An independent contractor is suing a Lawrence construction company, claiming the business is responsible for a job site fall that badly injured him.

The contractor is in the process of updating his lawsuit against Gene Fritzel Construction Inc. to also add names of individual foremen at the site as defendants, according to the most recent court filings in the case, entered this month.

In his lawsuit, initially filed in October 2016, Spring Hill resident Philip Hansen said he was hired by Fritzel to do trim carpentry work at a house in Mission Hills.

On March 2, 2016, Hansen said he fell 12 feet from the upper portion of a staircase where, at the direction of his superiors, a temporary safety handrail had been removed without warning to him, according to the suit.

Hansen said he suffered “permanent and progressive” injuries in the fall, including a “fallen lung,” eight fractured ribs and a lumbar spine fracture, according to the suit.

Hansen seeks damages in excess of $225,000 in the three-count lawsuit, alleging premises liability and negligence on the part of Fritzel, which ultimately was responsible for safety at the site.

In the company’s answer to the lawsuit, it denied any negligence and legal responsibility for Hansen’s fall that day.