Construction Accidents and Other Work Site Injuries - Introduction
New York has special laws to protect workers on construction, demolition and excavation sites. These special laws apply to all workers, including workers from other states or countries who suffer serious construction accident injuries in New York State, such as:
- Falls from ladders or scaffolding
- Burns and electrocution
- Amputation
- Spinal cord injury
- Brain injury
- Excavation accidents
- Crush injuries
- Respiratory injuries
- Loss of vision, hearing, or other sensory organs
- Back injuries
These special laws make property owners and contractors strictly liable for all injuries on the site -- even to workers they do not employ. For example, a landlord cannot escape liability by claiming the property was under a lease and the tenant hired the contractor without obtaining permission from the landlord. The strict liability of these special laws is not based upon fault, but on the need to protect workers.
Some property owners call these special laws harsh. However, these special laws promote the hiring of financially-responsible, safety conscious contractors and subcontractors.
Bringing a case under these special laws does not affect workers' compensation benefits. Workers may collect workers' compensation benefits and still bring a lawsuit to recover their losses. There is no penalty or reduction in benefits.
Under most circumstances, worker negligence is not a defense to these special laws. Property owners and contractors cannot avoid strict liability under them by blaming the worker or anyone else.
Section 240 New York Labor Law
This law requires that every worker be protected from the dangers of falling from heights, or being struck by falling objects not properly secured. If no protective safety devices are provided, or if one is provided but collapses or otherwise fails, the property owners and contractors are 100% responsible. Often, the fact that the accident happened proves that a property owner or contractor violated the law. In these cases, the court will grant a judgment on a motion (in other words find for the injured worker on liability) without the need for a trial.
Section 240 covers work on buildings and man-made structures. This may include bridges, water towers, airplanes, utility poles, boats, locomotives, satellite dishes, roads, piers, large pieces of machinery, boilers, air-handling units and even landfills.
Work covered by this law includes repair, alteration, painting, cleaning or pointing of a building or structure. Therefore, utility and cable television workers repairing transmission lines, HVAC workers replacing air-conditioning units, commercial window washers, maintenance workers installing new fixtures, and cleaning crews in a non-residential setting are all protected by the law.
Contact Powers & Santola, LLP today to schedule a free consultation with an experienced lawyer about any construction accident or construction site injury in New York.
Section 241(6) New York Labor Law
This law requires that all property owners and their contractors provide all workers on construction, excavation and demolition jobs with a safe place to work. The New York Commissioner of Labor has published safety standards at 12 NYCRR 23 of the New York State Industrial Code to protect workers. Property owners and contractors must comply with these safety standards to satisfy this law. They cannot escape liability under this law by assigning their responsibility for these safety standards to someone else. This legal principle is called a non delegable duty. Consider how it protects workers in the following case: A property owner hires an excavation company to dig a trench. One of the excavation company's employees suffers injury when the trench -- which is inadequately shored -- collapses on him. Under this law, the property owner is liable to the injured worker even though the property owner hired the injured worker's employer - the excavation company -- to comply with all applicable safety rules. This law therefore gives property owners and general contractors incentive to hire reputable contractors committed to a safe work environment, and decreases the benefit of hiring contractors with the lowest bid.
Section 241-a New York Labor Law
This law covers workers injured while working in or at elevators, shaftways, hatchways and stairways. It requires that temporary planking be installed, at least on every other floor, to prevent workers from falling, or materials from falling on to workers. All owners of property where the work is taking place, and the contractors they hire, must comply with this law. They are strictly liable for injuries caused by the failure to comply with the law, no matter who contracted to perform the work.
Section 200 New York Labor Law
This law covers anyone with authority to direct or control the work, or with control over the conditions of the work site. It makes them liable to any worker injured by an unsafe condition, tool, or method of accomplishing the work at the worksite. The legislature created the law to make into law earlier court rulings that held that property owners and contractors were responsible for unsafe conditions at a work site.
Click her for additional and more detailed information about these special laws from our article on construction work injury.
