# Construction Accident Lawyer | Springfield & Westfield, MA | Dunn & Phillips, P.C. > Hurt on a job site in Western Massachusetts? Comp pays medical bills and part of your wages. A third-party case pays the rest. Free consultation; pay nothing unless we win. [Canonical page](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/construction-accidents/) --- - [All injury cases](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/) - [Car Accidents](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/car-accidents/) - [Truck Accidents](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/truck-accidents/) - [Motorcycle Accidents](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/motorcycle-accidents/) - [Slip and Fall](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/slip-and-fall/) - [Dog Bites](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/dog-bites/) - [Workers' Compensation](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/workers-compensation/) - [Construction Accidents](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/construction-accidents/) - [Medical Malpractice](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/medical-malpractice/) - [Wrongful Death](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/wrongful-death/) - [Bicycle Accidents](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/bicycle-accidents/) - [Pedestrian Accidents](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/pedestrian-accidents/) - [Catastrophic Injury](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/catastrophic-injury/) - [Insurance Claim Disputes](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/insurance-claim-disputes/) - [Pain and Suffering](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/pain-and-suffering/) - [Sexual Assault & Abuse](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/sexual-assault/) - [How We Help](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/) - [Personal Injury](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/) - Construction Accidents # Construction Accident Lawyers in Western Massachusetts Workers' comp is not the whole story after a fall, a crush, or a struck-by on a job site. The second case runs against everyone who is not your employer, and after the SJC's 2026 Skyway Roofing decision it is won or lost on evidence gathered in the first weeks. [New injury? Call or text (413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657) Have the firm call you Free. A real person calls you back. Phone That phone number looks too short. Please check it so we can call you back. What happened? (one line is fine) Have the firm call me Short version is fine — save the details for the call. Please do not send confidential information: until we sign a written engagement agreement, what you send here is not treated as confidential and does not by itself prevent us from representing someone else in the same matter. Sending this does not make us your lawyers yet. Something went wrong. Please call or text the 24-hour injury line at [(413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657) instead. Thanks. We have it. A real person will call you back. If this is urgent, call or text [(413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657). A roof in Hancock, a school addition in Springfield, a warehouse slab in Westfield, a bridge deck on the Pike. The work is dangerous in ways the paperwork never quite captures, and when it goes wrong it goes wrong badly: falls from height, crush injuries, struck-by loads, trench and scaffold collapses, burns, electrocutions. The person who gets hurt is usually the one furthest down the contracting chain and the one with the least paper protecting him. We handle construction injury cases across the region from our offices in [Springfield](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/locations/springfield/) and [Westfield](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/locations/westfield/). A new injury intake reaches a real person 24 hours a day at [(413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657), and the first conversation is free. ## You probably have two cases, not one The first is workers' compensation, against your employer's insurer. It pays reasonable and necessary medical treatment and a share of your lost wages, and it pays whether or not anyone was careless, including when the injury was partly your own doing. That is the trade the system makes: no fault to prove, and no claim against your employer beyond the benefits. Our [workers' compensation page](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/workers-compensation/) covers how that side works and where it goes wrong. The second case is against everyone who is not your employer. It is an ordinary negligence case, and it pays what comp never does: pain, disfigurement, lost earning capacity beyond the comp schedule, and the loss your spouse and children suffer. On a construction site there are almost always other companies present, which is why this second case is missed more often on job sites than anywhere else. The comp checks start arriving, the paperwork feels handled, and nobody asks the second question. When both cases exist they have to be run together. The comp insurer carries a repayment right against a third-party recovery, and how that lien is negotiated changes what actually reaches you. ## What the SJC's *Skyway Roofing* decision changed In August 2026 the Supreme Judicial Court decided *Suquilanda v. Skyway Roofing, Inc.*, and it narrowed one route to the general contractor. Two things came out of it. **General responsibility is not retained control.