Garden City Construction Injury Blog

Training in ladder safety can be important for workers in New York. From 1989 to 2005, over 2 million people went to the emergency room because of an accident involving a ladder. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, around two-thirds of ladder accidents are caused by employees who are not adequately trained in ladder safety.

Among the things addressed in ladder safety are where to put the ladder, where to place other equipment and how to maintain and inspect the ladder. OSHA has already issued set standards for how a ladder should be placed, the distance that should be between rungs, the shape of rungs, the rung coating and how far apart the sides should be.

The family of a 44-year-old man who was killed in a construction accident in New York on Nov. 21 has called for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death. The family members, who were joined at a press conference by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, claim that the man was laboring in conditions so unsafe that crane operators refused to work.

The man lost his life after he was struck by falling debris and pinned under a collapsed metal wall. The man's son, who was working at the Bedford-Stuyvesant construction site along with his brother, says that he pulled debris off his badly injured father immediately after the accident and saw that he was dying. He claims that his father should not have been working on a roof that day due to exceptionally strong winds. Adams says that an investigation is warranted to find out if the construction company knew about the unsafe conditions and the crane operators' refusal to work.

The construction industry poses a wide range of hazards to employees. In New York, workers can be at risk for everything from repetitive motion injuries to electrocution to exposure to dangerous chemicals. OSHA has regulations in place to help prevent such accidents. The agency requires employers to provide safe equipment, remove potential hazards and provide safety training.

However, employers, property managers and contractors may fail to implement these regulations. If such negligence leads to an accident, victims may be able to file a construction injury claim. The initial steps are to receive the proper medical treatment and write to the employer reporting the injury. Keeping a copy of all records is essential.

New York state is seriously considering legalizing recreational marijuana. If this occurs, it could result in safety concerns for employers in many different industries. In 2016, more than 4,600 people who worked in the private sector died while on the job. Roughly 20 percent of those who died worked in the construction industry according to the Department of Labor (DOL). In addition, employers are worried that those who fail drug tests will need to be sent home.

This could result in a shortage of available workers who can do their job well and with safety in mind. Ultimately, an employer could lose money or face delays in completing a project. If a worker gets into an accident after using marijuana, it could result in an increase in workers' compensation claims. This added cost could compound the problems caused by a lack of productivity from those who may use the substance outside of work.