construction accident NYC

Published on: May 14, 2015

Construction worker dies from head trauma after falling from scaffolding in the Bronx, NYC

Domikick Deluca, a 25 year old construction worker, died after falling from scaffolding yesterday. The young worker was doing facade work at the Butler Houses on Webster Ave in Claremont in the Bronx when he lost his footing and fell 15 feet . He landed on his head and was transported to the hospital unresponsive and with severe trauma. He was declared dead when he arrived at the hospital. This construction worker is the 8th person to die in a construction accident in New York City since the beginning of the year (see previous blog) .

Read more in the NY Daily News

Published on: May 5, 2015

A 44 year old construction worker fell from a ladder in Brooklyn, New York City causing his death

By GGCRBHS&M

Shulem Benyosef suffered fatal injuries after he fell from a ladder at a construction site in Brooklyn, NYC. the 44 year old man was married and the father of two children. He was working on a rooftop at 449 20th Street in Windsor Terrace in Brooklyn when the accident happened. Shulem was standing on the ladder when he fell from at least 30 feet. Paramedics found him on the ground with serious head trauma. He was transported to the hospital where he later died from his injuries.

Read more in JP Updates and the NY Daily News

Published on: October 30, 2014

Thankfully nobody was injured in a terrifying NYC construction accident during which a giant drill bit pierced the F train tunnel and sliced the top and the side of a train with 800 passengers on board

By GGCRBHS&M

A contractor who was supposed to expand a construction well as part of the MTA East Side Access project used a massive drill bit at the wrong location and pierced a F train tunnel at the same time as the train was passing by. The drill bit cut the top and the side of the train triggering the train’s emergency brakes. It’s a miracle that nobody was injured.

The MTA East Side Access Project is a mega construction project from the MTA to bring Long Island Rail Road trainsto Grand Central Station. The contractor has been identified as Griffin Dewatering New England Inc.

The accident happened near the 21st St subway station In Long Island City, Queens, NYC.

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Published on: April 29, 2014

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says changes to the Scaffold Law are not on his priority list and are unlikely to happen this year

By GGCRBHS&M

Labor Law 240 known as The Scaffold Law protects New York construction workers from elevation related construction accidents. Recently the construction industry and real estate developers have been making another legislative push in Albany to change the law to their advantage. In response to this push, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said last week in an interview with the Crain’s editorial board that he had no intention to change the law. Cuomo said that changes to Labor Law 240 were not a top priority for business interests or for him.

Cuomo also added that the law couldn’t be changed because of the strength of its supporters, particularly the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. The trial lawyers as well as immigrant rights and community organizations support the law because even though it is not perfect it remains the only way to make sure construction workers are adequately protected from dangerous accidents.

Read the Crain’s article

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Published on: April 21, 2014

In a new attack against Labor Law Section 240 (Scaffold Law), the NY construction industry lobby paid more than $80,000 to the Rockefeller Institute to fund a study that misuses sophisticated statistical techniques and produces inaccurate results

By GGCRBHS&M

New York Labor Law Section 240 or Scaffold Law was enacted more than 100 years ago to protect construction workers from elevated work related accidents. It holds general contractors, owners and others liable if unsafe conditions at the job site lead to a worker’s injury or death (to learn more about NY Labor Law 240 see recent presentation by NY Construction Accident Attorney Anthony Gair)

The construction industry has been trying to repeal and amend this law since it was created and the last attack came with a report entitled “The Costs of Labor Law 240 on New York’s economy and Public Infrastructure” and published by the The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York. The report uses questionable statistic methodologies to blame The Scaffold Law for creating more accidents and more injuries.

The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) discovered that the report was actually commissioned by the New York Civil Justice Institute, a front group that was specifically created for this purpose by the Lawsuits Reform Alliance of New York who paid $82,800 for it. The Lawsuits Reform Alliance of New York is well known for lobbying against laws protecting plaintiffs in favor of the construction industry and other corporate interests. The CPD and the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) just published a paper entitled “Fatally Flawed: Why the Rockefeller Institute’s Scaffold Law Report Doesn’t add up”

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