** A contract clause requiring the general contractor to keep the premises safe, or a general right to direct and stop work, is not enough on its own. The standard from *Corsetti v. Stone Co.* still governs: a general contractor that retained the right to control safety on the site, including the right to initiate and maintain safety measures and programs, answers for failing to exercise that control with reasonable care. What the Court wanted and did not find in *Skyway* was express safety language paired with concrete safety conduct, a supervisor who inspected fall protection, directed crews on safety, or stopped unsafe work. **Naming yourself general contractor on a permit does not create a duty.** The Court held that a State Building Code obligation cannot manufacture a duty of care that does not otherwise exist, though it can bear on breach once one does. The practical effect is not that these cases are gone. It is that they are decided on the record, early, on a summary judgment motion. Defense counsel will argue every file looks like *Skyway*. The answer is a file that looks like *Corsetti*, and that file gets built in the first weeks, not on the eve of trial. Attorney Wayne Peereboom, who handles these cases from our Westfield office, [wrote about the decision in detail](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/blog/sjc-skyway-roofing-construction-injury/) after Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly asked him what comes next. ## Who can answer for a job site injury - **The general contractor**, where the contracts and the conduct show retained control over safety. - **Other trades on site.** The crew whose rigging, excavation, or debris created the hazard owes you the ordinary duty of care. Nothing about *Skyway* touches this. - **The property owner**, where the owner set the safety procedure rather than leaving it to the contractors. - **Equipment manufacturers and suppliers.** A lift that failed, a saw that shipped without a guard, a defective harness or anchor, a scaffold assembled by a rental company. - **Drivers and trucking companies**, in work zones and on deliveries. Each has separate insurance, and the sorting between them is the first hour of the first conversation. ## The evidence decides it, and it does not wait Contracts, permit files, safety plans, daily logs, sign-in sheets, inspection records, and video are the entire retained-control fight. They also disappear on their own schedule: video overwrites in days, subcontractors close out jobs and box up files, memories of who said what at the morning briefing fade within a month. A preservation letter from a law firm changes the obligation to keep them. If OSHA inspected, the file is a useful early record of what was found and who was cited. It is not proof of your case, and OSHA penalties are paid to the government rather than to you, but it fixes facts in place while everyone still remembers them. ## Deadlines Massachusetts generally gives three years to file a personal injury suit, and the workers' compensation side has its own notice and filing deadlines that run much sooner. Claims involving a city, a town, or a state agency, which describes a good share of the road, bridge, and school work in this valley, carry shorter notice requirements and their own limits. Which deadlines apply to you depends on who was on the site, and it is worth getting that answer in week one rather than year two. ## What to do now Report the injury to your employer in writing and get the medical care you need, all of it, and keep going until you are done treating. Photograph the scene and the equipment if you or someone you trust safely can. Write down who was on site, which companies they worked for, and who saw what happened. Keep your gear, your harness, your boots, exactly as they are. Do not give a recorded statement to any insurer for another company on the site before you have talked to a lawyer. Then call. If comp is being paid properly and no third party is in the picture, we will tell you that, free, in the first conversation. If there is a second case, the work on it starts the same week. Free worksheet - PDF ## Get the Massachusetts After-an-Accident Worksheet Every step after a crash, fall, or other injury, from the scene to resolving your claim, in one PDF worksheet. From a Western Massachusetts firm that handles the insurers so you can focus on healing. [Download the worksheet (PDF)](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/downloads/dunn-phillips-personal-injury-after-accident-worksheet.pdf) Saves to your device as a fillable PDF you can complete or print. It is free: no email required. Using this does not make us your attorneys. It is general information, not legal advice. [From our Insights Lawyers Weekly Asks Wayne Peereboom What Comes Next After Skyway Roofing Suquilanda v. Skyway Roofing narrows when an injured worker can sue the general contractor. Attorney Wayne Peereboom on what the decision changes and what it does not.](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/blog/sjc-skyway-roofing-construction-injury/) Common questions ## Construction Accidents FAQs I'm getting workers' comp. Why would I need a lawyer? Because comp is usually only half the recovery available to you. Workers' compensation pays reasonable and necessary medical treatment and a portion of your lost wages, and it pays regardless of fault. It does not pay for pain, for a career you can no longer do, or for what the injury costs your family. That part comes from a case against someone other than your employer, and nobody at the comp insurer is going to point it