Short answer: If you are hurt on a Utah construction site, workers’ compensation is usually your only claim against your own employer. But construction sites are crowded with other companies, and when someone other than your employer causes the injury, such as another subcontractor, a property owner or the maker of defective equipment, Utah law may allow a separate injury claim against them. Whether a general contractor can be sued turns on a specific statutory test.
Falls from ladders and scaffolds, trench collapses, struck-by injuries from moving equipment and power-tool failures all happen on jobs where several employers share one site. That shared site is what makes these claims different from an ordinary workplace injury.
Workers’ Comp Comes First
Workers’ compensation pays medical care and part of your lost wages without anyone having to prove fault. In exchange, it is the “exclusive remedy” against your employer and its officers, agents and employees for an injury arising out of your employment (Utah Code 34A-2-105(1)). In practice, you generally cannot sue your own employer or a co-worker over the injury.
Report the injury to your employer right away, in writing, and keep a copy. A claim for benefits is barred if the employer or the state’s Division of Industrial Accidents is not notified within 180 days after the injury (Utah Code 34A-2-407(3)).
Who Else Might Be Responsible
When a work injury is caused by the wrongful act or neglect of someone other than your employer or a co-worker, you can claim workers’ comp and also bring an action for damages against that third person (Utah Code 34A-2-106(1)). The statute specifically lists a subcontractor, a general contractor, an independent contractor, a property owner, and a lessee or assignee of a property owner as people who may be sued, as long as they did not have an employer-employee relationship with you and are not treated as “eligible employers” under the statutory employer rules (34A-2-106(4)).
On a construction site, that can mean:
- another trade’s crew that left a floor opening uncovered, knocked out a guardrail or dropped material from above;
- an equipment operator employed by a different company;
- a property owner or developer that controlled a hazard on the site;
- a driver making a delivery who backed into a worker; or
- the manufacturer or seller of a defective scaffold, lift, ladder, saw or nail gun.
A claim against a third party can include losses workers’ comp does not pay, such as pain and suffering and the full measure of lost income. Utah’s comparative fault rule applies: your recovery is reduced by your share of fault, and you recover nothing from a defendant whose fault does not exceed yours (Utah Code 78B-5-818).
The Statutory Employer Question
This is where construction claims get technical. When a company hires a contractor to do work that is part of the company’s own trade or business, and keeps supervision or control over that work, the contractor’s workers and the workers of every subcontractor below it are treated as employees of the original company for workers’ comp purposes (Utah Code 34A-2-103(7)(a)(ii)).
The statute then says when that upstream company, called an “eligible employer,” gets the same exclusive-remedy protection as your direct employer (34A-2-103(7)(f)). Roughly, it qualifies if it:
- actually pays workers’ comp benefits as the original employer because a contractor below it failed to carry coverage; or
- secured workers’ comp coverage for the contractor, or obtained and relied on proof of the contractor’s coverage or a valid coverage waiver, and also adopted, posted and enforced a written workplace accident and injury reduction program at the site.
If a general contractor meets those conditions, it shares the employer’s protection and generally cannot be sued. If it does not, it may be a third party like anyone else. The answer depends on paperwork and site practices, including insurance certificates and the written safety program, so it is worth gathering those records early rather than assuming either way.
Equipment Failures Have a Shorter Deadline
If a defective product caused the injury, the claim against the manufacturer or seller falls under the Utah Product Liability Act, which requires the lawsuit to be brought within two years from when you discovered, or with due diligence should have discovered, both the harm and its cause (Utah Code 78B-6-706). That is half the four years that generally applies to negligence claims.
The equipment itself is the most important evidence. Ask in writing that it be kept as it is, not repaired, thrown out or returned to a rental company. Photograph it, including the model and serial number plates.
How the Two Claims Fit Together
Once the workers’ comp carrier is obligated to pay benefits, it becomes a trustee of the claim against the third party and may bring the action itself (34A-2-106(2)). Before you proceed against a third party, you must give written notice to the carrier and anyone else paying compensation, and you must also tell them in writing of any known attempt to put fault on your employer or co-workers (34A-2-106(3)).
If the third-party claim pays, the statute sets the order (34A-2-106(5)). The costs of the action, including attorney fees, are shared proportionately. The carrier is then reimbursed for what it paid, less its share of those costs. If the combined fault of everyone immune from suit, such as your employer and co-workers, is 40% or more, that reimbursement is reduced in proportion to the fault assigned to your employer’s side. The balance goes to you and is credited against comp benefits that would otherwise come due later. Our post on a car crash while working walks through the same rules in a driving case.
Your employer cannot be sued, but its conduct can still be considered when fault is allocated among everyone involved (34A-2-106(6); 78B-5-818(4)). Defendants on a construction site often point at the employer for exactly that reason.
Safety Reports and Site Records
Utah Occupational Safety and Health (UOSH), the state’s workplace safety agency, or federal OSHA on some sites, may investigate after a serious injury. An inspection file, photographs and any citations can help show what the hazard was and who controlled it. A citation is not automatically proof of fault in a civil case, but investigators’ findings often point in the right direction. Other records worth identifying early include:
- daily logs, site safety plans and toolbox-meeting sign-in sheets;
- subcontract agreements that say who was responsible for guardrails, shoring or fall protection;
- the names of workers from other trades who saw it happen, since they leave when their phase of the job ends; and
- photos and video of the area before it is cleaned up or rebuilt.
Deadlines to Watch
- Notice to your employer: promptly, and no later than 180 days after the injury.
- A negligence claim against a third party: most must be filed within four years (Utah Code 78B-2-307(4)).
- A defective-product claim: two years from discovery of the harm and its cause.
- A public project or government crew: a written notice of claim within one year (Utah Code 63G-7-402).
Our Utah statute of limitations guide covers other deadlines.
Talk to a Utah Injury Attorney
A construction injury can involve a comp carrier, several contractors and their insurers, each with its own interest. We can review who else may be responsible and how a third-party claim would fit with the benefits you are receiving. Our fee is a one-third contingency fee, and the firm advances case costs, which are repaid from the recovery.
Hurt in Utah? Call (801) 921-5134 or send us your case for a free consultation. No attorney fees unless we win. Hablamos Español.