Construction Site Accident Investigations in Irving, Texas

At Dashner Law Firm | Irving Injury & Accident Attorney, we handle construction accident cases across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and one question I hear from injured workers and their families more than almost any other is: who actually investigates what happened? It’s a fair question — and the answer is more complicated than most people expect. Multiple parties can investigate the same incident, often with very different goals. Understanding that distinction early can protect your legal rights.

Irving sits at the heart of one of the most active construction markets in the country. The Las Colinas corridor, the ongoing infrastructure expansion around DFW Airport, and commercial development along State Highway 183 keep job sites running around the clock. More activity means more exposure, and more accidents. In 2026, that reality continues to hit workers hard.

I’m Geoffrey Dashner, and I’ve spent years representing seriously injured construction workers in Texas. What I want to walk you through in this post is not just who investigates these accidents — but what each investigation actually looks for, how those findings affect your claim, and what steps give you the best chance at fair compensation.

Who Conducts Accident Investigations on a Construction Site in Texas in Irving?

When a serious injury or fatality occurs on a construction site in Irving, Texas, multiple entities have the authority — and in some cases the legal obligation — to conduct an investigation. They don’t all work together, and they don’t all want the same things.

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is typically the first federal body involved. Under 29 CFR 1904.39, employers must report any work-related fatality to OSHA within 8 hours, and any in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours. When those thresholds are met, OSHA compliance officers can arrive on-site to inspect conditions, interview workers and supervisors, collect documentation, and issue citations. The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation also plays a role in workplace injuries, particularly when workers’ compensation claims are filed. Texas is unique because it does not mandate workers’ comp coverage for private employers, which changes the dynamics significantly.

The general contractor almost always conducts its own internal investigation. This is not a neutral process. Their safety manager or risk management team is gathering information to protect the company from liability, not to help you build a case. I’ve seen internal reports that characterize a preventable fall as “worker error” within 48 hours of the incident, before any engineering analysis was done.

The property owner may investigate separately, especially when the site involves a large commercial or public project. They have their own liability exposure and their own counsel.

Insurance carriers for the contractor, subcontractor, or property owner will also deploy adjusters — sometimes within hours of a serious accident. These adjusters are experienced at collecting statements and preserving evidence favorable to their insured. If an insurance adjuster contacts you before you have legal representation, I strongly advise not giving a recorded statement.

Irving Police Department responds when there’s a fatality or when criminal negligence may be a factor. In those cases, the Irving PD’s investigation runs parallel to OSHA’s and can include evidence collection, witness interviews, and referrals to the Dallas County District Attorney’s office.

Finally, independent investigators hired by injured workers’ attorneys play a critical role. When I take a construction injury case, one of the first things our team does is retain a certified accident reconstructionist or construction safety expert. We document conditions before the site is cleaned up, preserve surveillance footage before it’s overwritten, and secure witness accounts while memories are fresh. That independent investigation often tells a very different story than the employer’s version.

What Causes Construction Accidents in Texas?

Texas has one of the largest construction workforces in the nation. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the construction industry consistently accounts for more fatal work injuries than any other sector, and Texas regularly leads all states in total construction fatalities.

The causes vary by site type and trade, but certain patterns repeat. Fall protection failures are the most persistent problem. OSHA’s data shows that falls from elevation — scaffolding, ladders, roofs, open floor edges — account for roughly one in three construction fatalities nationally. On multi-story commercial projects in the DFW area, I’ve handled cases where safety netting wasn’t installed at all, where scaffold guardrails were missing on upper levels, and where workers were directed by supervisors to skip harness gear to work faster.

Struck-by accidents are the second leading cause of construction fatalities in Texas. This includes workers hit by swinging crane loads, unsecured materials falling from height, and vehicles operating in poorly marked zones. In dense job sites like those near Irving’s urban core, spotters and traffic control plans are frequently inadequate.

Electrocution kills construction workers with grim regularity. Contact with overhead power lines, unprotected exposed wiring, and equipment used near energized sources all contribute. Caught-in/between accidents — workers pulled into machinery, crushed between equipment and a fixed object, or buried in a trench collapse — round out what OSHA calls the “Fatal Four.”

Beyond the Fatal Four, heat-related illness has become a growing cause of serious injury and death in Texas. Summer temperatures on Irving job sites regularly exceed 100 degrees. Texas adopted emergency heat rules in 2024, but enforcement is inconsistent and employer compliance varies widely.

Most Common Construction Accidents in Texas

Falls remain the most frequent serious injury event. But beyond falls and the Fatal Four categories, several other accident types show up repeatedly in our caseload.

Scaffolding collapses cause catastrophic injuries. Scaffolding must meet specific OSHA standards under 29 CFR 1926.450–454, including load ratings, planking requirements, and fall protection at heights above 10 feet. When contractors rent scaffolding from third parties and fail to inspect it properly, the liability can extend to multiple parties.

Forklift and heavy equipment accidents are common on large commercial sites. Operators without adequate training, equipment with compromised visibility, and sites where pedestrian and vehicle traffic share the same paths create predictable outcomes.

Tool and equipment malfunctions produce a significant number of hand and arm injuries — including amputations. When the equipment itself is defective, a Texas Product Defect & Liability claim against the manufacturer may run alongside the general negligence claim.

Trench and excavation collapses can be fatal within seconds. OSHA requires protective systems for trenches deeper than 5 feet, but violations are common, especially on smaller subcontractor crews operating under deadline pressure.

