New York City construction workers continue to get hurt and killed on the job. And the city’s new mandatory-training law may not be helping the statistics.
Construction injuries and deaths have increased in recent years, according to a City & State article. Despite the 2017 passage of Local Law 196, which mandated safety training for workers and supervisors, the frequency of accidents appears to be on the rise. Unfortunately, 744 injury events were reported during the 2017-2018 fiscal year, per the article’s reference to a Department of Buildings (DOB) report. That’s an average of more than two injuries per day and is more than three times higher than a reported 212 injuries from Mayor de Blasio’s first year in office.
Has Local Law 196 helped?
After much debate, Local Law 196 was enacted by City Hall in October 2017. The municipal law required many workers to complete a 10-hour OSHA class and go through 30 additional hours of safety training.
But there is evidence that the DOB isn’t doing enough to make sure workers get through the courses and be able to prove it, according to City & State. There have been reports of workers fudging online training classes, buying fake safety-training cards and participating in other indiscretions that seem to halt progress.
Of course, providing safety training for workers is only part of the solution. It is necessary for developers, owners and contractors to place a premium on the lives and well-being of the construction workers. As long as workers are made to feel that productivity and profits are more important than their safety, they will continue to be injured.
Help is available
Safety training doesn’t work for all of us unless every construction employer adheres to all safety rules. If you or someone in your family was hurt on the job, you can obtain useful advice from a lawyer. Get the help you need if you think you might have the basis for a lawsuit.
