Short answer. Yes. The contractor bears the claims of the workers he employs, and of third persons, for death or physical injuries suffered during the construction. Article 1728 of the Civil Code places this responsibility on the contractor as the person who directs and controls the work, not on the owner who merely ordered it.
What the law says
The contractor is liable for all the claims of laborers and others employed by him, and of third persons for death or physical injuries during the construction.
Civil Code, Article 1728 — Liability for Workers and Third Persons. Read the full provision →
Who the article makes answerable
Article 1728 states plainly that The contractor is liable for all the claims of laborers and others employed by him, and of third persons for death or physical injuries during the construction. The law fixes responsibility on the contractor because he is the one who hires the crew, controls the site and directs how the work is done. An injured laborer therefore looks to the contractor, not to the landowner, for his claim. The phrase and others employed by him reaches beyond those on a formal payroll to anyone the contractor engaged for the job.
Third persons are covered too
The protection is not limited to the contractor's own workers. A passer-by, a neighbour, or a visitor hurt by falling debris or a collapse is a third person within the article and may pursue the contractor for death or physical injuries suffered during the construction. This makes site safety the contractor's concern for everyone around the project, not only his employees. What the article addresses is civil liability for the injury itself; it does not, on its own, decide separately imposed penalties or regulatory sanctions.
What it does not do
The article does not turn the contractor into an insurer of every misfortune unconnected with the work, and it does not by itself erase whatever separate rights an employee has under labour and social-insurance laws, which run alongside it. Nor does it let the contractor shift the burden onto the owner by pointing to the building contract. If you are a worker or a bystander hurt during a construction, keep records of the incident, medical reports and the identity of the contractor, and seek advice promptly, because claims are subject to time limits.
Subcontracting and waivers
Where the work is farmed out to subcontractors, the responsibility does not simply evaporate: the person who engaged and directed the crew that was hurt remains the one the article looks to, and a clause purporting to sign away a laborer's right to claim cannot bind the injured worker himself. The remedy runs in favour of the person harmed, so a private arrangement between contractor and owner allocating blame between them settles matters only as between those two. It does not cut off the worker's or the bystander's own claim, which stands on the article rather than on any contract they never signed.