Construction accidents are the third most likely cause of work-related injury, after mining and agriculture. Some common causes of construction accident reports include faulty scaffolding, falls from heights, motor vehicle accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning due to faulty gas mechanisms, forklift accidents, electrocution, machinery accidents, and injury due to falling objects.

Construction accident reports must be filed immediately following the injury. A construction accident lawyer should be retained after a report is filed. Both federal and state law may apply. About 27 construction accident attorneys practice in Michigan , who can be found through the State Bar of Michigan, at http://www.michbar.org. The Michigan statute of limitations requires that a suit be filed within three years.

The attorney will gather a list of several possible third party defendants in order to ensure a better chance at winning a settlement. In Michigan , you have three years to file a lawsuit. Any or all of several parties can be held accountable for a construction accident. Depending on the size and sophistication of the construction project, there can be a wide variety of individuals involved at a construction site, including the site's landowner, design and engineering professionals, contractors (including general, "prime," and "sub"-contractors), construction managers, and equipment and material suppliers. While many construction projects are based on general contract relationships (where a general contractor retained by the site owner enters into agreements with sub-contractors as needs require), larger projects are increasingly being handled by "construction management" organizations.

The type of system in place at a construction site where an injury occurs will be an important consideration in assessing the potential liability of the various individuals involved in the project, especially as to the site owner's liability. To determine who may be liable for injuries resulting from a construction accident, the attorney will take a close look at the duties and legal responsibilities of individuals involved in the construction project.

In most cases, in order to collect on an injury claim in Michigan , the person who caused the injury must be found as "negligent". Michigan "comparative negligence" law allows recovery against another party, as long as that party was more negligent. The amount of the recovery will be reduced by a percentage of the amount found to be at fault for the injured party. If more than one party was negligent, each is proportionally responsible to the claimant for their share of the damage that they caused.