Construction accident at World Trade Center site

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The Port Authority of New Jersey is working with its neighboring state and city agencies to determine what exactly while construction is going on at the World Trade Center site. Nearly 20 tons of steel fell 40 stories down and ended up crashing upon a flatbed truck. Though it was fortunate that no injuries had occurred, we can just imagine the coverage in the newspapers if someone had been badly injured or killed in this construction accident.

Too often construction companies are in a hurry to complete various projects and shortcuts are taken that increases the likelihood of someone being injured in this type of accident. Sadly, most injuries that do happen at such worksites are never minor in nature. It’s difficult to imagine how many things could go wrong when this amount of steel falls from so far up. Anyone in the immediate vicinity was in danger of losing their life.

When there is negligence at a construction site, the responsible parties do need to be held accountable and to reimburse anyone injured as a result. However, why such accidents occurred is often difficult to identify and that’s why attorneys are often needed to make determinations as to who is the culpable party. Sometimes there may be more than one party responsible, and anyone in the corporate chain could be found liable in helping out injured parties or family members.

It is believed that the accident at the World Trade Center site occurred due to the snapping of a cable. A passerby stated: “It just sounded like a massive thud. Almost like thunder.” Thankfully it did not turn out much worse.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, “Construction Accident Shakes World Trade Center,” by Sean Gardiner, James Campbell and Aaron Rutkoff, Feb. 16, 2012