I’ve also handled cases involving traumatic brain injuries from falling objects — a worker below a crew doing overhead work, no hard-hat use by the crew above, and a dropped tool traveling 30 feet. The CDC identifies traumatic brain injury as a leading cause of construction fatality and long-term disability. The Mayo Clinic notes that even moderate TBI can produce lasting cognitive and physical effects that permanently alter a worker’s ability to return to their trade.

How Many People Are Injured in Construction Site Accidents Each Year?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that across the U.S. construction industry, over 160,000 nonfatal injuries requiring days away from work occurred in the most recent full reporting year. Texas accounted for a disproportionate share given its workforce size and the lack of mandatory workers’ compensation coverage, which affects how thoroughly injuries are documented and reported.

In Texas specifically, the construction sector has seen annual fatality counts ranging from 175 to over 200 in recent years. These are the deaths that get reported. Nonfatal injuries — fractures, crush injuries, amputations, burns, and spinal damage — number in the tens of thousands annually. Many go underreported because workers fear job loss or don’t know their rights.

The underreporting problem is real. I’ve talked with workers who waited weeks before seeking medical care because their foreman told them to “walk it off.” By then, the physical evidence was gone and no incident report existed. That gap hurts both their health and their legal options.

Who Is Responsible in a Construction Accident in Texas?

Texas construction sites operate under layered relationships — property owners, general contractors, subcontractors, equipment suppliers, and staffing agencies may all be on the same site. Responsibility for an injury can fall on one or several of these parties depending on who controlled the conditions that caused the accident.

General contractors bear substantial responsibility under Texas law. The Texas Supreme Court has addressed in multiple cases how a general contractor’s retained control over the worksite affects their duty of care. If the GC directed the work, set safety protocols (or failed to), and supervised operations, they can face direct negligence liability.

Subcontractors are responsible for the safety of their own crews and equipment. If a subcontractor’s employee causes an injury to someone from a different trade on the same site, that subcontractor faces exposure.

Property owners have a premises liability duty under Texas law to warn contractors of known hazards that are not obvious. Our Texas Premises Liability page covers how that standard applies in different contexts.

Equipment manufacturers can be held liable when a product defect contributes to the accident — a defective safety harness, a crane with a known design flaw, or scaffolding components that fail at rated loads.

Because Texas does not mandate workers’ comp coverage for private employers, many construction workers are in a position to file a direct negligence lawsuit against the employer. Workers employed by companies that do carry workers’ comp coverage may still have third-party claims against non-employer parties. Both paths deserve careful analysis.

How to Determine Fault in a Construction Accident in Texas?

Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule under Chapter 33 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. A plaintiff can recover damages as long as they are not more than 50% responsible for their own injury. Their recovery is reduced by their percentage of fault. That means the other side’s lawyers will work hard to assign as much fault as possible to the injured worker.

Determining fault requires evidence, and evidence disappears fast. I’ve had cases where critical surveillance footage was overwritten within 72 hours because no one made a timely preservation demand. Witness accounts become less precise with every week that passes. Physical conditions on job sites get altered or repaired quickly after accidents.

The investigation I described at the top of this post is how fault gets established. We look at OSHA violation records for the employer, safety meeting logs, training documentation, equipment inspection records, and contracts between the GC and subcontractors to determine who actually controlled the conditions that led to the injury.

Expert testimony matters enormously in these cases. A certified construction safety professional can testify about what standard industry practice required at that specific site and where the actual parties deviated from it. A biomechanical engineer can explain the forces involved in a fall or a struck-by incident. Medical experts establish the nature and permanence of the injuries.

FindLaw and Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute both offer accessible overviews of comparative negligence principles that injured workers may find useful for background. But the application to a specific set of facts in a Texas construction case requires a lawyer who knows this litigation well.

One mistake I see injured workers make is giving detailed statements to any investigator — including the employer’s safety manager — before speaking with their own attorney. Those statements become evidence. They get picked apart in depositions years later. Saying less early and getting proper counsel first protects you.

What Compensation Is Available After a Construction Accident?

Depending on the facts and which parties are liable, injured construction workers in Texas may be able to recover compensation for medical expenses (past and future), lost wages, lost earning capacity, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement, and physical impairment. In cases involving egregious conduct — a contractor who knew about a dangerous condition and concealed it, for instance — punitive damages may also be available.

Wrongful death claims are available to surviving family members when a construction accident is fatal. Our Texas Wrongful Death practice handles these cases, which involve separate procedural rules and distinct categories of recoverable damages.

The American Bar Association notes that personal injury cases involving complex liability — exactly what construction accidents represent — benefit significantly from early legal representation. Cases with attorneys involved from the beginning consistently produce better outcomes than those where the injured party tries to negotiate with insurance companies on their own.

You can read through what our Irving clients say about working with our firm and see examples of the results we’ve obtained. You can also learn more about our team and our background handling serious injury cases across Texas.

Talk to a Construction Accident Lawyer Before the Evidence Disappears

If you or someone in your family was injured on a construction site in Irving or anywhere in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the clock starts moving the moment the accident happens. OSHA investigations open and close. Employers repair conditions. Footage gets deleted. The parties most responsible for your injuries are already protecting themselves.

Dashner Law Firm | Irving Injury & Accident Attorney represents seriously injured construction workers and their families throughout Texas. We handle cases on a contingency basis — you pay nothing unless we recover for you. Our team can move quickly to preserve evidence, identify all liable parties, and build the kind of documented case that gets taken seriously.

You can also visit our broader Texas construction accident attorney page for more on how these cases work statewide.

Call us today at (972) 635-4460 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation. Our office is located at 4500 Fuller Dr, Irving, TX 75038. We serve clients throughout Irving, Dallas, Fort Worth, and across Texas.

Written by Geoffrey Dashner. Read more about the author.