out. Can I sue the general contractor that hired my employer? Sometimes, and the answer now turns on evidence rather than titles. In Suquilanda v. Skyway Roofing, Inc., decided in 2026, the SJC held that a general contractor's general responsibility for a safe worksite is not the same as retained control over safety, and that a subcontractor's own employee has no separate negligent hiring claim against the general contractor on those facts. What still works is the standard from Corsetti v. Stone Co.: a general contractor that retained the right to control safety on the site can be liable for failing to exercise it with reasonable care. Proving that means contracts, safety plans, site logs, and what the supervisors actually did. Who else can be responsible for a construction injury? Anyone on the site who is not your employer is a candidate: another trade whose crew created the hazard, the property owner if the owner dictated how the work was done, the manufacturer of a machine or lift that failed or shipped without a guard, a scaffold or rigging company, a trucking company, or a driver in a work zone. Each stands on its own footing and each carries its own insurance. What evidence matters most, and how fast does it disappear? The prime contract and the subcontract, the building permit file, the site safety plan, daily logs, toolbox and safety meeting sign-in sheets, equipment inspection records, photographs, and any video. Those records are what a retained-control argument runs on, and they are routinely overwritten, discarded, or simply lost once a job wraps. A preservation letter early is one of the few things that is entirely within your control. Does an OSHA citation prove my case? No, but it helps. An OSHA citation does not by itself establish liability to an injured worker, and OSHA penalties do not go to you. What the file gives you is an early, independent record of what inspectors found, who was cited, and what the companies said at the time, which is useful long before anyone is under oath. What does a construction injury lawyer cost? Nothing up front and nothing out of pocket. Third-party injury cases run on a contingent fee set in a written agreement; we front the case costs, and you owe no fee and no costs unless we recover for you. Fees in the workers' compensation part of the case are set by statute and approved by the department. New Personal Injury Direct A new injury intake reaches a real person 24 hours a day. Call or text, or start with the intake form and we will get back to you. [Call or text (413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657) [Start the injury intake form](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/#start-your-case) Where we are Springfield, Main Office 185 Belmont Avenue, Springfield, MA 01108 [(413) 787-9955](tel:+14137879955) [Get directions](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=185%20Belmont%20Avenue%2C%20Springfield%2C%20MA%2001108) Westfield, Personal Injury Law Center 56 Washington Street, Westfield, MA 01085 [(413) 562-8300](tel:+14135628300) [Get directions](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=56%20Washington%20Street%2C%20Westfield%2C%20MA%2001085) Other injury case types we handle - [Car Accidents](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/car-accidents/) - [Truck Accidents](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/truck-accidents/) - [Motorcycle Accidents](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/motorcycle-accidents/) - [Slip and Fall](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/slip-and-fall/) - [Dog Bites](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/dog-bites/) - [Workers' Compensation](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/workers-compensation/) - [Medical Malpractice](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/medical-malpractice/) - [Wrongful Death](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/wrongful-death/) - [Bicycle Accidents](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/bicycle-accidents/) - [Pedestrian Accidents](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/pedestrian-accidents/) - [Catastrophic Injury](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/catastrophic-injury/) - [Insurance Claim Disputes](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/insurance-claim-disputes/) - [Pain and Suffering](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/pain-and-suffering/) - [Sexual Assault & Abuse](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/sexual-assault/) Still not sure what you have? Answer a few questions and let's assess your situation. No long forms, and it costs nothing. [Let's assess your situation](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/consult/) **“Pay nothing unless we win” applies to personal injury matters only.** If we win, our fee is a percentage of the amount recovered and is paid out of that settlement or verdict, along with case costs; if there is no recovery, you owe no fee or costs. The percentage and terms are set out in a signed written fee agreement. This promise does not apply to our other practice areas, whose fees are charged as described in your fee agreement. This page is general information only, not legal advice for any specific situation, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Every matter depends on its own facts; for advice on your particular circumstances, talk to a licensed attorney. Published by Dunn & Phillips, P.C., 185 Belmont Avenue, Springfield, MA 01108. Responsible attorney: Cornelius W. Phillips, III. 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