Worker seriously injured in Charlotte scaffold incident

The Charlotte Fire Department had to make an emergency high rise rescue on September 21, 2018 upon receiving a call that two workers were hanging from a scaffold in uptown Charlotte. The incident occurred close to the intersection of Church and Stonewall streets.

Prior to the fire department’s arrival, the workers were able to be rescued by a crane which lowered them safely to a rooftop. The crane then lowered them on to the ground floor once firefighters arrived. The injured worker suffered serious injuries and was taken to Carolinas Medical Center by ambulance. It is unknown whether the second worker was injured.

It is the legal duty of any employer to provide safe working conditions for its employees. These rules are especially important in jobs where employees work in hazardous conditions, such as on high rise scaffolding. Though no further information is available at the time regarding this particular event, an OSHA investigation will likely take place to determine whether all required safety measures were taken by the workers, as well as to determine if there was an equipment failure that caused the accident.

A Charlotte work comp lawyer can go to work immediately in cases such as this one to protect both the rights of a worker and to preserve any contributory evidence that could otherwise be destroyed. These can include maintenance records, logs, safety training records, and eyewitness accounts. This information can be vital in the event that an accident leads to future litigation that will determine current and ongoing workers’ compensation benefits. By being prepared with a strong legal advocate by one’s side, an injured worker can increase the chances of succeeding on his or her legal claims and recovering the compensation he or she needs to focus on recovery and getting back to work.