Construction worker deaths have been on the rise in New York City, with more building projects leading to more fatal injuries. When a construction worker is killed or hurt on-the-job, New York construction accident lawyers should be consulted to provide help. Benefits may be available for work-injuries and wrongful death on-the-job, regardless of whether negligence did or did not play a role in the worker’s accident.
As construction death rates have risen, various proposals have been made to make worksites safer for construction professionals and to ensure that companies are not jeopardizing the health and safety of staff members. Now, new legislation was passed by the New York City Council. Several bills have been passed, although some controversial construction safety legislation has not yet moved forward towards becoming law.
New Rules for Construction Safety in New York City
The New York City council voted on six different construction safety bills, but did not include any legislation on a controversial proposed requirement that would mandate workers must go through an apprenticeship program. Proposals in connection with this program are still under negotiation.
One of the bills that did pass will mandate that construction sites for buildings that are less than 10 stories will now be required to hire construction superintendents who will be tasked with keeping worksites safe.
Another bill is going to require detailed reports of work injuries to be made public. The city will need to track deaths and injuries that occur and will need to publish a full list of who is getting hurt. The sponsor of the bill, Councilman Ben Kallos, stated “We’ll be able to see who’s getting hurt, where and why so that we as a city can make construction safer. We must count every life,” when explaining the importance of the new legislation mandating the publication of information on deaths and injuries.
Contractors will need to provide very specific details to the city so reports can be produced. The information that contractors will be required to provide includes details on the kind of injury sustained by the construction worker, the length of time that the worker was on the job before the injury happened, and information about whether the injured worker was in a union or not.
Another bill that passed will require that construction cranes now come equipped with both GPS tracking devices and event data recorders. And, a newly passed law will also require that anyone operating a large crane obtain an additional license.
Hopefully, some of these new rules will improve worksite safety and will reduce the chances of construction workers in New York City being hurt or killed while they are trying to do their jobs. Of course, these bills will not prevent every fatality or injury. Any worker who does get hurt on-the-job is encouraged to speak with the construction accident lawyers at Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff & Wolff to find out about his or her rights under the law and to move forward with appropriate legal action to obtain benefits and compensation for the losses experienced due to injury.
