Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is a New York Plaintiff's personal injury law firm specializing in automobile accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct and all types of New York personal injury litigation.

Articles Posted in Construction Accident

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constructionLast September we wrote a blog about a third of NYC construction accident deaths not being counted or investigated by the city. After Crain’s reported this continuing problem, Mayor de Blasio acted in a very nonchalant manner and brushed off the issue. Unions workers were outraged by his attitude.

Among the multiple deaths that the city didn’t count or investigate last year was the death of Alton Louis, a construction worker employed by CRV Precast. Alton Louis collapsed and died during the summer of 2015 after the subcontractor failed to implement a heat stress program and had him working a full shift during a day when the temperature reached 105 degrees. CRV precast was cited by OSHA for the death of the construction worker, but neither the NYC Department of Buildings nor the NYC Department of Investigation investigated the company. CPR was fined $6,300 by OSHA for the death of Alton Louis while the City looked the other way.

Two weeks ago, two construction workers died in Queens (see previous blog). Crain’s reported that one of these construction workers was employed by CVR Precast. The other hard hat who died worked for a firm subcontracted by CVR Precast.

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A crane operator and a construction worker were killed Tuesday when a 6,500-pound beam came crashing down at a Queens construction site, authorities said. A preliminary investigation determined that the incident, which took place shortly after 12 p.m. in the Briarwood neighborhood, was the result of a “material failure” with the crane, said Rick Chandler, commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings. The rigging system used to hoist the beam snapped, causing it to fall four stories, he said. It appears that the cause was a failure of the Crane’s rigging system. There have been a number of Crane Accidents at New York City Construction Sites this year. Our Crane Accident Lawyers are representing victims in several of these accidents. See prior blog. Read more in New York Times.

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carlos moncayoForeman Wilmer Cueva negligent act caused the death of New York construction worker Carlos Moncayo. Wilmer Cueva, a foreman for Sky Material, an excavation company, was supervising work at a construction site located on 9th Ave in the Meatpacking District in Manhattan.

As the excavation of the site was progressing, Cueva received repeated warnings of imminent danger by an inspector. The trench that had reached 7 feet was not reinforced as it should have been. The NYC construction code requires that any trench reaching 5 feet be reinforced. Cueva ignored the warnings and the code and asked workers to continue to excavate.

The trench was 14 feet and still wasn’t reinforced when it collapsed on Carlos Moncayo. The accident was foreseeable and preventable and Wilmer Cueva acted in a criminal manner. He was was convicted of Criminally Negligent Homicide and Reckless Endangerment by a York State Supreme Court jury. He will be sentenced in December.

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Construction worker helpin another one to set up safety harness

Picture source: Wikipedia. Photos taken on residential construction sites which use fall arrest systems

Construction workers have a higher risk of accidents than many other workers in other industries. According to the most recent census of fatal occupational injuries, 611 workers died in construction accidents in the US in 2014. It is the highest number of construction worker deaths since 2009.

Most studies about construction workers safety present the management perspective. In a recently published study, the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) focuses on workers perception.

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A construction worker suffered critical injury after he fell down an elevator shaft in NYC. The 42 year old man was an employee of Economy Elevator Inc. He was working on a construction site at 246 Johnson Ave in Brooklyn, NYC when he fell seven stories in the elevator shaft. Other workers who heard him scream came to the rescue and call the emergency medical workers. The workers was able to move his hands and his feet when the EMS put him on the stretcher. He was transported to the hospital in critical condition. According to DNA Info the worker was wearing a harness when he was found on the ground. However it is not clear if it was attached to anything at the time of the accident. Read more in DNA Info 

246 Johnson Ave is located at the corner of Bushwick Place near the Montrose L stop. In 2014 it was a one-story building that was bought by developer Moshe Silberstein. A residential building is now being constructed at this location. See below a picture of the building from Google map before development.

246 Johnson Ave

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A construction worker died after falling from a scaffolding in New York City. 31 year old Michael Buffamante was working on scaffolding at the Coney Island Wastewater Treatment Plant in Sheepsheadbay yesterday. He was installing dechlorination equipment.  A little after noon he fell from his scaffolding into a 35 foot-deep sewage tank filled with wastewater and chlorine.

