The deadliest industry in New York is becoming even more dangerous with injuries caused by construction accidents increasing a hefty 221 percent in the last five years. According to CBS New York, deaths in the construction industry alone increased by 33 percent in the same time period. Just last month, three New York construction workers died […]
Construction Accidents
Government Report Shows Illegal Construction Rampant in New York
A new government report on the construction industry shows serious defects in compliance across the state. Released by Senator James Skoufits, he says the report shows that, “Firefighters are going to die. Tenants are going to die if the state and local officials do not start prioritizing code enforcement.” According to the Senator’s ‘bombshell’ report, the problems […]
New York Troopers Pose as ‘Construction Workers’ and Hand out Tickets
New York police went undercover this month to catch speeding drivers in Westchester by posing as highway construction workers. According to CT Post, the police officers disguised themselves and then staked out work zones on I-684 in what they named “Operation Hard Hat.” The ‘operation’ was apparently successful, with almost 50 tickets issued to drivers in […]
City Revokes Contractors License After Construction Worker’s Death
The Department of Buildings (DOB) is suing to revoke the license of a contractor allegedly responsible for the death of a construction worker earlier this year in Turtle Bay. According to The New York Daily News, Nelson Salinas was working on scaffolding halfway up a 14-story residential building when a coping stone was knocked loose by rigging used […]
Nine Construction Workers Injured in Midtown Manhattan
Carbon monoxide poisoning injured nine workers at a construction site in Midtown Manhattan last month. According to ABC 7 New York, the FDNY responded to a call at a high-rise residential development in Flatiron when several workers complained of feeling dizzy. When the firefighters arrived, the level of carbon monoxide at the construction site tested around […]
Study: Falls Are Most Common Cause of Death for Construction Workers
A new study released by the American Journal of Industrial Medicine showed that falls remain the second leading cause of death for workers across the country. The study showed that falls represented 14 percent of all workplace fatalities in the United States during an 11-year period between 2003 and 2014. Workers with the highest rates of fatal falls were […]
New York Lawmakers to Revisit Scaffold Law
New York lawmakers are revisiting the state’s century-old scaffolding law that requires construction companies to cover the full cost of all workplace injuries. According to The New York Daily News, the recent conversation about reforming New York’s construction safety laws comes at the behest of the Trump administration and the construction industry, which are looking for ways […]
Amid Boom in Construction and Worker Accidents, NYC Construction Safety Law Is Ignored
Concerned over the growing rate of construction accidents, Mayor de Blasio and City Hall passed a new set of safety regulations on the construction industry last year. However, according to a news report this law is being ignored by the construction industry. As the rate of accidents and deaths in the construction industry reach a record […]
Falls Are Second Most Common Cause of Death for American Workers
A new study released by the American Journal of Industrial Medicine showed that falls remain the second leading cause of death for workers across the country. The study showed that falls represented 14 percent of all workplace fatalities in the United States during an 11-year period between 2003 and 2014. Workers with the highest rates of fatal […]
Increasing Concerns Over Worker Safety in New York
Three Metro-North construction workers were injured in March when an iron beam fell off a truck and pinned the workers to the railroad tracks in East Harlem. According to the New York Post, a 2-by-3 foot beam fell on Track 3 at East 100th Street and Park Avenue. All three of the construction workers involved in the […]
Scaffolding Collapse in Brooklyn Injures Construction Worker, Two Pedestrians
Three people were injured in April when scaffolding collapsed near the entrance to the Borough Hall Train Station in Brooklyn Heights. The scaffolding, which was being taken down at the time, left one construction worker with serious injuries and two pedestrians with relatively minor injuries. The company responsible for the scaffolding, New Force Construction Corporation, has previously […]
Increase in Construction Accidents Tied to Non-Union Contracts
Over the last two years, 31 construction workers have died in New York City, an ominous downside to the city’s construction boom. Critics of the lax regulations that have allowed construction sites to become so dangerous point to the decline of unions that once protected workers from hazardous conditions. According to the Department of Buildings, construction injuries increased by […]
Death Toll from Construction Accidents Still High as New Safety Bill Comes into Effect
A construction worker’s death in Chelsea last month marked the ninth construction death in New York City for 2017. The 34-year-old man, Przemyskaw Krawczyk, was standing on the sidewalk next to the building when an anchoring bracket fell on him. According to the New York Daily News, the piece of metal fell over ten stories before striking the man. Krawczyk […]
