A worker was killed after he fell at a Manhattan medical center that was under
construction. According to a report in the New York Daily News, the fatal construction accident occurred as witnesses saw the 52-year-old man who was on the 16th floor of the NYU Langone Ambulatory Care Center on East 41st St., fall to the ground the morning of March 5. Officials said the victim was pronounced dead at the scene from trauma throughout the body.
Officials said the victim arrived to work about two hours before the incident and took a hoist elevator that runs outside the building to the 16th floor. The Daily News reported that the victim’s death stunned co-workers who remained in the area for more than an hour consoling one another.
Parts of the medical center building had been completed and opened to patients in 2018. The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) said that the fatal fall was unrelated to the construction that was going on inside. However, the DOB did log one complaint of “nonessential construction work” during the pandemic, but no violations were issued, according to city records. Our thoughts and prayers are with the deceased worker’s family members.
New State Law
A new state law passed last month – New York Senate Bill S1302 – amends previous language about workers expanding the definition of workers, putting more responsibility on contractors to report construction accident fatalities to a state registry. This reporting should include demographic data about victims. The legislation also requires all coroners and medical examiners to report construction accident fatalities within 72 hours to New York State’s Department of Labor, which is tasked with maintaining the registry.
This new law comes at a time when the DOB has announced a “safety blitz” and inspection sweeps at more than 1,100 buildings in the city with facade repair work permits to help prevent scaffolding-related injuries and deaths after a fatality last summer.
Preventing Falls
Falls are the most common cause of construction accident fatalities and injuries. We see many construction work-related injuries that involve demolition work, pointing work, use of scaffolds or ladders, or even due to hand rail and net collapse. These types of accidents and deaths are preventable with the use of personal fall protection systems. A significant amount of construction activity in New York City requires working from heights. Ironworkers, steelworkers, carpenters, masons, laborers or electricians usually need to work by using scaffolds, platforms, ladders etc. to carry out their tasks.
Building owners, managing agents, some contractors and construction companies are required under the law to maintain a workplace that safeguards employees from falling off overhead platforms, elevated workstations or into holes in the floor. OSHA requires that fall protection be provided at elevations of 4 feet in general industry workplaces, 5 feet in shipyards, 6 feet in the construction industry and 8 feet in long-shoring operations. In addition, OSHA requires that fall protection be provided when working over dangerous equipment and machinery, regardless of the fall distance.
Construction companies and contractors, etc. must also take a number of steps to prevent such workplace falls. They are required to provide fall protection including a safety harness, nets, stair railings, handrails, toe board, etc. to protect workers. They must keep floors and work areas in clean and dry condition to prevent slip-and-fall accidents. Workers must also receive safety training in a language they can understand.
Contacting a Construction Accident Lawyer
Construction workers who have been injured in fall-related 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 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
Source: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-nyc-construction-worker-killed-fall-20210226-eus4zopdsffuzgdyg2krykfbci-story.html