Written by: Attorney Jacob Oresky
The construction industry has one of the highest worker injury rates of any occupation. Injured workers are almost always entitled to Workers’ Compensation which pays for medical expenses and lost wages, however they may also be entitled to money damages from responsible parties, other than their employer such as the owner and general contractor at a construction site. For example, an employee of a subcontractor falls from a ladder or scaffold because he or she was not provided with proper safety equipment. The subcontractor’s employee would be entitled to Workers’ Compensation, however he or she would also be entitled to make a claim for money damages for pain and suffering, and other damages not covered by comp. A claim could be made against the owner and general contractor under New York State’s Labor Law. The owner and general contractor have a duty to make sure that proper safety protection is provided to all workers at the job site.
Types of Construction Accidents
Construction accident claims are almost always based on New York State’s Labor Law Sections: 200, 240(1), and 241 (6). Accidents and injuries at construction sites which would fall under New York’s Labor Law would include:
- Falls from heights – This would include falls from scaffolds, ladders, elevated working areas, platforms, and into shafts or unguarded openings.
- Falling objects – Construction workers on the ground or on lower levels are frequently injured by falling objects, including building materials, equipment, and site debris.
- Structure collapses, shoring collapses, cave-ins.
The law offices of Jacob Oresky & Associates, PLLC have successfully represented hundreds of injured construction workers, in third party claims, and have won hundreds of millions of dollars for all of our injured clients throughout New York City’s five boroughs (the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island), in Westchester County, and Long Island’s Suffolk and Nassau Counties.
