Worker Safety in Winter: Know Your Rights in Frigid and Icy Conditions

Winter brings more than just cold temperatures — it creates dangerous working conditions for workers across many industries. Snow, ice, freezing rain, and subzero temperatures significantly increase the risk of on-the-job injuries, especially for workers who spend time outdoors or travel as part of their job.

Construction workers, delivery drivers, warehouse employees, utility workers, healthcare staff, and many others are expected to keep working despite hazardous winter weather. When employers push productivity while conditions worsen, injuries often follow. The good news is that injured workers have important legal rights.

Workers’ Compensation Coverage for Winter-Related Injuries

If you are injured on the job due to snowy, icy, or frigid conditions, you may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. In most cases, fault does not matter — if your injury happened while performing your job duties, workers’ compensation should cover you.

Workers’ compensation benefits may include:

• Medical treatment related to your injury.
• Disability benefits for total or partial lost wages due to the injury.
• Compensation for permanent injuries or disability.

Winter-related workplace injuries commonly include:

• Slip-and-fall injuries on icy job sites or parking lots, even your employer’s premises, due to ice and snow that was not timely or properly cleared by a contractor.
• Frostbite and cold exposure injuries.
• Back and joint injuries from lifting or slipping in the snow.
• Head injuries from falls on ice.
• Motor vehicle injuries for employees driving in hazardous conditions.

Even injuries that seem minor at first can worsen over time, especially in cold-weather accidents.  Be sure to report your injury right away and get much-needed medical treatment.  

When Someone Other Than Your Employer Is Responsible

While workers’ compensation protects employees, it often limits the ability to sue your employer directly. However, many winter workplace injuries involve negligence by a third party — someone other than your employer — and those cases can open the door to additional compensation.

Examples of third-party winter injury cases include:

• A delivery driver injured on an icy property owned by another company or homeowner.
• A construction worker was hurt due to unsafe conditions at a job site controlled by a different contractor.
• A worker injured in a motor vehicle accident caused by a negligent driver.
• An employee hurt by defective equipment that failed in extreme cold.

Third-party claims can allow injured workers to pursue damages beyond workers’ compensation, including lost wages, pain and suffering, and other losses not covered by the workers’ compensation system.

Winter Injuries Can Change Lives

Cold-weather injuries often lead to prolonged recovery, missed work, and financial stress. Workers may feel pressure to return too soon or may not realize the full extent of their rights. That’s why having experienced legal guidance matters — especially when both workers’ compensation and third-party claims may be involved.

Nearly 80 Years of Standing With Injured Workers

For almost 80 years, Galfand Berger has helped injured workers navigate some of the most difficult moments of their lives. We understand the physical, emotional, and financial toll that winter workplace injuries can cause. Our attorneys carefully evaluate each case to ensure injured workers receive every benefit and form of compensation available under the law.

We guide our clients through the workers’ compensation process, investigate potential third-party liability, and fight to hold all responsible parties accountable. You focus on healing — we handle the rest.

This case is just one example of our firm standing tough for injured workers. Our clients, turnpike workers, were seriously injured when a tractor-trailer traveling too fast for icy, snowy conditions hit black ice and lost control. The truck jackknifed, striking one worker who was inside his vehicle, while the other—who was assisting a disabled motorist on the roadside—was hit by flying debris. We secured a $1.75 million recovery for our clients.  Read more about the case here.

Help Is Available This Winter – Call Galfand Berger LLP

If you were injured at work due to snow, ice, or freezing temperatures, you do not have to face the system alone. Winter weather is unavoidable, but unsafe working conditions and negligence are not.  Call Galfand Berger LLP for a free consultation at 1-800-222-8792 or email us at [email protected]. Our firm is here to protect your rights, answer your questions, and stand by your side — just as we have done for injured workers for nearly eight decades.