On behalf of The North Shore Injury Lawyer posted in Construction Accidentson Friday, April 20, 2018.
It isn’t just construction workers who are at risk of injuries from faulty or decaying scaffolding.
In a recent incident, three people suffered injuries when a scaffolding in Brooklyn collapsed while in use. Two of the injured were just unlucky pedestrians caught on the ground near the 20-foot piece of scaffolding when it went plummeting to the ground.
According to witnesses who were on hand when the accident happened, the scaffolding fell while a work crew was trying to remove it. They were dismantling the main panels and rods on a Saturday morning when everything fell. The pedestrians didn’t appear as seriously wounded as the supervisor of the construction crew, whose arm was reportedly badly injured.
While the cause of this accident is still being determined, it isn’t the first time the construction company that owns the scaffolding has had trouble. The Buildings Department of New York has previously cited and fined the company for not safeguarding people and property while operating a construction site.
Scaffolding is a problem all over New York. Old construction sites and new are often covered in them—and pedestrians and workers alike have to tread carefully among the maze of metal. The weight of collapsing scaffolding isn’t the only danger facing people on the street—objects dropped from scaffolds are another common cause of accidents. Workers are at risk from poor scaffolding designs, missing guardrails and equipment failures. They also suffer when employers fail to enforce safety rules—including the use of hard hats and harnesses.
Under the law, both building owners and the contractors using the scaffolds are responsible for maintaining them—and making sure that both construction workers and pedestrians are safe from dangers. Anyone who has been injured as a result of a scaffolding’s defects or a construction company’s failureto act responsibly needs to consider all their legal options. A scaffolding-related injury can cost a victim tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills and lost wages—which can be financially devastating without fair compensation.
Source:CBS New York,“1Worker, 2 Pedestrians Hurt When Scaffolding Collapses Near Brooklyn Borough Hall,” April 14, 2018
