Long Island Construction Accident Lawyers

Hurt on a Long Island Job Site? Here Is What Happens Next

If you were hurt on a job site in Nassau or Suffolk, two clocks started the moment you were injured. One is medical. The other is legal. Both are running right now.

New York gives construction workers protections that most other injured people never get. Construction accidents are governed by Labor Laws written for exactly this moment. On many height and safety violations, the owner and general contractor can be held responsible even if no one admits fault.

Our Long Island home base is the Garden City office at 600 Old Country Road, Suite 450. That is where we sit down with families, in person, and map out what comes next. You do not pay us anything unless we recover for you.

Your Comp Claim Is the Start, Not the End

Almost every construction injury on Long Island starts the same way: a workers' compensation claim. Comp pays medical bills and a portion of lost wages.

It does not pay for pain. It does not pay for what the injury took from your daily life And it is often the smallest amount of money that the law allows you to recover.

Here is what matters most. Filing for workers' compensation on Long Island does not close the door on a lawsuit.

When the facts support it, you can also bring a third-party case against a property owner, a general contractor, an equipment maker, or a negligent driver. If you are wondering whether you can sue beyond workers' comp, ask us before you sign anything.

Our firm represents members of trade unions across Long Island and New York. We have the experience taking on some of the biggest insurance carriers in thr country, so our clients end up with what they deserve.

Island job sites and the trades we know

Here is how the facts usually break down for families in this situation.

Falls From Height Carry the Strongest Law in New York

If you fell from a scaffold, a ladder, or an open edge, stop and pay attention. Scaffolding accidents often fall under Labor Law §240, the Scaffold Law. That statute puts responsibility on owners and general contractors when required fall protection was missing or failed. In many of these cases, the worker's own conduct is not even a defense. These are among the strongest injury cases in New York, and we regularly handle cases involving this complex law.

Your Trade Matters to Your Case

A fall is not just a fall. What you were doing, and for whom, decides who can be held responsible. Ironworkers face steel erection at height. Electricians face live current and arc injuries. Roofers face edges with no protection at all. Carpenters face saws, nail guns, and framing collapses. Plumbers face trench cave-ins and scald burns. We build the case around your trade, your tools, and the specific safety rules that apply to your trade, meant to protect you.

Garden City Is Our Long Island Home

Our office at 600 Old Country Road, Suite 450 in Garden City is where Long Island consultations happen. If you cannot travel because of your injury, we come to you. Hospital, rehab facility, or your kitchen table. The first conversation costs nothing, and you leave it knowing where you stand.

Recent Results

$26,500,000

For an operating engineer seriously injured in a car wreck

$24,750,000

For a union laborer who suffered a double leg amputation

$9,500,000

for an elevator apprentice struck by the cab

The Failure That Hurt You Names the Defendant

The failure that hurt you is not a side note. It is how New York law decides who is responsible for your injury.

When gravity did the damage, the case often starts under Labor Law §240. A scaffold that gave way. A load that dropped from above. A shaft left open. If that statute fits, the owner answers. There is no pointing fingers down the chain at the crew that got hurt. Elevator constructors working in the shaft fall into this category. So do crews standing under a suspended load when the lift fails.

When the injury came from a safety-code failure on the site, that is Labor Law §241(6) territory. An unguarded floor opening. Debris left in a walk path. Light so poor you could not see the drop. A trench that was never shored. The Industrial Code is not decoration. Construction laborers walk those openings and clear that debris every shift. When the code was ignored, the people who controlled the site can be named.

When the workplace itself was left unsafe under the owner or general contractor's control, Labor Law §200 asks whether they kept the site reasonably safe. Bad housekeeping. A machine kept running without guards. A traffic plan that put bodies next to swinging equipment. Operating engineers are in the seat when a zone should have been cleared or a machine should have been locked out. That failure still points up the chain, not at the person who got hit.

We've represented members of ...

How we work

When we take your case, it is because we believe in it and we prepare it for trial from day one. Insurance companies know which firms settle cheap and which firms show up ready. That reputation is what consistently secures record breaking results.

Schwartzapfel Holbrook has fought for injured New Yorkers for decades, from Long Island job sites to New York City courtrooms, with more than 900 client reviews behind us.

The consultation is free, and you pay nothing unless we win.

Time Works Against You

Job sites change quickly. Evidence can be swept up after an accident, and equipment and records can disappear just as fast. New York gives you three years to file under CPLR § 214, but if a government entity owns the property, you have 90 days to file a Notice of Claim or lose your right to recover.

Call Us —(516) 342-2200

Questions families ask