Construction Deaths Spike in Booming Nashville; Some Blame Rogue Subcontractors

Tuesday, May 8, 2018 | 0

Construction deaths in the booming Nashville area have quadrupled in the last two years, and some experts have said it's partly because workers are misclassified as independent contractors, and construction companies aren't held responsible.

In a report by the Tennessean newspaper, attorneys and professors said subcontractors aren't always held accountable for safety or for workers' compensation coverage. Some companies have classed construction workers as independent contractors, not as employees who are due benefits and protections.

“That happens all the time, but that doesn’t mean that the person is correctly classified," Karla Campbell, a Nashville attorney who represents workers, said in the report. “If the general contractor or owner is not checking on that, it’s really easy to game the system.”

Courts around the country, as well as federal regulations, have ruled that general contractors can be held liable for subcontractors' actions in some circumstances. But "subs of subs" may be more difficult to pin down, especially in a booming housing market with transient employers and workers, some said.

"If there’s a guy with a pickup truck and his one employee, he can disappear into the vapor,” said Fran Ansley, a retired University of Tennessee law professor. "There is always somebody up the food chain. Figuring out ways to make them responsible is really important.”

The news report showed that safety inspections by Tennessee regulators have declined in the last decade, but rose slightly from 2016 to 2017. Construction deaths in Nashville went from two in 2013 and 2014 to eight in 2016 and eight in 2017.