According to the complaint by the U.S. Attorney, the contractor is accused of failing to protect his workers from fall hazards and causing injuries resulting in an employee’s death in February 2022 in the Rockland County village of New Square, about eight miles north of Nanuet. Another worker of the roofing contractor died at a construction site in 2019. The one count carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
OSHA has already cited this company multiple times for violating safety regulations, which they said caused fatal construction accidents. From 2019 to 2023, OSHA conducted eight investigations for the contractor’s worksites including 24 willful citations and 16 serious concerns. U.S. Attorney General Damian Williams said the contractor’s conduct should serve as a reminder that employers are responsible for keeping their workers safe.
Williams said the defendant endangered the safety of his workers by disregarding regulations and failing to ensure his employees used fall protection systems. The deceased worker and three other employees of the firm were installing a roof on a three-story multi-family apartment building in New Square when the incident occurred, reports stated. In the complaint, officials said the workers climbed up a ladder to the roof. One of the men fell 30 feet off the roof shortly after and died from injuries sustained in the fall.
The complaint notes that while the worker was wearing a safety harness, it was not attached to the D-ring on the back of the harness that would have tethered him to the roof. The complaint also said there were anchors on the roof to attach a rope that had not been used in this roofing accident. Another employee of the firm who died in February 2019, slipped off a new construction home’s roof in Kiamesha Lake, N.Y., and fell 35 feet to the ground, dying from his injuries. In that case, the man was not wearing a safety harness, OSHA determined. The firm settled and agreed to pay a penalty in that case.
Construction workers in New York, including roofers, are covered by Section 240 of the New York Labor Law, which charges construction companies, contractors and other parties with the responsibility of providing workers with proper fall protection while constructing, demolishing, remodeling or doing other types of work such as roofing on structures. This law assigns strict liability for accidents to the parties responsible for assigning and managing the work.
In addition, fall protection must be provided when working over dangerous equipment and machinery, regardless of the fall distance. This type of personal protective equipment should be provided at no cost to workers. Construction workers should also receive proper job training, safety training and adequate supervision on the job.
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. Typically such workers perform their tasks while on roofs, scaffolds, ladders, platforms, etc. Workers who fall off of a roof may suffer devastating head injuries, multiple broken bones or even paralysis as a result of spinal cord trauma. Construction accident injuries can also be fatal.
Victims injured in falls can bring civil actions against the construction company, contractor and property owner/manager, etc. responsible for the safety of the jobsite. A construction accident victim can seek workers’ compensation benefits from his or her employer. In addition, workers and their families 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.
If you have suffered injuries in a fall accident or 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, lead poisoning and medical malpractice cases including, brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) and cerebral palsy 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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Source: https://www.roofingcontractor.com/articles/98522-roofer-charged-with-federal-safety-violation-following-employees-death