Two construction workers killed in crane collapse

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New Jersey employees must be protected from suffering a work accident involving injury or death while on the job. This is true even for those workers who are employed in dangerous industries such as construction. Though construction workers may be particularly at risk of suffering a serious injury while on the job, this does not mean that they or their families will be left without help if an accident does occur. Instead, workers' compensation laws are in place in order to ensure that workers who are injured on the job receive compensation for their losses. In one such example, two workers were recently killed in a crane collapse while working on a construction site at a Dallas-area university. They were involved in the early stages of constructing a 155,000-square-foot building meant to house classrooms and an auditorium. A crane was located at the construction site. Presumably because it needed to be moved to another location, the crane was in the process of being dismantled. However, for an unknown reason, part of the crane crashed killing the two workers. The weather may have played a factor in this fatal construction site accident as sudden wind gusts of up to 40 mph were reported during the time when the crane accident took place. So long as these employees died while in the course of their employment, then the family members that they left behind will be able to collect workers' compensation benefits as a result of their wrongful deaths. However, it is important to point out that obtaining benefits can sometimes be difficult, especially under New Jersey's workers' compensation laws. This is why there are experienced workers' compensation attorneys who focus their attention and energy on making sure that employees and family members receive the workers' compensation benefits that they are entitled to. Source: Associated Press, "2 dead in crane collapse on UT-Dallas campus," July 7, 2012