Why Are New York's Labor Laws So Important
Our Manthattan construction lawyers know that construction is and always has been a dangerous job. These dagners are greatly increased by unsafe worksite conditions, unsafe conditions and dangerous work practices. To reduce and eliminate needless dangers, New York's Labor Laws and Industrial Code have sought to provide certain minimum safety standards for construction sites. Construction sites are among the most dangerous workplaces in the United States, accounting for a significant portion of occupational injuries and fatalities.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the construction industry has a disproportionate number of workplace injuries and fatalities, with construction-related accidents accounting for nearly 20% of all workplace fatalities in the United States in the last few years. For example, In 2021, there were approximately 1,008 construction fatalities. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics construction workers are injured at rate that iis significantly higher than almost all other sectors. For example, in 2020, construction workers suffered work place injuries at a rate of 3.5 cases per 100 full-time workers, which means that every year on average 3.5% of all construction workers will suffer industrial workplace accidents. Overall construction workers are about 4 times more likely to suffer a serious injury than workers in other industries. In New York City alone, construction-related fatalities accounted for 25% of all workplace deaths in 2022 and a report from the New York City Comptroller found that construction-related injuries increased by approximately 17% over a recent five-year period. In 2022 in Brooklyn alone, there were over 300 reported injuries on construction sites, a significant increase compared to previous years and this probably dramatically understatest the number of accidents since a significant number of construction accidents go unreported. These statistics certainly make the case for keeping New York's Labor Laws in place because, without the ability of construction workers to hold contractors accountable, these numbers would be even more staggering. As is, the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) has reported thousands of violations each year, ranging from minor infractions to severe breaches that can result in injuries or fatalities, including inadequate fall protection. In fact, in 2022, the NYC Department of Buildings issued over 2,700 construction safety violations.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), falls are the leading cause of death in the construction industry, accounting for approximately 33% of all fatalities and approximately about 20% of all fall-related injuries occur from ladders. A study conducted by the Journal of Safety Research found that the injury rate associated with ladder use is around 2.2 per 100 full-time workers, which increases significantly on construction sites. New York Labor Laws exist for a reason. For example, New York's Labor Law 240, also known as the ladder law, requires contractors and owners to provide adequate devices to protect workers from the effects of gravity, which includes both falls and objects falling and hitting them. This law generally requires safe and functional ladders, scaffolds and fall protection. In spite of this law, falls remain the leading cause of fatalities in construction and the most frequent causes are inadequate fall protection and unsafe scaffolding, Obviously if the law were followed, these types of accidents would not occur or atleast would be less frequent.
Another common cause of injuries is workers being struck by falling objects or being hit by moving machinery. Both Labor Law 240 and Labor Law 241(6) have rquirements that are intended to protect workers from these hazards. For example, Labor Law 240 requires adequate hoists and other devices to protect workers from falling objects. Likewise, Labor Law 241 refers to the Industrial Code, which has regulations concerning tag lines when materials are being hoisted to prevent unintended swing, and chutes to be used during demolition so debris isn't just thrown to the ground from a higher level. There are also regulations that are meant to protect workers that are working around excavation equiptment to protect them from being struck by the heavy equipment.
Our New York construction accident lawyers will continue to fight for construction workers who are injured because of contractors and building owners that disobey the law by failing to provide the safety devides that New York's construction workers need to do their job safely or provide unsafe equipement or tolerate unsafe conditions and unsafe work practices.
