Hickory is rewriting its economic identity. For decades, this Catawba County city of 45,000 was defined by furniture manufacturing — Broyhill, Century, Bernhardt, and dozens of smaller makers filled factories throughout the city and the surrounding towns of Conover, Newton, and Maiden. Most of those factories have closed or downsized. What is replacing them is a data center construction boom driven by major technology companies seeking the combination of affordable power, fiber optic connectivity, and available land that the Hickory metro offers. At the same time, many of the old furniture plants are being converted into offices, breweries, and mixed-use spaces. Both types of construction present serious hazards to the workers involved.

If you were injured on a construction site in Hickory or anywhere in Catawba County, workers’ compensation pays your medical bills and a portion of your wages. But it does not pay for pain and suffering, it caps your wage replacement, and it does not account for how a permanent injury will affect your earning capacity for the rest of your career. A third-party claim against the contractor, property owner, or equipment manufacturer whose negligence caused your injury can fill those gaps.

Data Center Construction: Electrical Hazards and Confined Space Risks

The data center corridor developing along the I-40 and US-321 corridors in the Hickory area represents one of the largest concentrations of new industrial construction in western North Carolina. These hyperscale facilities consume enormous amounts of electrical power — a single data center campus can require as much electricity as a small city. Building the infrastructure to deliver, transform, distribute, and back up that power is among the most electrically hazardous construction work in the industry.

Arc flash is the signature electrical hazard in data center construction. When a short circuit or equipment failure occurs in a high-voltage electrical system, the resulting arc flash releases a burst of energy that can reach temperatures exceeding 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Workers in the blast radius suffer severe thermal burns, hearing damage from the pressure wave, eye injuries from the intense light, and respiratory damage from vaporized metal and insulation. Arc flash incidents in data center construction occur during switchgear installation, transformer termination, bus duct connection, and generator commissioning — all tasks that involve working on or near energized high-voltage equipment.

The NFPA 70E standard requires contractors to perform arc flash hazard assessments, establish arc flash boundaries, and provide workers with arc-rated PPE appropriate for the incident energy level at each work location. When an electrical contractor fails to de-energize equipment before work begins, fails to perform lockout/tagout, or provides PPE rated below the actual incident energy level, that contractor bears liability for the resulting injuries. The general contractor who set the schedule that pressured the electrician to work on energized equipment rather than wait for a shutdown window shares that liability.

Factory-to-Office Conversions: Repurposing Furniture Manufacturing Plants

Hickory’s furniture manufacturing heritage left behind dozens of large industrial buildings throughout the city. Many of these structures — built between the 1920s and 1960s — are now being converted into offices, restaurants, apartment complexes, and commercial spaces. This adaptive reuse work combines the challenges of demolition, hazardous material abatement, structural modification, and new construction under a single project, and it creates a layered set of hazards that straightforward new construction does not present.

The structural systems in these old manufacturing plants were designed to support heavy industrial machinery — band saws, planers, sanders, and finishing equipment that weighed thousands of pounds. When those loads are removed, the structure behaves differently than the original engineers intended. Floors designed to carry distributed industrial loads may fail under the concentrated point loads of modern construction equipment. Columns that were adequate when the building was full of machinery may be inadequately braced when the machinery is removed and the building is opened up for renovation. These structural surprises cause collapses that injure workers who had no way to anticipate the failure.

Hazardous materials are pervasive in furniture manufacturing plants. Lacquer, varnish, and stain residues contaminate concrete floors and walls. Asbestos insulation wraps steam pipes and boiler systems. Lead paint coats structural steel and window frames. Sawdust accumulation in wall cavities and above ceilings creates fire and explosion risks during demolition. A contractor who begins demolition without a comprehensive hazardous materials survey is exposing workers to chemicals and substances that can cause immediate injury or long-term disease.

How Hickory’s Industrial Transition Intersects With NC Contributory Negligence

North Carolina’s contributory negligence rule is regularly weaponized in data center and industrial construction cases. The defense theory is that electricians should know better than to work near energized equipment, that confined space workers should recognize atmospheric hazards, and that renovation workers should assume old buildings contain dangerous materials. These arguments attempt to place a duty of self-protection on the worker that the law actually places on the employer and the general contractor.

Countering this defense in the Hickory construction context requires evidence that the worker was directed to perform the task in the manner that caused the injury. An email from the superintendent ordering the electrical crew to keep the switchgear energized during installation. A daily log showing that confined space entry was performed without a permit because the GC did not want to wait for air monitoring. A toolbox talk record showing that the asbestos briefing consisted of a five-minute verbal warning rather than a compliant awareness training session. This kind of documentary evidence transforms the case from a jury question about worker behavior into a clear demonstration of contractor negligence. The deadline for a third-party claim in North Carolina is 3 years. Workers’ comp requires filing within 2 years.

What to Do After a Construction Injury in Hickory

For arc flash injuries, call 911 immediately — these injuries require burn center treatment. Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory provides initial stabilization, but severe burns may require transfer to the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Chapel Hill. For other construction injuries, get to Frye Regional or Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory. Report the injury to your employer in writing. Photograph the electrical panels, confined space entry points, demolition areas, or other conditions that contributed to the accident. Preserve your PPE — it may need to be inspected to determine whether it was rated for the hazard you encountered. Get witness names and contact information. Do not agree to any recorded statement before speaking with an attorney.

How the Law Office of Ryan P. Duffy Helps Hickory Construction Workers

Ryan evaluates construction accident cases throughout Hickory and Catawba County at no charge. Data center electrical injuries, confined space incidents, and factory renovation exposures each demand technical knowledge that goes beyond general personal injury practice. When the facts support a third-party claim, Ryan connects you with a litigation firm that has the engineering expertise and construction industry experience to handle the case. There is no fee to the injured worker for this referral. Ryan remains involved throughout, ensuring you get the representation the complexity of the case requires.