Scaffolds are a common sight in New York City’s construction sites. They are necessary for new building construction as well as for renovations. A number of construction site laborers – from carpenters and ironworkers to electricians and painters utilize scaffolding to get their jobs done. However, data shows that many incidents where construction workers are catastrophically injured or killed tend to be scaffolding accidents. Scaffolds are essentially temporary structures used to support construction crewmembers.
How Commonly Do Scaffolding Accidents Occur?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), an estimated 2.3 million construction workers, or 65 percent of the construction industry, work on scaffolds. Protecting these workers from scaffold-related accidents may prevent some of the 60 deaths and 4,500 injuries that occur each year as a result of these mishaps. In a recent BLS study, 72 percent of workers injured in scaffolding accidents attributed the incident either to the planking or support giving way or to the employee slipping or being struck by a falling object.
In New York City, construction workers make up only 5 percent of the city’s workforce, but account for 27 percent of work-related fatalities. From 2007 to 2014, falls comprised more than half of construction accident fatalities in the city. The most fatal falls, about 25 percent, occurred as a result of scaffolding accidents.
Four Things to Know about the Scaffold Law
1. The Scaffold Law does not apply only to scaffolds. It also includes staging and other devices used by construction workers to do their jobs several feet above the ground. Section 240 of the New York Labor Law is commonly known as the “Scaffolding Law” because it governs the use of scaffolds, staging and other devices that workers use at construction sites. The law was passed in the early part of the 20th Century when the city was going through a major construction boom. The Scaffold Law gives workers the ability to bring civil actions against individuals and/or entities that are responsible for their injury accident.
2. Contractors and building owners face strict liability in scaffolding accident cases. New York courts have historically found contractors and building owners strictly liable for an injury or fatality caused by a fall from scaffolding. The worker or family members of a construction worker killed in a construction accident fall do not need to prove that the general contractor or building owner was negligent. An injured worker’s own negligence will not prevent him or her from recovering damages under the Scaffold Law, unless he or she is 100 percent responsible for the accident. This is what makes these cases different from other types of personal injury lawsuits.
3. New York’s Scaffold Law is currently under attack. Builders, contractors, property owners and property managers would like to see it go away. They argue that it “unfairly allows” workers to recover damages and puts businesses in New York at a disadvantage because many other states don’t have a similar law. However, the Scaffold Law is the only protection for workers, especially non-union workers, from unsafe worksites. Recent statistics also show that safety violations have increased at the city’s construction sites. In such an environment, the Scaffold Law motivates contractors, managing agents and building owners to provide workers with fall safety devices and other protective equipment necessary to do their jobs safely.
4. Scaffolding accidents are preventable. There are several steps that must be taken with regard to scaffolds in construction sites. Construction sites must be properly inspected before the scaffolding is built. Every scaffold should have guardrails, midrails and toeboards to prevent falls. Scaffolds should also be built at least 10 feet away from electrical power lines to prevent electrocutions. Netting should be secured around scaffolds. Workers on scaffolds should be provided with harnesses and other fall protection devices.
Contacting an Experienced 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 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 or a loved one has been injured in a scaffolding 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.
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 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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