Bronx Construction Accidents Declining but Deaths Due to Injuries at the Bronx Worksites are on the Rise, According to the New York Buildings Department
There may have been fewer construction-related accidents in the Bronx last year; but according to a recent report from the New York Buildings Department (NYBD), fatalities from accidents at worksites in the Bronx increased by 33% in 2010, when compared with 2009.
The Bronx workplace accident picture continues to improve in 2011, according to the NYBD report. Construction-related accidents were down 56% in the first quarter of this year, when compared with the same period in 2010. But again, more workers are dying from injuries that happen at the workplace -- up from one to three in the first three months of 2011 -- when compared with the period from January-March in the preceding year.
According to the NYBD, approximately 42% of all construction-related accidents in the Bronx in 2010 were due to a worker fall. But even these types of accidents decreased significantly in 2010, by approximately 40%, when compared with the number of falls that injured, or killed, workers in 2009. Oddly, though, the number of the Bronx construction workers who died as a result of a fall doubled in 2010 over the number of similar deaths in 2009.
The NYBD reported that the leading causes of the Bronx construction injuries and deaths in 2010 were as follows:
- Worker fall 42%
- Scaffold fall 41%
- Material fall 17%
- Shed / Scaffold fall 6%
- Mechanical equipment 6% equipment
- Site protection 7%
- Excavation/ Soil 2%
- Other 20%
The Department of Buildings, and the trade unions, have instituted many safety education programs designed to prevent accidents at the workplace. But accidents will happen. And when they do, there are times when worker error is the cause. The following, according to the NYBD, are the leading causes of the Bronx workplace accidents caused by worker error:
- Not wearing fall protection
- Improperly wearing fall protection
- Distracted
- Lack of or inadequate temporary protection
- Improper or no pre‐task planning
- Inadequate or improper tools for the task
- Shortcuts / unsafe work practices
- Inadequate supervision
- Material failure
- Lack of or inadequate maintenance
- Inadequate or no checklist inspections
- Carelessness
- Taking shortcuts
- Poor housekeeping
- Unsafe work practices
- Overloading
A construction accident attorney at Raphaelson & Levine can help if you have suffered injury or pain from a workplace accident. We have the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Manhattan construction accident attorney waiting your call at 800-222-3333.