FDNY divers ran to the rescue and found the young worker lying at the bottom of the tank. They brought him to the surface. The worker was in cardiac arrest after having been in the water approximately 8 minutes . The paramedic gave him CPR and transported him to the hospital in critical condition. Buffamante died at the hospital. The worker was employed by Welkin Mechanical, a construction company based in Queens. According to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the worker was wearing protective equipment.The DEP did not specify what type of protective eqipment. Further investigation will be necessary to determine the exact cause of the accident.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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Recent studies have found that fatal construction accidents in New york City have been occurring mostly on construction sites where non union workers were hired. According to  The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) an average of 80% of the workers dying in fatal falls on a New York construction site are non union workers (see previous blog). Today in an article in the NY Daily News, politicians and labor groups are asking the city to classify all recorded construction accidents by union or non union.

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As the construction industry is booming again, immigrant construction workers are facing increased risks of exploitation. In a recent article in the Globe, Beth Healy and Megane Woolhouse investigate the practices of greedy contractors looking for cheap labor.

Immigrants sometimes very young are being hired illegally by contractors. They are paid cash below the minimum wage. They have no insurance. If they are injured on the job, they are often pressured not to report their injury.  15 year old Luis Mayancela fell two stories from a roof. He broke his leg. His contractor didn’t even called an ambulance. A co-worker drove him to the Emergency Room. After the accident, his boss denied all responsibility.

Because they are illegal, injured construction workers often fear retaliation and are pressured not to report their injuries. In their investigation, Healy and Woolhouse denounce industry practices that routinely exploit immigrant workers. Because many of them do not speak English well and are unfamiliar with their rights they often don’t even have a written agreement with their employers.

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NYC Construction accident injuries and fatalitiesConstruction accident injuries in New York are on the rise as the city is experiencing a boom in this industry. The de Blasio administration just released the Mayor’s Management Report that covers the fiscal year that goes from July 2015 to the end of June 2016. The report indicates that 526 construction workers were injured and 11 died in construction accidents in New York City during the last fiscal year compared to respectively 324 and 10 during the previous fiscal year. During the same periods of time the average number of employees in the construction industry in NYC went from 38,600 to 42,200. While the workforce on construction sites only increased by 9%, the number of injuries increased by 62%.  The number of fatalities increased by 10%.

These statistics only reflect accidents injuries and deaths that occurred after a violations of the city’s construction code. The real number of deaths that occurred on New York City construction sites during that time is 18 according to OSHA statistics (see previous blog). Therefore the real number of injuries related to accidents on NYC construction sites may be much higher than 526, not only because the city’s manner of reporting injuries is biased but also because  many injuries are simply not reported. Construction workers  are often pressured not to report injuries by greedy contractors who don’t want to see their insurance increase or be investigated by OSHA or the DOT inspectors.

To try to make NYC construction sites safer, de Blasio announced new safety measures at the beginning of the year. Among the measures, new inspectors have been hired to increase the number of sites inspections. Penalties for violations of safety standards increased from $2,400 to $10,000 and penalties for not having a supervisor on site from $5,000 to $25,000. Additionally after a giant crane crashed on pedestrians in lower Manhattan, the city ordered a special study to update the city’s crane regulations.

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construction workerThe New York City Department of Buildings announced earlier this year that 12 people died in  construction accidents in New York City in 2015 but the real number is 18. According to a recent article in Crain’s, the New York City Department of Buildings only counts deaths that are related to a violation of the city’s construction code.

Despite being featured by media and investigated by OSHA, all other deaths on NYC construction sites are not counted as construction accident deaths  in the DOB statistics. This obviously doesn’t make much sense. The DOB numbers are a distorted indication of the level of safety on New York construction sites.

Among the deaths that the city didn’t count were a hard hat who fell to his death in an elevator shaft,  a safety coordinator crushed by a crane, a worker who fell from a ladder and a truck driver who was sucked into a concrete truck shaft. Following these deaths, OSHA issued safety violations for each case. However the DOB didn’t and also didn’t add them to the total number of New York City construction accident deaths in 2015.

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