According to the New York City Department of Buildings, 841 building construction-related workplace accidents occurred in 2023 throughout the city’s five boroughs, which resulted in 692 worker injuries and seven worker deaths. This represents a 25% increase in construction worker injuries in the city. If you or a loved one was injured at a construction site in New York, you may be entitled to compensation for your losses, but you will first need to be able to identify who is responsible for your injuries.
The experienced construction accident lawyers at Powers & Santola, LLP can investigate your accident and explain how New York labor law can affect the assessment of liability in your case. Our legal team has fought tirelessly for over three decades to protect the rights of the injured. Our efforts have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in recovery for our clients. Daniel R. Santola, one of our law firm’s founding attorneys, authored New York’s leading treatise on construction accident claims. Let us use our considerable knowledge and experience in New York construction law to fight for the maximum compensation available for your legal claim.
OSHA Recognizes Four Categories of Employers on a Multi-Employer Worksite
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) generally classifies construction sites as multi-employer worksites. Under this system, an employer may be any of the following and could bear legal responsibility for injuries and workplace safety violations:
Creating Employer
A creating employer is one who actually created the hazard that violates an OSHA standard and that could harm the worker. Often, the creating employer exposes someone else’s employees to the hazardous condition.
Exposing Employer
The exposing employer is the direct employer whose employees are exposed to the hazardous condition, regardless of who created the hazard. OSHA often cites exposing employers for safety violations.
Correcting Employer
OSHA can cite other employers for violations, even when their employers are not exposed to the hazard. For example, a correcting employer responsible for remedying the hazardous condition – such as by installing or maintaining safety equipment – can be cited when they fail to correct the hazard. This party can be cited because they can identify and correct the safety violation but fail to do so.
Controlling Employer
The controlling employer is the one who has supervisory authority over the worksite. They may have this authority based on law, contract, or actual practice of creating protocols regarding workplace safety and health conditions. Controlling employers are responsible for ensuring that a hazardous condition is corrected and can be cited when they fail to do so. However, OSHA policies state that these types of employers have a lesser degree of care to prevent and discover hazards than the other categories of employers.
The first step in determining who should be cited for a hazardous condition is identifying each employer’s responsibilities related to OSHA requirements.
Specific Parties Who May Be Liable for Construction Site Accidents
Various parties could be responsible for construction site injuries, including the following:
Property Owners
Many construction companies perform work or send workers to separate job sites that others own. For example, if a homeowner wants their kitchen renovated, they may hire a construction company, which then sends its workers to the home. Similarly, commercial developers may own the property where new construction is being built. Sometimes, dangerous conditions arise on these sites because property owners create the hazards, fail to properly inspect the property, or fail to warn workers about them. Even when Owners do not perform any of the actual work, New York State Labor Laws make all Owners absolutely responsible for the unsafe conditions which lead to injury whether or not they hired another entity to perform the actual work.
Experienced construction accident attorneys can investigate the circumstances surrounding your injuries and determine the construction site owner’s or property owner’s responsibilities. They can determine if these parties had control over the property and could have prevented your injuries if they had upheld their legal obligations.
General Contractors
Many construction projects are managed by a general contractor. The general contractor may then hire sub-contractors to perform additional work, such as heating and air or plumbing. General contractors are typically responsible for ensuring safety on the job site, even when they are not the direct employer. Their responsibilities often include:
- Following all applicable safety regulations and ensuring compliance with these measures by all individuals on the project
- Refraining from conducting themselves or employees in a manner that creates an unreasonable risk of harm to others on the project
- Providing safety equipment to workers and ensuring they use it
- Performing regular inspections of the job site to identify and correct hazards
If a general contractor does not fulfill their legal responsibilities, they may be held liable for resulting injuries.
Subcontractors
Subcontractors may perform crucial work in important trades, such as plumbing, heating and air, electrical, roofing, landscaping, and others. However, subcontractors can contribute to construction site accidents when they conduct themselves in an unsafe manner or fail to follow safety regulations.
New York’s labor and scaffolding laws hold general contractors and subcontractors responsible for ensuring workers follow safety protocols and applicable laws. If they fail to uphold their duty of care, they can be responsible for resulting personal injury claims from those injured on the job.
Construction Equipment Manufacturers and Other Product Manufacturers
Construction workers rely on various types of equipment, tools, and materials to complete their work. This includes heavy machinery, such as forklifts, bulldozers, excavators, dump trucks, and more. While employers are responsible for ensuring workers know how to operate this equipment safely and that they have the proper licensure, equipment manufacturers can be held liable for injuries caused when their products do not work as intended.
