Both federal regulations and New York State laws require construction workers in
New York to be provided with personal protective equipment or PPE, which can help minimize their exposure to dangers in the workplace. However, site owners/managers, some contractors and other parties tend to be lax about making sure that workers on their project have the protective equipment they need such as hard hats, work gloves, respirators, safety goggles, ear plugs, etc.
Sadly, workers suffer a number of serious, even catastrophic or life-changing injuries as a result of construction accidents. Many such accidents and resulting injuries may have been prevented had the workers involved been provided with personal protective equipment. If you have been injured on the job because of the failure of a contractor, construction company or another responsible party to provide you with proper personal protective equipment, you can file a construction injury lawsuit to seek compensation for your injuries, damages and losses.
What Does the Law Say?
New York has labor laws, which offer mandatory protections to workers. New York’s Labor Law 241 serves as a comprehensive safety law for construction workers. It essentially requires site owners, contractors, managers and other applicable parties to follow provisions to protect employees. The regulations under Section 23¬–1.8 state that if workers are furnished with damaged personal protective equipment, or if they weren’t given protective equipment at all, and were injured in a construction accident, they may have grounds for a construction accident lawsuit.
Section 23 also mandates that site owners, contractors, managers and other applicable parties ensure that workers are provided with the following protective equipment at construction sites:
Eye protection: The law states that eye protection such as safety goggles be provided for all workers performing activities including, but not limited to, welding, cutting, chipping, grinding or other activities where particles or debris may fly and potentially injure the worker’s eyes. These types of safety equipment must also be properly cleaned and disinfected before being transferred from one worker to another.
Respirators: If the worker’s job requires a respirator, they should be provided with one that is approved for the type of the operation and the specific air contaminant present. The respirator must be kept in a proper working condition including performing a daily inspection, cleaning and weekly disinfection.
Ear protection: Construction sites are often noisy and such noise has the potential to affect workers’ hearing. Construction workers should be provided with ear protection. At a minimum, workers should be provided with industrial-grade earplugs. Regular earplugs simply do not block enough to protect the ears against the noise level found at a construction site. As a rule, the most effective earplugs are custom-made to fit the worker’s ear.
Head protection: Head injuries are also extremely common at construction sites. Approved safety hats must be provided to any person working in or even passing through an area where there is a danger of bumping one’s head or being struck by falling objects or materials. Such accidents may result in catastrophic brain injuries that prevent victims from returning to work or making a livelihood.
Foot protection: Any person who is working in water, mud, or other wet spaces must be provided with waterproof boots, pullover boots, etc. to protect his or her feet. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) states that workers must be provided with protective footwear where there is a danger of foot injuries due to falling or rolling objects, or objects piercing the sole, or even electrical hazards.
A victim who has been injured in a construction accident, in addition to workers’ comp, may be able to file a third-party lawsuit for substantial money damages against a number of parties, and thus have two sources of compensation. Third-party claims are filed against parties other than the employer or co-employees and may include general contractors, sub-contractors, building owners, managing agents, construction companies, etc. In cases where a worker dies from injuries suffered on the job, surviving family members may seek death benefits through workers’ compensation and/or file a wrongful death claim against a third party.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
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.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at: www.WORK4YOULAW.com