2018 has been a fruitful year for the Big Apple’s construction industry. From January to May, New York had a building boom and had activity worth over $15 billion, which is almost double the amount of the second place in construction starts, Dallas-Fort Worth.
Unfortunately, the extra amount of money and projects the state had in 2018 also saw an increase in construction accidents and fatalities. The New York City Department of Buildings recently put out the state’s monthly accident details from January to July of this year to examine how much more fatalities the state is experiencing this year.
How bad is it?
The Department of Buildings confirmed that the state saw over an 18 percent increase in accidents from 2017 to 2018. There were around 457 reported accidents and 469 injuries in the first seven months of the year. One of the most common causes of injuries is falling debris, which the Department of Buildings claims has injured at least 50 people this year.
Out of the boroughs, Manhattan had the most amount of accidents with 248 accidents, 253 injuries and 4 deaths. Brooklyn certainly was not lacking in any incidents either. There were 107 accidents and one death that occurred back in March when a worker fell off a scaffold after accidentally releasing loose ceiling jolts.
What is being done?
In an effort to minimize the amount of injuries and deaths, the city proposed to increase the amount of training hours workers or require apprenticeship programs that workers must take before beginning their jobs. It has been met with mixed reception between the union and non-union workers. The city also now requires site safety coordinators for projects between 10 to 14 stories and site safety managers for 15 story or 100,000 square feet buildings.
Whether or not this will have an impact on decreasing the accident and fatality count is unknown. This industry still has some of the most dangerous jobs in the city and this report demonstrates that the accidents show no sign of slowing down. With how damaging a construction accident can be for you or a loved one, it is important to know your legal options so you can gain coverage for your medical expenses.
