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New York Construction Accidents Law Blog

Narcotics affect workers comp costs

Drug abuse of prescription narcotics has caused companies throughout the United States to face higher workers' compensation costs. Doctors have increasingly been prescribing narcotics to patients for longer periods of time, which in turn aides in the development of prescription drug abuse. Injured workers in certain states, such as New York and Louisiana, more commonly become long-term users of prescription narcotics. Other states, such as Arizona, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa, have lower rates of long-term users among injured workers prescribed narcotics.

Workers' compensation costs for different types of companies inevitably go up when doctors continue to prescribe narcotics to workers for pain management. Many workers' compensation healthcare providers don't test workers who have been prescribed narcotics for an extended period for drug abuse problems; nor do they recommend counseling for possible drug issues.

Deaths on-the-job total about 50,000 annually

A study that was released on May 7 reported that about 150 people died each day in 2011 from job-related illness or injuries. Of those deaths, 13 were on-the-job fatalities while an additional 137 deaths were attributed to work-related diseases. The passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970 seemed to improve workplace safety, but according to the report, there has been little change in on-the-job-deaths in the past three years.

The report obtained their statistics from information through the Bureau of Labor Statistics and OSHA. On-the-job deaths totaled nearly 4,700 annually while work-related diseases totaled about 50,000 annually, which a government official confirmed.

U.S. worker safety programs suffering

American workers in New York and other states may enjoy more legal protections than their counterparts in other industrialized nations do, but recent events and data reveal that worker's safety is still lacking. In 2011, around 13 U.S. workers were killed on the job every day. The relatively high prevalence of worker deaths is believed to be a result of numerous factors, such as insufficient funding for agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

In the recent case of a Texas fertilizer plant that exploded and killed no less than 15, it was revealed that the facility's last inspection was in 1985. The Government Accountability Office also revealed that the workplace safety rule making process is fraught with delays as a matter of course. New rules generally take around seven years to be drafted and implemented, and a quarter of them require at least a decade.

Two Brooklyn Workers Injured When Bucket Flips Over

Two construction workers - - working high above the ground - - were injured near the Belt Parkway in Canarsie, Brooklyn after the bucket carrier they were in while working on a utility pole flipped over. The accident, reported in the below NY1 link, while serious, was not more worse or even fatal because the workers were provided harnesses that prevented them from dying. Harnesses save lives and may have done so here. Nevertheless, the unsteady nature of the bucket is cause for concern and these workers certainly did not deserve to get hurt.

Employee killed in accident at New York staging company

A 24-year-old Massachusetts man was killed April, 13 in a work-related accident in New York. State police reported the man was unloading a 1,700-pound pipe from a flatbed at the National Grid staging yard in Ballston Spa when it fell on him and pinned him to the ground. He was extricated and taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The victim had been employed as a subcontractor for Feeney Brothers Excavation Corp. out of Dorchester.

When employees are injured or killed on the job from a falling object, investigations into the incident are immediately launched. Investigators scrutinize whether federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations were followed and if the accident was preventable. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 21 deaths in New York in 2011 involving contact with objects and equipment. "With every one of these fatalities, the lives of a worker's family members were shattered and forever changed. We can't forget that fact," says acting Secretary of Labor Seth Harris. 

OSHA Announcement: 16 Workers Killed In The Aftermath Of Hurricane Sandy

According to a New York Daily News Article published today, OSHA has announced that 16 workers in New York and New Jersey died during the work that followed Hurricane Sandy. This alarming statistic illustrates the tendency to forget about safety rules and regulations when workers are rushed to meet impossible expectations.

Prevent Construction Accidents -- Keep Labor Law 240

May Day - May 1 - celebrates workers. Another day, Worker's Memorial Day, took place last week, remembering those who died on the job in the last year. Most of the workers who died might have been alive today had the proper safety precautions been observed.

This is particularly sobering in light of efforts in the construction industry to weaken or eliminate entirely laws that protect workers. One law that has become a particular target of the so-called "reformers" is the Scaffold Law, also known as Labor Law 240. This law requires building owners and general contractors to provide workers with protection against falls - the most common cause of injuries and fatalities in the construction industry.

Week Dedicated to Stopping Construction Accidents

Construction Safety Week, which began Monday, was kicked off by New York City Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri, who opened the 2013 Build Safe/Live Safe Conference. At the opening, he announced the results of Operation: Low Rise, which involved a two-month sweep of low-rise construction sites in New York's five boroughs. The inspections resulted in 879 safety violations and at least $965,450 in fines and penalties. Twelve percent of the locations received full or partial stop work orders.

In addition to conducting the inspections, building inspectors handed out more than 10,000 flyers in English, Spanish, and Russian encouraging workers to take safety precautions while at their job sites.

Construction fatalities were up in 2012 over 2011, with eight reported last year and five in 2011. Buildings on low-rise construction sites - nine stories or less -- accounted for seven of the fatalities. Injuries from construction accidents also increased, from 128 to 175. The majority of injuries involved falls.

Construction Accidents on the Increase in New York

In a previous post, we discussed the Texas construction industry and its practices that are detrimental to workers. In this post, we take a look at New York construction accidents. Are we really any safer than our neighbor to the South?

The short answer is that working construction in New York is probably safer than in Texas. There are protections in place for employees, and workers who experience injuries from construction accidents are better positioned to obtain compensation if they are injured on the job. However, as in Texas, working construction is still very dangerous and seems to be getting more so, even in New York.

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