Will new construction rules save workers’ lives and limbs?

Anyone who has spent time in New York City recently will have noted the explosion in construction.  It seems as though buildings are being torn down, built back up, renovated, or expanded on nearly every street corner.  Enormous booms and cranes stand out against the city skyline.  It can make you think “progress” – or if you’re familiar with what’s been going on in the industry lately you might think “danger”.

New York construction accidents have been such a serious issue this year that now Congress has gotten involved.  Throughout the year the New York Department of Buildings has been trying to pass new rules to shore up their clearly inadequate and understaffed inspection department.  However so far it hasn’t helped.

With 9 crane-related deaths this year, crane accidents have been an especially hot topic.  Now, with so many city, state, and federal officials interested in construction safety, we hope that the solutions they’ve come up with will in fact finally put a halt to the deadly and dangerous construction environment in the city.  Only time will tell if the city and OSHA and other interested parties can truly get their act together and save our workers needless death and injury.

We’ve got more details about the city’s attempts to make construction safer in our law library article “Will New Rules Save NY Workers from Accidents or Death?”.