As I’ve discussed numerous times, construction site accidents are an all too common occurrence. In fact, in the first 5 months of this year, there were at least 7 construction site accidents that resulted in death, in New York City, alone.
That horrific number led New York City to issue a crackdown in the 5 boroughs. What they found was alarming: over 3,600 safety violations, resulting in almost 1,500 stop-work orders. As one of the city’s busiest industries, construction continues to be risky business.
Since the beginning of the summer, their “special” inspections covered about 7,500 construction sites. Since the crackdown, there have been no reported deaths due to accidents. This is absolutely predictable. When safety precautions are practiced, fewer workers are injured. Unfortunately, the inspection crackdown came too late for the 7 workers who perished, mostly from falls.
Under the city’s zero tolerance crackdown, Manhattan was issued 545 stop-work orders; Brooklyn, nearly 340; almost 150 stop-work orders were issued in the Bronx and separately in Queens; and several dozen more in Staten Island. This crackdown illustrates that oversight was needed, as there were a total of 12 fatalities in 2018 and 2019, combined, compared with 7 fatalities only in the first 5 months of 2021.
