Plymouth Construction Accident Lawyers

Plymouth’s historic waterfront and fast-growing suburbs have attracted a constant flow of public works, residential, and commercial construction. Carpenters raise town-house frames off Route 3, tradespeople overhaul the state pier, and civil crews rebuild aging sewer lines. These projects create union and non-union jobs, but they also concentrate many of the most dangerous tasks in one coastal county.

A 2024 MassCOSH review of worker fatalities shows that construction accounted for twenty-two traumatic deaths in Massachusetts during 2023, four times higher than any other industry. National data mirror the problem: the Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 5,283 fatal work injuries nationwide in 2023, and construction again ranked near the top. Falls alone caused 421 of the 1,075 construction deaths BLS tallied that year. Understanding how Massachusetts law protects injured workers and when it allows broader civil recovery is essential for anyone hurt on a Plymouth job site.

Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers has represented injured tradespeople across Massachusetts for more than two decades. Our attorneys have negotiated seven-figure recoveries for roofers who fell through unguarded openings, pipe-fitters burned by miswired temporary power, and laborers crushed by trench collapses. We frequently staff construction cases with:

• A dedicated trial lawyer who focuses exclusively on catastrophic injury and wrongful-death litigation.
• An OSHA-certified safety consultant who documents violations and preserves digital evidence from drones, laser scanners, and job-site cameras.
• A bilingual case manager who keeps Spanish-speaking clients informed at every stage.

Despite decades of regulation, OSHA’s “Fatal Four” hazards still dominate construction injury statistics in Massachusetts:

• Falls from roofs, scaffolds, and mezzanines when temporary guardrails are removed for material hoisting.
• Struck-by incidents involving dump-truck backup tasks on narrow wharf access roads.
• Caught-in or -between accidents, such as trench cave-ins along the Kingston-Plymouth sewer-upgrade corridor.
• Electrocutions occur during the redevelopment of historic homes with outdated service lines.

These hazards often arise from overlapping contractors, compressed schedules, and inadequate site-specific safety plans. When a general contractor fails to enforce its own Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) or ignores an OSHA directive, for example, neglecting to install trench boxes deeper than five feet, the risk shifts from theoretical to immediate.

Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 152, nearly all employers must carry workers’ compensation insurance that pays medical treatment, partial wage replacement, and permanent-loss benefits regardless of fault. Key features include:

• Temporary Total Disability (TTD): 60 percent of the worker’s average weekly wage for up to 156 weeks.
• Temporary Partial Disability (TPD): 60 percent of the difference between pre-injury and post-injury earnings, capped at 75 percent of the TTD rate.
• Section 36 permanent-loss benefits, scarring, and disfigurement: scheduled awards for vision, hearing, or limb impairment, as well as permanent scars or disfigurement to the hands, face, or neck.
• No-fault medical coverage: all reasonable and necessary treatment that relates to the industrial injury.

Workers’ compensation is usually the exclusive remedy against the employer and coworkers, meaning the injured employee cannot sue the direct employer in tort. However, Massachusetts law never bars claims against negligent third parties, owners, general contractors, subcontractors, equipment manufacturers, or utility companies, whose acts or omissions caused or contributed to the injury.

Civil litigation supplements workers’ compensation benefits in two circumstances common on Plymouth construction sites:

• Negligent third parties: A subcontractor leaves rebar uncapped; a separate masonry crew falls onto the protrusions. The injured mason may sue the subcontractor, the site safety coordinator, and possibly the owner who accepted the unsafe sequence.
• Defective products: A rented scissor lift with a faulty tilt sensor fails, pitching a glazier to the ground. Strict liability and breach-of-warranty theories allow recovery from the manufacturer, distributor, and rental company.

Third-party actions permit full damages: pain and suffering, complete wage loss, loss of consortium, loss of earning capacity, and future medical expenses, damages that workers’ compensation may not fully cover.

