Chemical Exposure on Construction Work Sites
The opportunities for injury are plentiful on a New York or New Jersey construction site. Often the highest risk for injury is dependent on the type of job site. If you are working in a functioning plant, as many construction jobs are expansions or renovations of existing structures, you face additional risks when chemicals are present.
Chemical exposure can cause external burns and internal injuries as well. Understanding the type of chemicals you will encounter is important even when your work doesn’t require you to handle the chemicals themselves. If you are working to renovate the roof of a chemical plant, and that roof collapses, sending you into exposed chemicals below, you will likely find yourself in a situation that you are unprepared to deal with. (See this story for details).
Safety precautions are taken to help prevent accidents like this from occurring. But despite all of the precautions, accidents still occur.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has created a Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards in an effort to make safety information readily accessible for people working around dangerous chemicals.
According to the CDC’s website for NIOSH:
The NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards (NPG) is intended as a source of general industrial hygiene information on several hundred chemicals/classes for workers, employers, and occupational health professionals. The NPG does not contain an analysis of all pertinent data, rather it presents key information and data in abbreviated or tabular form for chemicals or substance groupings (e.g. cyanides, fluorides, manganese compounds) that are found in the work environment. The information found in the NPG should help users recognize and control occupational chemical hazards.
Without safety references like this one or those from OSHA, some workers would not know that dousing a chemical burn with water can worsen it in some cases.
Much of the responsibility in keeping you, as a worker, safe lies with employers. They should make you aware of the risks at any new NY / NJ job site, whether those risks are chemical or physical. Failing to educate you and failing to keep the environment safe could result in serious injuries or even death, outcomes they could be held responsible for.
How Ginarte Construction Accident Lawyers can help
Maybe you didn’t know you were working around toxic or flammable chemicals. Whether you were burned by chemical exposure or if the chemicals set off a fire, you could be entitled to compensation for the injuries that result.
Our New York / New Jersey construction accident attorneys have experience helping injured construction workers just like you. Contact our offices to discuss the nature of your accident and your rights under the law. Call (888) GINARTE today.