Two Construction Workers Fall and Die Hours in Separate Accidents, Only Hours Apart
Two construction workers in Manhattan died within hours of each other in two separate accidents in September of this year. In the first accident, two veteran construction workers fell while working on a 62-story mixed use building at 9th Avenue and 33rd Street. The men, both 45-years old, fell out of a bucket lift approximately 35 feet to the ground below. […]
NYC Construction Worker Dies on the Job
A 43 year old construction worker died after an accident at a construction site in Brooklyn on October 11 when a piece of machinery snapped and hit him in the head. The construction worker was operating a pile drilling machine when a shackle from the machine snapped and hit him in the head and left him unconscious. NYPD responded […]
OSHA Implements New Injury Reporting Regulations
In a report released January 2015, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that there were 10,388 severe workplace injuries in 2015; 7,636 of those injuries resulted in hospitalization and 2,644 resulted in amputations. The manufacturing industry has the highest reported accidents, accounting for 57% of all amputations and 26% of all hospitalizations, followed by the […]
Appellate Court Allows Case to Proceed Where Defendant Owner Allegedly Failed to Provide Protective Gear on Construction Site
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department in Montenegro v P12, LLC, 2015 NY Slip Op 05919 [130 AD3d 695] reversed a lower court’s decision granting a defendant’s motion for summary judgment to dismiss a cause of action alleging a violation of Labor Law § 241(6), predicated on 12 NYCRR 23-1.8(a). The plaintiff was employed as a carpenter on […]
Plaintiff Granted Partial Summary Judgment in Labor Law 240 Case
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department granted partial summary judgment to the plaintiff in a ladder / elevation case under Labor Law 240. The plaintiff was an electrician for Atlas-Acon Electric Service who was working on NBC property in New York City. The plaintiff ascended an A-frame ladder in order to replace the ballasts […]
New York Plaintiff Construction Worker’s Case Dismissed for Alleging the Wrong Labor Law Claims
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department dismissed an entire personal injury case because the construction worker plaintiff failed to state any claims in his appeal under which he could be entitled to any relief. The plaintiff was working on a construction site owned by the defendant. The plaintiff stepped on a flatbed trailer that […]
Glass Door Falls on Construction Worker Because of Broken Hinge; Denial of Summary Judgment for Defendant Affirmed by First Department
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department affirmed a trial court’s order denying summary judgment for two defendants after a glass door fell on the construction worker plaintiff. The plaintiff was working at a construction site in New York City. The site was owned by Prudential, and Pinnacle was managing the project. The […]
Construction Company Held Liable for Falling Brick that Hit Construction Worker
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department reversed a trial court order that denied a construction worker plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment regarding a Labor Law 240 (1) claim involving a falling brick. The plaintiff was a construction worker. The defendants were two construction companies working together on a construction project. During a […]
Road Construction Injuries on the Rise
According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics 2010 report, while overall occupational fatality rates have decreased, the number of roadside construction injuries and fatalities have increased over the last decade. A road construction site can occur on a highway, street or bridge. It is generally defined as construction, maintenance or utility work that includes warning signs, barriers, […]
Fourth Department Holds Employer Liable for Unsafe Scaffolding
In its January, 2015 Decision, Bernard & Bernard v. Town of Lysander, 2015 CA 14-00649 ✎ EditSign , the Appellate Division, Fourth Department has reversed an order of the Supreme Court of Onondaga County that denied the plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment relating to a fall that was caused by unsafe scaffolding at a construction site. […]
Fourth Department Rejects Plaintiff’s Appeal of Labor Law Summary Judgment Decision
Late last year, the Appellate Division, Fourth Department affirmed an order by the Supreme Court, Erie County granting summary judgment for the defendants in a Labor Law 240 claim. Plaintiffs had contended that the Supreme Court incorrectly granted the motion for dismissal by the defendants. The underlying complaint involved an accident at a college dorm. […]
Second Department Affirms Summary Judgment in Westchester Labor Law Action
This blog has previously discussed New York State’s Scaffold Act: namely, Labor Law 240. In short, New York’s Scaffold Act mandates that contractors, owners, and managers of construction sites provide appropriate safety devices (often scaffolding, though the law allows for other devices) to their workers when said workers are performing construction or demolition work on a […]