Unions, open-shop builders and developers are expected to clash as New York City’s Housing and Buildings Committee of the City Council will hear 21 bills related to construction safety.
The bills would increase penalties for certain violations, require site-safety plans at buildings four stories and higher and—most controversially—mandate worker training programs.
A new report identifies an “astounding” increase in worker fatalities in New York State and New York City, as well as safety violations at 90 percent of construction fatality sites.
"Deadly Skyline: An Annual Report on Construction Fatalities in New York State,” released by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), alleges that that employers routinely violate legal regulations with impunity.
Two construction workers were injured last week when a car struck the beam they were carrying, knocking them from the upper level of the Verranzano-Narrows Bridge.
A New York State Supreme Court judge ordered a general contractor to either create a TV public service announcement or pay a $10,000 fine for its role in the death of an employee at a construction site.
In a response to New York City’s alarming construction fatality rate, the Big Apple’s City Council is considering tough new legislation that would punish contractors who violate safety regulations.
A crane owner was ordered this week to pay $24 million to the families of two workers killed in a 2008 crane collapse in New York City, according to news reports. The award raised total damages in the case to more than $96 million.
Approximately 72 percent of the construction workers killed on the job in New York City died at sites where workers did not participate in state-approved training and apprenticeship programs, according to a report released today by Public Citizen.