Equipment manufacturers are required to ensure their products are safe to use as designed and that they are free of flaws. They must test the equipment and inspect it before they release it into the stream of commerce. They must also ensure that they provide proper warnings and instructions regarding how to safely use the product.
If a product defect is discovered and that defect was responsible for causing an injury, the manufacturer or seller can be held liable for defective products.
Third-Party Vendors
Construction companies may outsource various work and portions of the project to third-party vendors. For example, they may ask a separate company to deliver materials or maintain equipment. If these third parties act negligently, they can be held responsible for construction site accidents.
Engineers or Architects
Engineers and architects are responsible for designing buildings and other structures so they are safe. If a construction site accident occurs because of a design flaw, the engineer or architect could be held responsible for injuries.
Employers
Pursuant to the legal theory of respondeat superior, employers are generally responsible for the actions of their employees. Therefore, if a worker employed by one of the parties mentioned above was responsible for the injury, their employer may be liable for your damages.
Governmental Agencies
Public construction projects could involve governmental entities or agencies, which can be held liable for accidents caused by their or their workers’ negligence.
Third Parties
Some construction site accidents occur because of the negligence of some third party that is not directly tied to the construction project. For example, a negligent motorist could run over a construction worker. These individuals could be liable for injuries in addition to those who violate a safety rule intended to prevent such an accident.
Can More Than One Employer Be Cited for Workplace Hazard Injuries?
Yes. Nothing precludes OSHA from citing more than one employer for the same workplace violation or making multiple citations based on similar facts. Likewise, legal liability may involve multiple responsible parties. An experienced personal injury attorney can review the unsafe conditions that contributed to your injury and identify each liable party.
OSHA Was Enacted By The Federal Government To Promote A Safe Work Environment
Employers must comply with OSHA’s standards. A violation of an OSHA rule can result in the employer being fined even when no one sustains an injury. If an injury does occur due to an OSHA violation, the violation alone cannot be used as an automatic right for the worker to be compensated for his injuries and losses. The reason is that OSHA rules are meant to set standards for employers to follow with the goal of creating a safe workplace and were never intended as a remedy for injured workers to recover money damages for injuries caused by a violation. Besides, New York State law prohibits an employee from suing their employer as long as the employer has secured a Workers’ Compensation insurance policy effective as of the time of the injury.
Proof of an OSHA Violation Can Help Establish Who Must Compensate the Injured Worker
While a violation of an OSHA rule alone does not establish who must compensate the injured worker, it does establish that the work site was being conducted in an unsafe manner and by whom. Additionally, it most often establishes that the violation was the cause of the injury.
If someone other than the injured worker’s employer is found to have violated an OSHA rule, such as the owner of the property or another contractor, the injured worker can seek compensation from the violator based upon Common Law Negligence principles. If the OSHA rule was violated by the Worker’s employer or any of its employees the Worker’s Compensation Law prevents the worker from bring suit against the employer, however, New York Labor Law Statutes will make any owner of the work site and/or any of its contractors responsible to compensate the worker whether or not they are at fault for or contributed to the violation. Under circumstances where the worker is injured by a fall from a ladder, scaffold or other elevated work platform, the owners and their contractors are held absolutely responsible to compensate the worker even if it was the injured employee who caused or contributed to the violation. This is what is referred to as an absolute liability statute and liability to the worker is not diminished by any degree of fault on the worker’s part.
What Financial Compensation Can I Recover After a Construction Site Accident?
While many injured workers are barred from suing their employers for on-the-job injuries, you may be able to file a personal injury claim against your employer or other liable party, thanks to New York’s labor laws for your workplace injuries. If you suffered severe injuries from a construction site accident, you may be able to recover compensation for:
- Medical expenses, including payment for emergency treatment and transportation, hospital stays, surgeries, follow-up visits, and other medical care associated with your injuries
- Ongoing costs for rehabilitation and therapy
- Lost wages for time you missed off work, not just for a portion of your wages as you would receive under workers’ compensation laws
- Pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, mental anguish, and other non-economic damages
An experienced attorney can review your workplace injury claim and determine the damages you may be able to seek.
Contact Our Dedicated Personal Injury Lawyers Today for a Free Case Review
If you were injured at a construction site in New York, you should not have to pay the consequences of someone else’s actions. The experienced construction accident attorneys at Powers & Santola, LLP want to help you recover fair compensation. We can handle your communications and claims with the insurance company, take timely legal action on your behalf, and fight for the fair recovery you deserve. Contact our award-winning legal team today to take advantage of a free case review.
