Despite current attempts by the New York City government to pass laws that punish safety violations on construction job sites, there is fear that they may still increase. In an article early this year in the New York Daily News, the statistics for 2015 saw an increase in serious and fatal construction accidents in New York. The fact that the number of OSHA inspectors being reduced in New York City and the state was cited as a reason for this. Also, there are a number of contractors that have been named as serious violators for repeatedly failing to follow OSHA regulations.
Statistics on Construction Accidents
Over 59% of construction accidents involving worker fatalities in the city that year were due to falls. Considering the number of construction projects currently underway in the city on multi-story buildings, it would seem that these statistics won’t be changing, at least not for the better or any time soon. OSHA has long been a source of complaints by contractors with their demands for what they characterize as too much safety equipment that is too expensive. Although there may be cases of this, there is certainly no reason for a contractor to ignore being tagged as a serious violator and continually flouting laws already on the books.
Injuries Occur Outside of the Construction Workforce
Worker safety is one thing, but there certainly have been a large number of innocent bystander injuries and some fatalities during this construction boom as well. The current presidential administration is seeking to reduce the number of regulations to encourage more business, but there are some families out there that will ask themselves “But at what cost”? The devastating loss of a family member while working or walking in the city due to a construction accident is something that the family will never truly get over.
Injuries can take a long time to recover from and medical and psychological trauma must be compensated for when someone’s negligence or violation of the law causes this problem.
