A 59-year-old worker suffered fatal injuries in a construction accident after falling two stories from scaffolding at a sugar factory development in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. According to a DNAinfo.com report, the incident occurred when the man fell from a work elevator at the sixth floor of 325 Kent Avenue, which is slated to become a 16-story apartment building with 104 housing units. The man landed on a fourth floor ledge. He was reportedly wearing a harness, but was not tied or clipped into a hook that prevents falling.
Fellow workers said the man, who was installing façade for subcontractors at the sites, suffered major head injuries. He was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. The victim who died was an immigrant from Ecuador. This is apparently not the first accident at that worksite. In July, another worker fell down a staircase at the site and suffered head and shoulder injuries, according to the New York City Department of Buildings’ website. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of this deceased worker.
NYC Construction Accidents
This worker’s death is the thirteenth construction accident death in the city this year. Eleven out of the 13 construction fatalities occurred at non-union sites, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which is investigating this incident. In 2015, of the 18 construction worker fatalities in New York City, 83 percent occurred on non-union sites.
According to OSHA’s statistics, out of 4,386 worker fatalities in private industry in the year 2014, 899 or 20.5 percent were in construction. That means, one in five worker deaths that year were in construction. In 2014, falls caused 359 out of 899 deaths in the construction industry (39.9 percent).
The Importance of Fall Protection
Falls are among the most common causes of serious work-related injuries and deaths. Construction company owners and/or managers and contractors have a responsibility to make their worksites safer and should take steps to prevent workers from falling off of overhead platforms, elevated workstations or into holes in the floor and walls. OSHA requires that fall protection be provided at elevations of 4 feet in general industry workplaces, 5 feet in shipyards, 6 feet in the construction industry and 8 feet in long shoring operations. In addition, OSHA requires that fall protection be provided when working over dangerous equipment and machinery, regardless of the fall distance.
Fall arrest equipment can of course save lives. The most commonly used type of fall arrest equipment at construction sites is a body harness. Such a harness if rigged correctly may prevent the worker from hitting the ground during an accident. Fall protection equipment issued to a worker who is in a bucket or a basket must have the lanyard connected to an anchor point on the boom or bucket or basket. This is done to guard against mechanical failures where the buckets flip or separate from the boom causing potentially fatal falls.
Most of the fall protection equipment has minimum design requirements for materials, strength, snap hooks, D-rings and attachment points. So, all fall protection and work-positioning equipment must be inspected before use each day and must not be used if any defects are present. The best practice, according to OSHA, is to inspect the equipment before each use rather than only once daily. Workers must receive safety training with regard to best practices and also with properly using the safety equipment with which they have been provided.
Contacting a Construction Accident Attorney
If you have been injured on the job, you will be eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits, which mostly covers medical expenses and a portion of lost wages. In addition, you may be eligible to file a third-party claim against a negligent party other than the employer or a co-employee for significant monetary damages and have two sources of compensation available for your losses. Examples of third parties include, but are not limited to, general contractors, construction companies, sub-contractors, building owners, managing agents etc.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a construction 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.
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 cases in 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.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at: www.WORK4YOULAW.com
Source: https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20161209/williamsburg/worker-fall-domino-sugar-factory-325-kent-ave-fdny
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