Why high-rise construction carries higher liability risk | Construction Dive
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In a trial, jurors examine whether safety rules were treated as priorities or obstacles, writes a personal injury attorney.
An article from Opinion Why high-rise construction carries higher liability risk In a trial, jurors examine whether safety rules were treated as priorities or obstacles, writes a personal injury attorney. Published April 9, 2026 By Ken Fulginiti Share Copy link Email LinkedIn X/Twitter Facebook Print Add us on Google Getty Images Listen to the article 6 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Ken Fulginiti is a trial lawyer and founder of Philadelphia-based Fulginiti Law. Opinions are the author’s own. Across the United States, skylines are rising again. Cities are converting office towers into residential buildings. Housing shortages are driving mixed-use developments. Urban cores are rebuilding vertically rather than outward. At the same time, the U.S. construction sector has grown to more than 8 million workers, with major cities pushing upward in the search for more space. Ken Fulginiti Courtesy of Fulginiti Law But construction’s vertical expansion carries a stark reality. As America builds upward, the chance of catastrophic injury litigation tied to high-rise construction rises with it. And as opposed to the common practice of project stakeholders pushing risk down to the entity below them, in high-rise construction, risk rises. High-rise construction magnifies risk in ways ground-level projects simply do not. A missing guardrail at ground level can injure someone. At forty stories, it can kill. The Bureau of Labor Statistics dat...
