Alarming increase in construction accident fatalities in New York City in April and May

5 construction workers died on the job in New York City between April 1st and May 31st. This is the highest number of  hard hat fatalities over a 2-month period since at least 2015. 2 fatal accidents occurred in Brooklyn, 1 in Manhattan, 1 in the Bronx and 1 in Queens. So far, since the beginning of the year, 7 workers died on NYC construction sites compared to respectively  1 and 8  for the same period of  2020 and 2019. (click on the graphs for full view)

64 NYC construction workers suffered injuries in April and 38 in May. Between January 1st 2021 and May 31st a total of 223 workers were injured on the job in the city. It is more than during the same period of 2020, when 186 workers were injured, but less than during the same period of 2019 when 502 hard hats were injured.

 

Manhattan remains the borough with the highest number of construction accidents as well as the highest number of injuries and deaths related to these accidents

Since the beginning of the year, 2 workers died and 132 were injured in 133 Manhattan construction accidents. Despite both fatality and injury trends being on a slight decline, April was a bad month for workers on Manhattan construction sites with 38 of them suffering injuries and one of them dying. May was a little better with 21 workers injured and no fatalities.

One construction worker died in the Bronx in May

This was the first hard hat fatality in the Bronx since August 2019. Previously, another worker died in April 2018 and before that another one died in May 2015. Fatalities on Bronx construction sites are not that common while injuries are also limited compared to other boroughs like Manhattan or Brooklyn. Despite remaining at a low level, construction accident injuries in the Bronx are on a rising trend. April was also a bad month in the Bronx with 7 workers injured. May was better with 3 workers injured.

 

1 construction worker died in April in Brooklyn and another one died in May

These are the first fatalities occurring on Brooklyn construction sites since the beginning of the year. While looking at the trend since 2015, hard hat fatalities in Brooklyn are on a very slight decline while injuries are on a more pronounced rising trend. Just like in Manhattan and in the Bronx, April was a much worse month than May in Brooklyn. 7 workers were injured on Brooklyn construction sites in May compared to 14 in April.

 

One hard hat died in Queens last May, the first fatality on a Queens construction site since February 20

Since the beginning of 2015, 9 fatalities were recorded on Queens construction sites. The monthly record was 2 deaths in November 2016. The trend of construction accident fatalities in Queens is clearly declining. Contrary to the previous NYC boroughs under review who had a higher number of workers injured in April  than in May, Queens had less workers injured in April than in May. 6 hard hats suffered injuries in May compared to 5 in April. The trend of Queens construction accident injuries is pretty much stable over the last 5 years.

Staten Island is the NYC borough that has the lowest amount of construction accident fatalities and injuries in New York City

Since the beginning of 2015, 2 construction workers died on the job, one in November 2015 and one more recently, in February 2021. 1 hard hat was injured last May on a Staten Island construction site and since the beginning of the year, only one other worker was injured last January.

 

Falls remain the number one cause of death and injury on NYC construction sites

The NYC DOB also categorizes construction accidents injuries and fatalities by incident types. While this categorization can be somewhat questionable, it still clearly indicates that falls (in red in the bellow graphs) remain the number one cause of fatalities and injuries for New York construction workers. Out of the 5 NYC hard hats who died on the job during the months of April and May, 3 were fall fatalities that could have been prevented. The two other fatalities were both related to mechanical construction equipment.