Construction Accidents On The Rise In New York City

This summer has seen a sharp increase in construction accident in New York City. Even a building near our Manhattan office was not immune from danger. In June, while using a crane to lift a 12-ton heating and air-conditioning unit the lines broke lifting the unit, which resulted in two injuries when the unit fell 30 stories to Madison Avenue right outside of our office. Clearly this accident was due to the negligent securing of the unit to the crane because if a load is property secured to a crane, this type of accident simply does not happen.

So far in 2015, there have been ten construction accident fatalities, which is higher than in 2014. Additionally construction accidents have increased by 24% compared to last year. At least two of these construction fatalities in Manhattan occurred because of falls from unprotected heights. In both of these cases, had the worker been provided with proper fall protection, the accident would not have occurred and they would still be alive today. New York’s legislature sought to make sure that New York construction workers have fall protection by enacting Labor Law 240, which requires that workers who work on an elevated worksite have harnesses, life lines and other protection. Our Manhattan construction accident lawyers have successfully litigated and won many Labor Law 240 violation cases.

In another accident an immigrant construction worker was killed in a crane accident, when the boom swung and crushed him between the crane and a truck. Even though regulations prohibit workers from being in the zone of danger these types of accidents are continuing to happen. In Westchester, we have seen a number of these types of accidents with heavy equipment and excavation equipment and our White Plains construction accident lawyers have successfully represented many immigrant construction workers.