NW Injury Law Center represents construction workers and bystanders injured on Portland-area job sites. We handle falls from height, struck-by and caught-in injuries, electrocutions, scaffold and ladder failures, trench collapses, and crane and heavy equipment incidents across Portland, Gresham, Beaverton, Tigard, Hillsboro and Oregon City. Consultations are free and we work on a contingency fee. Call (503) 222-7757.
Construction is a highly dangerous industry, with many potential injury risks for workers and the public. Serious accidents are much more likely when someone is negligent, or fails to use an appropriate amount of care. If you or someone you love has been injured in a construction accident in Portland, contact NW Injury Law Center for assistance with the legal process. Our Portland construction accident attorney can help you seek justice using personalized legal services.
Why Choose NW Injury Law Center?
- Our legal team has been helping injured accident victims in the Pacific Northwest for more than 45 years. We have an in-depth understanding of how construction accident cases work.
- You won't pay your Portland personal injury attorney at NW Injury Law Center unless we win your construction accident case. We operate on a contingency fee basis.
- We have collected millions of dollars on behalf of our clients in successful settlements and jury verdicts. We will work hard to achieve the results you deserve for your construction accident case.
How Can a Construction Accident Attorney in Portland Help You?
If you have been hurt in a construction-related incident in Portland, an accident attorney can provide critical support. Your attorney can evaluate your case to determine if you have a valid claim, and investigate to uncover the cause of your accident and identify the party/ies responsible. From there, your lawyer can file your claim and seek maximum compensation using proven legal strategies. This includes bringing your case to trial, if necessary, while you focus on healing from your serious injuries.
Construction Site Accidents in Portland Are Preventable
Harmful construction site accidents can take lives. The inherent risks involved in construction are why there are federal safety laws in place for this industry, enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). When a construction company or employee violates these laws, it can lead to avoidable accidents.
According to OSHA, the most frequently violated safety standards in construction in fiscal year 2024 involved fall protection, ladders, scaffolding, and eye and face protection. The most common types of fatal construction site accidents are falls, electrocutions, caught in or between objects or equipment, and struck-by falling objects.
Common Portland construction site injuries
Most serious job site injuries fall into a handful of recurring patterns, and each one tends to point at a different responsible party.
Falls from height remain the leading cause of construction deaths: unguarded edges, missing or unanchored fall protection, scaffold planking that was never fully decked, and ladders set at the wrong angle or on unstable ground. Struck-by injuries come from dropped tools and materials, swinging loads, and vehicles and equipment moving in areas where workers are on foot. Caught-in and caught-between injuries involve trench collapses, unguarded machinery and equipment that was not locked out before service.
Electrocutions happen where temporary power is run badly, where equipment contacts overhead lines, or where circuits were assumed dead and never verified. Crane and heavy equipment incidents tend to be catastrophic when they happen, and usually involve a rigging, signaling or maintenance failure rather than operator error alone.
Can you sue if you are already on workers’ compensation in Oregon?
Often yes, and this is the single most important thing an injured Oregon construction worker can understand about their own case.
Oregon workers’ compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against your own employer. You cannot ordinarily sue the company that employs you, and in exchange you receive benefits without having to prove anyone was at fault.
That exclusivity does not extend to anyone else. Construction sites are crowded with separate companies, and a claim against a negligent third party survives alongside the workers’ compensation claim. That might be the general contractor responsible for site safety, another subcontractor whose crew created the hazard, the property owner, the company that leased or maintained the equipment, or the manufacturer of a component that failed.
The difference matters because the two systems pay for different things. Workers’ compensation covers medical treatment and a portion of lost wages. It does not pay for pain, permanent limitation, or the full value of a career cut short. A third-party claim is where those losses are recovered. The workers’ compensation insurer will generally assert a right to be repaid out of that recovery, and managing that is part of the case.
Who may be liable on a Portland job site?
- The general contractor, for site safety, coordination between trades, and hazards it knew about or should have found.
- Other subcontractors, whose work created the condition that injured you even though they do not employ you.
- The property owner or developer, particularly on sites where the owner retained control over how the work was done.
- Equipment lessors and maintenance contractors, for supplying or servicing lifts, cranes, scaffolding or powered tools that failed.
- Manufacturers, where a component failed rather than wore out, or where guarding was inadequate by design.
- Drivers and delivery companies operating in and around the site.
Each additional responsible company brings another insurance policy into reach. On a catastrophic injury, finding the second and third defendant is frequently the difference between a partial recovery and a full one.
What to do after a construction accident in Portland
- Report the injury to your employer in writing and get medical treatment. Oregon workers’ compensation has its own notice deadlines that run far sooner than any lawsuit deadline.
- Photograph the scene before it changes. Sites are cleared and repaired within days, and the condition that hurt you may not exist by the end of the week.
- Preserve the equipment. If a tool, lift, ladder or part failed, it needs to be kept rather than repaired, scrapped or returned to the lessor.
- Get witness names and phone numbers, including workers from other subcontractors who may be off the site permanently within a week.
- Keep a copy of anything you sign, including the incident report.
- Get advice before any recorded statement. The call may come from your employer’s insurer, another company’s insurer, or both, and they are not working for you.
Deadlines and fault rules for Oregon construction claims
Most Oregon injury lawsuits must be filed within two years of the injury under ORS 12.110. That is a year shorter than Washington, which catches out workers who live on the Washington side and assume the same rule applies. Workers’ compensation reporting deadlines are shorter still and run from the injury, not from when you stop treating.
Oregon applies modified comparative fault under ORS 31.600. Your recovery is reduced by your share of the blame, and you are barred only once your share passes the halfway point. On construction sites the defense will nearly always argue the worker chose the ladder, skipped the harness or worked ahead of the barricade, so expect fault to be contested. Being partly responsible is not a reason to walk away from a claim.
Our statewide Oregon page covers these rules in more detail, and our Vancouver construction accident page covers the Washington equivalents, which differ in important ways.
Portland construction accident questions
What if I am an independent contractor rather than an employee?
Your position may be stronger. A genuinely independent contractor often sits outside the workers’ compensation bar altogether, which can leave a direct negligence claim available against the company that controlled the site. Job titles do not settle this; what matters is who directed the work, who supplied the tools, and how you were paid.
What if I am undocumented?
Immigration status does not remove the right to be compensated for a workplace injury in Oregon. Workers in this position are among the most likely to be injured and the least likely to make a claim, which is exactly what unsafe employers rely on.
Who pays my bills while I am off work?
Workers’ compensation covers treatment and replaces part of your wages, not all of them. The shortfall, the reduced future earning capacity and the pain and disruption are recovered through a third-party claim where one exists.
What does it cost to hire a construction accident lawyer?
Nothing up front. The consultation is free and we work on a contingency fee, so there is no fee unless we recover for you. We generally advance the case costs, which on a serious construction injury usually includes engineering and safety experts.
Your Rights as an Injured Construction Accident Victim
If negligence is behind your construction accident or a loved one's death, you have grounds to seek financial compensation by taking legal action. Even if you cannot prove negligence, you may still be eligible for a fair payout from Oregon's workers' compensation program, if you were injured as a construction worker while performing the duties of your job.
A successful insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit could result in financial compensation for your past and future medical bills, lost wages, disability, pain and suffering, the death of a loved one, and more. This can help you rebuild your life as much as possible. Hiring an attorney from NW Injury Law Center can improve the financial outcome of your case.