What to Do After a Construction Accident in Mount Pleasant
Get treated first. While you're being treated, a relative or someone from the crew can handle these.
- Get medical help first. Have someone dial 911 from the site. Make sure the ER chart says it happened at work, and keep up with therapy afterward.
- Report it to your employer. Tell your foreman or supervisor as soon as you can, or have a relative do it, then send a text or email so there's a dated record.
- Photograph only when it's safe. If you or a coworker can do it safely and lawfully, get the ladder, scaffold, trench, guardrail or machine involved. Don't go into restricted areas or move anything to get a picture.
- Note every company on site. Framers, roofers, electricians, the GC's super and whoever ran the lift or crane.
- Ask that evidence be kept. Hold on to damaged boots, harnesses, hard hats and tools. Ask that important equipment and records be saved, not fixed or tossed.
- Keep your paperwork. Pay stubs, time sheets and insurer forms.
- Don't rush statements or releases. Many workers talk with a lawyer before signing.
Where Construction Injuries Happen Around Mount Pleasant
Crews work on new homes in neighborhoods north of town, raised houses on pilings out toward Isle of Palms, docks and lifts on tidal creeks, and road and utility work along US-17. Falls from roofs, ladders and decks, and injuries from heavy equipment, can happen on any of these jobs.
Workers' Comp Deadlines
Most on-the-job injuries in South Carolina go through workers' compensation, which has its own rules.1 You generally must tell your employer within 90 days and file a claim within two years.4 Injuries that build over time, occupational diseases and some later-found injuries may follow different timing rules.5 Report the injury right away instead of waiting on the deadline.3
See workers' comp claims in South Carolina for more.
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
Claims Against Someone Other Than Your Employer
Against a covered employer, workers' comp is generally the only remedy, with limited exceptions.6 A worker may sometimes bring a separate negligence or product claim against a responsible outside party, such as the maker of a failed tool.2
The general contractor or another company above you may not be open to a suit, though. Under South Carolina's statutory-employer rule, some companies higher up the chain can get the same protection from suits.67 Whether one can be sued depends on how the companies relate and what each was doing.
The comp claim and any outside claim each have their own requirements and timing.2 Most injury suits must be filed within three years, while comp claims generally have two years.84 The three-year deadline is for a lawsuit, and an insurance claim won't pause it.9 If the town, county or a state agency is the one at fault, the Tort Claims Act generally allows two years, or three years after a qualifying verified claim.10 Special procedures and damage limits may apply as well.11
The statewide page covers construction accident claims.
Talk With Us
We start by hearing what you were doing when you got hurt. Construction work often depends on a body that's been trained for years, and we want to understand that. If you hire us, the insurers can usually deal with us, and we're honest about your options.
We take cases across South Carolina, including Mount Pleasant and the islands. Our office is on King Street in downtown Charleston. When a saw, lift or nail gun malfunctioned, our page on Mount Pleasant defective product claims may help.
Tell us whose job it was, who else was working there and what went wrong.
South Carolina Law on This
- Most injuries that happen on the job in South Carolina go through the workers' compensation system, which has its own rules, and usually limits suing your own employer.1
- In South Carolina, an employee injured at work may be able to receive workers' compensation benefits and also pursue a personal injury claim against a responsible third party, such as another driver. The workers' compensation insurer may have a right to reimbursement from any settlement or judgment. Special rules and deadlines apply when pursuing both claims.2
- An injured worker in South Carolina generally must tell the employer about a work accident right away, and no later than 90 days after it, to receive workers' compensation, unless an exception applies.3
- A South Carolina workers' compensation claim generally must be filed with the Workers' Compensation Commission within two years after the accident, or after a death it caused. Telling the employer does not count as filing. Occupational diseases and repetitive trauma follow different rules.4
- Different workers' compensation timing rules may apply to repetitive trauma injuries and occupational diseases that develop over time in South Carolina. The date a worker first experienced symptoms is not necessarily the date the filing deadline began.5
- Workers' compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against a covered South Carolina employer for a qualifying workplace injury, although limited exceptions exist. South Carolina's statutory-employer doctrine can extend that immunity to some contractors or other businesses, so they are not automatically third parties simply because they are not the worker's direct employer.6
- Under South Carolina workers' compensation law, a business that hires a subcontractor to perform work that is part of the business's own trade or operations may be considered a statutory employer. When this rule applies, the business can be responsible for workers' compensation benefits for the subcontractor's employees, even though it did not hire them directly.7
- Most personal injury claims in South Carolina must be filed within three years.8
- South Carolina's statute of limitations generally sets the deadline for filing a lawsuit in court. Simply opening a claim with an insurance company or negotiating with an insurance adjuster does not stop the statute of limitations from running.9
- Lawsuits under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act generally must be filed within two years after the loss was or should have been discovered. A three-year deadline may apply if a qualifying verified claim was first filed under the Act.10
- Claims against a South Carolina state or local government agency have their own filing deadline, which can be shorter, and there could be caps on damages under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, depending on the facts of the case.11
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have three years, like other injury claims?
I didn't work there. I got hurt walking or driving past a site on Coleman Boulevard. What then?
My boss told me not to file a claim. What should I do?
Can I talk with you while I'm still laid up at home?
Yes. The first conversation can happen by phone. Our office is on King Street in downtown Charleston if you want to meet later.
Sources
- S.C. Code § 42-1-540
- S.C. Code § 42-1-560
- S.C. Code § 42-15-20
- S.C. Code §§ 42-15-20 and 42-15-40
- S.C. Code § 42-15-40
- S.C. Code §§ 42-1-400, 42-1-540; Keene v. CNA Holdings, LLC, 436 S.C. 1, 870 S.E.2d 156 (2021)
- S.C. Code §§ 42-1-400 through 42-1-420; Keene v. CNA Holdings, LLC (S.C. 2021)
- S.C. Code § 15-3-530
- S.C. Code §§ 15-3-20 and 15-3-530
- S.C. Code §§ 15-78-80 and 15-78-110
- S.C. Code §§ 15-78-110 and 15-78-120
This page is general information about South Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation. Every case depends on its own facts.
