifts, loaders, excavators and semi-trucks while working on at construction sites, airports, shipping terminals and log yards. Just as allowing an untrained or unqualified operator to get behind the wheel is a recipe for disaster, hiring an inexperienced lawyer is likely to get a poor result. At Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC we aggressively represent and protect the rights of workers injured in heavy equipment accidents, including those accidents related to construction, forklift operations, and concrete pump truck pours.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a construction vehicle or heavy equipment accident, the lawyers at Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC will help you to identify the negligent party, all potential insurance sources, and win for you the compensation that you deserve. We are a Seattle-based law firm, but we represent injured workers from all over the state, in every county and federal court in Washington. If you hire Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC, you will pay us no fee unless we win financial compensation for you!

For your free, no obligation consultation, call Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC today at (206) 624-8844. Alternatively, you may email your inquiry to us by clicking here.