Because construction sites evolve hourly, evidence preservation begins the moment our firm is retained. Our investigation protocol includes:

• Scene preservation letters to owners and general contractors demanding that scaffolding, debris, and digital safety records remain intact.
• Drone photogrammetry to create a 3-D point cloud of the hazard zone before it is dismantled.
• Data downloads from heavy equipment telematics (e.g., lift angles, load charts, event logs).
• Witness statements from subcontractor employees who may otherwise fear retaliation.
• OSHA 300, 301, and 10-hour training records to demonstrate prior notice of the hazard.

We also subpoena parent-company safety manuals, bid documents that forecast manpower versus schedule, and change-order logs, often revealing that productivity pressures trumped safety commitments.

A successful third-party negligence or product-liability suit filed in Plymouth Superior Court or federal district court may recover:

• Economic damages: past and future medical bills, vocational rehab, prosthetics, home modifications, and every penny of lost earnings (including overtime, per-diem, and union fringe benefits).
• Non-economic damages: physical pain, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and disfigurement.
• Loss-of-consortium damages for a spouse, dependent child, or, in wrongful-death cases, family members under M.G.L. c. 229.
• Punitive damages in wrongful-death actions where the defendant’s conduct was malicious, willful, wanton, or reckless.

Workers’ compensation insurers hold a statutory lien on civil recoveries, but Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers routinely negotiates lien reductions that put more money into our client’s pockets.

Massachusetts imposes a three-year statute of limitations on personal injury and product liability claims, measured from the date of injury or the date the injury reasonably should have been discovered. Property-damage claims have the same deadline, while wrongful-death actions must be filed within three years of the decedent’s death.

Additional time-sensitive tasks include:

• OSHA reporting: An employer must notify OSHA within eight hours of a fatality and within 24 hours of an inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or eye loss.
• Tort Claims Act notice: If the defendant is a public entity, for example, the Town of Plymouth or the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, a presentment letter must be served within two years, and suit filed within three.
• Spoliation motions: When a contractor discards evidence after receiving notice, the court may grant an adverse-inference instruction that strengthens the plaintiff’s case.
• Workers’ Compensation claims: Generally, injured construction workers have four years from the date of the injury occurring to pursue a workers’ compensation benefits.

Missing any one of these deadlines can extinguish valuable rights; retaining counsel quickly is the single best way to ensure compliance.

If you or a coworker is hurt on a Plymouth project, consider this checklist:

• Seek emergency medical care, even for injuries that seem minor at first.
• Report the incident to a supervisor and request that a Form 101 – First Report of Injury is filed with the Department of Industrial Accidents to begin a workers’ compensation claim.
• Obtain a copy of any incident report filled out.
• Photograph the hazard: guardrail absence, machine defect, weather conditions, and PPE.
• Preserve damaged PPE and personal tools; they may serve as critical evidence of force direction or product failure.
• Obtain contact information for every witness, including delivery drivers and utility crews who may leave the site.
• Contact Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers before speaking with insurance adjusters.

Yes. Massachusetts follows modified comparative negligence for third party claims; you can recover so long as you were not more than 50 percent responsible, and your award is reduced only by your percentage of fault.

The Massachusetts workers’ compensation law is a no fault system, meaning you can qualify for workers’ compensation benefits regardless of who was at fault for your injuries.

Absolutely. Immigration status does not affect eligibility for workers’ compensation or third-party negligence claims under Massachusetts law.

The Workers’ Compensation Trust Fund may pay benefits, and you may be able to sue the uninsured employer directly in tort because the exclusive-remedy shield does not apply.

We advance all costs and collect a fee only if we obtain a settlement or verdict on third party claims. Our office also negotiates any statutory workers’ compensation lien on a third-party claim in order to increase your net recovery.

Attorney’s fees for workers’ compensation cases are capped at 20% of any settlement obtained for the injured worke and typically do not affect your weekly payments.

Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers supports statewide and local Plymouth County “Stand-Down to Prevent Falls” events. By pairing litigation with prevention, we aim not only to secure full compensation for our clients but also to create safer job sites across Massachusetts.

If you or someone you love was injured or killed on a Plymouth construction site, contact Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers for a free, confidential consultation. Our attorneys are available 24/7 at (617) 777-7777 and can meet you at home, in the hospital, or virtually.