When it comes to the most construction site safety violations, Brooklyn has topped the city’s other four boroughs for the second year in a row, according to a new report released by the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB). According to the news site, Brooklynpaper.com, city inspectors issued 26,255 safety violations to construction sites in Brooklyn in 2021 — over 7,000 more than were issued in second-place Manhattan last year.
What the Report Found
Based on DOB’s second annual Construction Safety Report, Kings County saw
the most stop-work orders by far with 4,061 — significantly higher than the 2,562 issued in Manhattan and the 2,460 issued in Queens. Brooklyn had topped both rankings in 2020 as well with 23,916 violations and 4,787 stop-work orders issued. The report states that while the number of safety violations increased in all five boroughs from 2020 to 2021, the number of stop-work orders went down in each borough. The number of violations in Brooklyn increased by about 10% while stop-work orders declined by about 15%.
In 2021, nine people died in construction accidents including three in Brooklyn and three in Manhattan — which were the most fatalities for any borough. All three deaths in Brooklyn were the result of falls. On April 23, 2021, a worker fell 10 feet to the ground from a walkway made of wooden planks on a jobsite while repairing the façade of an apartment building in Flatlands. A month later, on May 27, a 49-year-old worker fell 60 feet to his death while working on the demolition of the Flatbush Savings Bank.
In November, another worker performing asbestos abatement in Gowanus fell through a gap more than a foot wide between the building and support scaffolding. Construction site deaths and injuries went up slightly in 2021. The report says this increase may be because construction work stopped in 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdowns. DOB officials said they are publishing this report on construction safety for the second year so they can better track incidents and understand why they occur. Earlier this year, on Feb. 11, a construction worker fell to his death at a Brooklyn Heights work site.
The Importance of Worker Safety and Fall Protection
While working in the construction industry comes with an inherent amount of risk, there is no question that worker safety must be prioritized and enforced. As New York construction accident lawyers, we have seen a number of injuries and tragic fatalities occurring at worksites that should have been prevented. Oversight on the part of contractors and sub-contractors and lack of proper job and safety training for workers are some of the reasons why these types of accidents occur. The lack of safety equipment, particularly fall safety equipment, can also be particularly dangerous because falls are the leading cause of construction accident deaths.
There are local, state and federal laws that protect workers who have been injured in falls at construction sites. Section 240 of the New York Labor Law is commonly known as the “Scaffolding Law.” This statute governs the use of scaffolding in work sites. It requires contractors, property owners and their agents who erect, demolish, repair, alter, paint or clean a structure to be responsible for providing the necessary equipment, including scaffolding, to keep workers safe from falls on the job.
This law recognizes that falls are one of the most common causes of workplace injuries and that they are preventable. Workers are required to be provided with fall safety devices such as harnesses, safety nets, toe boards guardrails, etc., when they are at a job site. Scaffolds and worksites should also be free of slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall hazards.
Many construction workers in New York City such as ironworkers, steelworkers, carpenters, masons, bricklayers, painters, window washers, and electricians etc. suffer serious or even fatal injuries when they fall from an elevation. A lot of these workers carry out their tasks while on scaffolds, ladders, platforms, etc.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
Construction workers who have been injured in accidents may be eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits, which covers medical expenses and a portion of lost wages. In addition, workers may also be able to file a third-party claim against a negligent (careless) party other than the employer or co-employees for significant monetary damages and have two sources of compensation available for their losses. Examples of third parties include, but are not limited to, general contractors, construction companies, sub-contractors, building owners, managing agents etc.
If you have suffered injuries in a construction-related accident, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
Our law firm recovered $3,375,576 for a construction worker (an undocumented immigrant) who was injured on the job — one of the highest construction case settlements in New York that year. Our law firm also recovered $3,000,000 for a man who fell and suffered two broken legs when he walked into an open elevator shaft. Also, one of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury and/or medical malpractice cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
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1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at: www.WORK4YOULAW.com
Source: https://www.brooklynpaper.com/brooklyn-topped-city-in-construction-site-violations-in-2021-report/