What to Do After a Construction Accident Around Summerville
Medical care comes first. A coworker you trust or someone at home can pick up these tasks while you are treated.
- Get to the ER. Call 911, explain to each doctor exactly how it happened on the site, and keep up with therapy and follow-ups.
- Tell the foreman or superintendent. Do it as soon as you can, or have family do it, then send a text or email so there is a dated record.
- Take pictures only if it is safe and allowed. The ladder, scaffold, trench, guardrail or machine involved. Never go into a restricted area or move equipment for a photo.
- List who was working. Your crew, other trades, the general contractor's superintendent and anyone running equipment.
- Set aside the harness or boots you had on. Someone can also send a short written request that the equipment and site logs not be repaired, scrapped or erased.
- Save pay stubs and time sheets.
- Slow down on statements and releases. A lawyer can look at them before you sign.
Job Sites Around Summerville
New subdivisions keep going up around Summerville and out toward Ridgeville, along with schools, medical buildings and warehouses along I-26. Framers, roofers, electricians, equipment operators and road crews all work side by side on those sites, often for several different companies.
Workers' Comp Timing
Most work injuries in South Carolina go through workers' compensation, which has its own rules.1 An injured worker generally must tell the employer no later than 90 days after the accident, and a claim generally must be filed with the Workers' Compensation Commission within two years.4 Injuries that build over time and occupational diseases may follow different timing rules.5 Report it right away instead of waiting.3
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
Claims Against Other Companies
Workers' compensation is generally the only remedy against a covered employer, with narrow exceptions.6 Picture a scissor lift that tips on a warehouse floor off I-26: an employee injured at work may be able to pursue a personal injury claim against a responsible third party, such as the company that built the lift.2
A general contractor or other company on the site is not automatically an outside party. Under South Carolina's statutory-employer rule, some businesses up the chain may share the employer's protection from suit.67 Sorting that out means mapping every company on the site and its role.
Injury Claims and Their Deadlines
A worker may have a comp claim and, in some cases, an injury claim against a third party, each with its own rules.2 Most South Carolina injury lawsuits must be filed within three years, while comp claims generally must be filed within two years.84 The three-year limit applies to filing suit, and an insurance claim does not stop it.9
Suits against state or local government entities generally must be filed within two years, though a qualifying verified claim may extend that to three years.10 Extra procedures and damage caps may also apply.11
More is on our statewide pages about construction injury claims and workers' comp in South Carolina.
Talk With Us
We want to hear what you were doing when you got hurt, and what your trade means to you. If you hire us, the insurers can usually deal with us, and we are honest about your options.
Our office is on King Street in downtown Charleston. We take cases across South Carolina, including Summerville. If a tool or machine failed, see product injury claims around Summerville.
Call and tell us about the site and the companies on it.
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
Can I talk to you without taking a day off to drive downtown?
Yes. The first conversation can happen by phone. Our office is on King Street in downtown Charleston.
Do I have three years like other injury cases?
Not for workers' comp. An injured worker generally must tell the employer right away and no later than 90 days after the accident, and file with the commission within two years.34 Most personal injury claims against someone other than your employer must be filed within three years.8 Two clocks can run at once, so bring both up on your first call.
I don't work there. I was hurt driving or walking past a site.
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.
