“Very thankful for everything they did for us. Always responsive, reassured us every step of the way and obtained a great result.”
Miguel Orellana
✦ Board-Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law — State Bar of California ✦
Construction is California’s most dangerous industry. When you’re injured, experience matters.
By Eman Yazdchi, Esq. · Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law
Lancaster is in the middle of a sustained construction boom. Residential developments push east toward the desert, utility-scale solar farms require massive infrastructure along the Avenue I and Avenue K corridors, commercial projects reshape the BLVD downtown district on Lancaster Boulevard, and road widening and utility upgrades run along 10th Street West, Division Street, and Sierra Highway. Every one of these projects puts construction workers at risk. Nationally, construction accounts for one in five workplace fatalities — and Lancaster's combination of extreme desert heat, rapid development timelines, and a heavy reliance on subcontractors and day laborers makes those statistics worse, not better.
The construction injuries we handle at our Palmdale office — 12 miles south on the 14 Freeway — are among the most severe in our practice. Falls from roofing trusses on two-story residential builds, electrocution from contact with overhead power lines during solar farm site prep, crush injuries in unshored trenches along new utility corridors, and heat stroke on exposed jobsites where temperatures exceed 110 degrees. These are not abstractions — they are injuries happening to Lancaster workers right now.
Construction injury claims carry unique legal advantages that standard workers' comp claims do not. If your employer violated Cal/OSHA safety regulations, you may qualify for a 50% penalty increase on your permanent disability under LC §4553. If someone other than your direct employer caused the injury, you may have a third-party civil lawsuit for full damages. Attorney Eman Yazdchi evaluates every Lancaster construction injury for both workers' comp and third-party liability to maximize your total recovery.
OSHA identifies four hazard categories responsible for the vast majority of construction fatalities nationwide. All four are present on Lancaster construction sites, and Cal/OSHA's Title 8 regulations impose specific safety requirements for each.
Falls account for more than a third of all construction fatalities. On Lancaster residential sites where two-story homes go up rapidly on the east side, workers are routinely on roof trusses, scaffolding, and elevated platforms. Cal/OSHA Title 8 §1669-1672 requires fall protection at any height above 7.5 feet — guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall arrest systems. When we investigate Lancaster fall injuries, we frequently find missing harnesses, unsecured scaffolding, and guardrails removed for "convenience" and never replaced.
Workers hit by falling objects, swinging crane loads, moving vehicles, and rolling equipment. On Lancaster solar farm construction sites where heavy steel racking, concrete piers, and transformers are moved by crane and forklift, struck-by hazards are constant. Proper barricading, hard hat enforcement, spotter protocols, and crane operation safety zones are required but frequently ignored when subcontractors rush to meet installation deadlines along the Avenue I corridor.
Contact with live power lines, faulty wiring, and improper grounding. Lancaster's expanding solar infrastructure means construction crews regularly work near energized electrical systems. Workers performing site preparation, trenching for conduit, and mounting inverter stations face electrocution risk when lockout/tagout procedures are not followed. Overhead power line contact during crane operations along Lancaster's utility corridors is another frequent hazard.
Workers caught in unprotected machinery, crushed between equipment, or buried in unshored trench collapses. Cal/OSHA requires shoring, sloping, or shielding for any trench deeper than five feet. Lancaster's expanding utility and solar farm infrastructure involves extensive trenching for electrical conduit, water lines, and drainage — and trench collapses on these sites can be fatal within minutes.
Under LC §4553, if your employer's serious and willful misconduct caused your injury, your permanent disability benefits increase by 50%. This is not a theoretical penalty — it applies when an employer knew about a specific safety hazard and deliberately failed to correct it. A Lancaster construction company that removes guardrails from an elevated platform to speed production, ignores repeated complaints about unshored trenches, or fails to implement a heat illness prevention plan despite 110-degree temperatures is engaging in conduct that qualifies. We document Cal/OSHA violations, safety complaints, and prior incident reports to build serious-and-willful claims for Lancaster construction workers.
Workers' comp limits your recovery to statutory benefits — it does not include pain and suffering or full lost wages. But if someone other than your direct employer caused your injury, you may have a third-party civil lawsuit for complete damages. On Lancaster construction sites, third-party defendants commonly include general contractors who controlled site safety, property owners who failed to address known hazards, equipment manufacturers whose defective products caused the injury, and other subcontractors whose negligence created dangerous conditions. We evaluate every Lancaster construction case for third-party liability.
Injured at work in Lancaster? Call (661) 273-1780
Tap to call →Lancaster construction injury cases are heard at the Van Nuys WCAB at 6150 Van Nuys Blvd. Serious-and-willful misconduct petitions under LC §4553, which increase PD benefits by 50%, are litigated at the same office. These petitions require specific evidence of employer knowledge and deliberate failure to correct hazards.
Antelope Valley Hospital ER on 25th Street West handles trauma from construction site falls, crush injuries, and electrocution. For serious injuries, employers must report to Cal/OSHA within 8 hours. Call 911 for any life-threatening construction accident.
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