Construction Accidents Rise to New Heights in New York State

Working at heights poses the most serious of all safety risks on construction sites. A study done by the nonprofit New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health found that, of all the construction accidents reported to the Department of Buildings between 2008 and 2013, seventy-one percent were height-related, and even more alarming, forty-nine percent of construction-related deaths in New York State were attributed to falls to a lower level. Unless more stringent safety measures are put into place, these numbers are destined to rise. In New York City, ten people met their deaths in construction related incidents between July 2014 and July 2015, up from the average incidence of 5.5 in the previous four years.

With 2016 already seeing its share of serious accidents, the head of one leading NYC construction firm is asking for legislation that will require workers to follow what he calls the six foot rule, which his company, currently working on such projects as the Hudson Yards and New York-Presbyterian Hospital expansion both in New York City, has already made an ironclad rule. In an attempt to keep falls to a minimum, his firm requires that all workers attach themselves to safety harnesses when working at a height of six feet or higher and to use two attachments whenever on a scaffold exceeding that height. Known as tying off, current OSHA regulations require individual harnesses at twenty-five feet or higher and when on scaffolds climbing ten feet or higher to use one attachment which they can unhook when stationary, but reattach if it starts to ascend or descend. Although such practices should be common sense and need no law to encourage them, sad to say, the macho hard hat culture pervading many job sites often works at odds with safety.

Another safety measure seen increasingly on construction sites is the use of a perimeter protection system, known as a cocoon, a type of steel frame mesh.  As each new floor is added, the cocoon is extended upward and prevents people as well as objects from falling to the ground below. Since using cocoons adds to construction costs, not many developers opt to use them. Other factors, including the proximity of construction sites to existing buildings, present further obstacles in NYC. As a result, cocoons are seen on only a quarter of current jobs. However outside of the city, where space is not so much a premium, cocoons are a viable way to reduce the construction accident rates in the Hudson Valley.