On behalf of The North Shore Injury Lawyer posted in Construction Accidentson Wednesday, September 20, 2017.
The city of New York is having a construction boom—but there’s also a booming list of accidents and injuries to go along with it.
The whole city seems plagued with construction-related accidents over the last year:
- A crane lost control of a multi-ton heating/cooling unit and dropped it 30 stories onto the street below, injuring 10.
- A worker died after falling off a ladder and tumbling to the ground below from less than a story up.
- A construction fence blew loose in the city’s notorious winds—hitting and killing a pedestrian.
- One construction worker died in a fall off a scaffold inside a Times Square building.
- Yet another died after falling through an actual hole in the floor of the scaffold he was on.
- Nine employees were injured when the interior demolition of a building went wrong.
Many experts in the industry say that it isn’t just the increase in construction that’s bringing about the increase in accidents—it’s the increased use of nonprofessional, untrained labor. Many of the companies using nonunionized employees don’t adhere to the same safety standards and training that the unionized companies do. Without proper safety training, reinforcement of the rules by management and proper safety equipment, more accidents are likely to happen.
However, the use of cheaper labor isn’t likely to stop anytime soon during the current construction boom. The city currently has one of the nation’s most expensive real estate markets—and that makes people willing to take risks with cheaper, less-trained workers.
Poor safety practices on construction sites put not only the individual laborers at increased risk in an already risky profession, they make it dangerous for anybody in range of falling items or unsecured equipment.
Anybody injured in a construction-related accident is wise to seek the advice of an experienced attorney. For more information on how our firm might be able to help you after a construction accident, please visit our website.
