Legal news for New York construction accident attorneys – There were less construction fatalities in New York City in 2009 then ever before.
New York, NY (NewYorkInjuryNews.com) — In New York City, construction-related fatalities took a major drop in 2009, announced New York Daily News. After the city’s 10-year-long building boom in the construction business came to an end, the amount of injuries and accidents went up, according to statistics.
Last year, there were three workers who were fatally injured in construction accidents. Comparatively speaking, in 2008, 19 construction fatalities were reported, which was an 84 percent decrease from 2009. In 2007, it was recorded that there were 12 workers who were killed on the job. In 2006, statistics showed that there were 18 fatalities that year. Then the number of construction accidents jumped to 224 from 151 in 2008, despite the fact that new building permits were down by one-third.
The Department of Building (DOB) Commissioner Robert Limandri attributed the drop of fatalities to increased enforcement and more supervision at work sites. The DOB stated that the increased numbers of construction accidents were credited to better reporting of the incidents by contractors.
The 2009 construction fatalities involved two workers falling in Brooklyn and Manhattan, where neither worker had been using the proper safety harness. The third reported incident where a construction worker was fatally injured occurred due to a collapse of a concrete wall in Staten Island. New York City has since revised its construction codes in efforts to create safer working conditions for all workers by starting safety initiatives.
One of the safety programs that is being put into practice is that all crane operators are required to have mandatory training and all contractors are to have tracking numbers. This will hopefully continue to decrease work-related fatalities and injuries at construction sites.
Bridget Hom
www.NewYorkInjuryNews.com