Construction produces the most serious claims of any California industry — falls above all — and the system has three levers built for the jobsite: a heavy-trade rating premium, a penalty for safety misconduct, and a fund for uninsured employers. Here’s each, with the ratings computed by the engine.
The heavy-trade premium
The schedule’s occupational step pays the trades at or near the top for the injuries that end careers. Engine-computed at the 2026 maximum, age 37–41:
Falls stack injuries — a scaffold fall is routinely a spine plus a wrist plus a knee, and they combine on the CVC rather than add. Amputations from saws and pinch points carry their own page.
§4553 — the serious-and-willful half
Where the injury was caused by the employer’s serious and willful misconduct — the guardrail that was removed, the trench that was never shored, the hazard management knew and ignored — Labor Code §4553 increases compensation by one-half. It is pled separately from the ordinary claim, cannot be insured against, and is paid by the employer directly. Cal/OSHA citations for the same conditions often mark the trail.
No insurance ≠ no claim
Construction runs on subcontract chains, and uninsured subs are everywhere. When an illegally uninsured employer doesn’t pay, the Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund steps in, and the state chases the employer. Relatedly, the 1099 label doesn’t decide coverage — the same employment tests as in trucking apply, and misclassified construction workers who are employees in substance are covered.
The rest of the file
Standard TD applies while healing (construction wages often hit the cap — the what-comp-pays page shows where it bites), CT claims for the worn-out spine run on §5412 clocks, and every rating above is checkable against the schedule with the decoder. Estimates for informational use; not legal advice.