Queens Forklift Accident Attorneys

What are the Most Common Forklift Accidents?

As the National Safety Council (NSC) data revealed, most forklift accidents happen in the product transportation/shipping industry or while the forklift is being used to move products and equipment, such as when a retail worker needs to take products down from a top shelf. What is not clear in the data is exactly how the average forklift accident happens. Workers’ compensation claims don’t require proof of liability, so it’s likely that determining the cause of the accident is not prioritized by investigators.

However, it can safely be assumed that common types of workplace negligence and mistakes often contribute to forklift accidents in Queens, such as:

• Inadequate training or no forklift operator certification.
• Improperly loading or overloading the lift.
• Operator distraction such as talking with another worker.
• Driving the forklift too fast for current conditions.
• Worker distraction that causes them to walk in front of a moving forklift.
• Lack of safety gates or warnings that a forklift is being used in an area of a jobsite.

Injuries Caused by Forklift Accidents

Forklift accidents often involve the operator hitting someone, a motorist hitting the forklift, or the forklift dropping materials onto another worker. All these accident types can result in many different severe injuries.

NSC data shows that forklift accidents most often result in these injuries:

• Multiple traumatic injuries and disorders
• Intracranial injuries (head and brain injuries)
• Internal injuries to organs and blood vessels (mostly in the chest)
• “Other” traumatic injuries and disorders

No matter what injury you suffered in a workplace forklift accident, you could be covered by workers’ compensation, so it’s worth exploring your options. You should also tell your employer right away if you suffer any sort of forklift accident injury and seek medical attention.

If you lost a loved one to a fatal forklift accident, workers’ compensation could provide your family with death benefits. Harris Firm, LLC can handle workers’ comp cases involving death benefits, too, so you can focus on being with your loved ones and healthily grieving, not legal complications.

Who is Liable for Forklift Accidents?

Many forklift accidents can be traced back to operator errors, and many others involve the negligence of other motor vehicle operators on or near the same jobsite. In these cases, liability or “fault” could be placed on the forklift operator or the other driver, respectively.

However, workers’ compensation in New York is a “no-fault” insurance system, which means it is not required for the claimant to prove liability to file a claim and get benefits. Instead, the forklift accident in question must have happened while the claimant was performing job-related duties. If your employer is trying to say that you can’t get workers’ compensation because your mistake caused your forklift accident and injuries, please call (212) 487-8669 to talk to the Queens forklift accident lawyers of Harris Firm, LLC right away.