There is no other way to put it, construction is booming in New York City. In fact, according to the city Department of Buildings (DOB), there were 168,243 construction permits issued last year, which is an all-time high.
The unfortunate downside of this recent boom, however, is that construction accidents are also increasing dramatically. Indeed, a recent report by the New York Post found that construction-related deaths in New York City have doubled, not to mention that injuries have also spiked 17 percent.
2018 has been far deadlier than 2017
Specifically, this report, which examined DOB records, highlighted the fact that there have already been eight construction fatalities during the first seven months of 2018 — compared to only four during the same period last year. Also, through July of this year, there have been 469 workers injured.
Construction is — and always has been — a dangerous job
Unfortunately, dealing with treacherous conditions isn’t anything new for those working in the construction industry. Indeed, construction workers must contend with a wide variety of potentially-hazardous situations on a daily basis, ranging from having to work high atop scaffolding to using dangerous machinery, and everything in between. Just one small mishap can lead to a serious injury — or even death.
For example, according to statistics originally provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and also cited in the recent New York Post report, construction workers accounted for 37.5 percent of all work-related deaths in 2016 — making it the most dangerous job in NYC, by far. Given the dangers faced by construction workers, it is no wonder why New York has some of the toughest construction safety laws in the country, including the Scaffolding Law.