The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health's (NYCOSH) latest study, “Price of Life: 2015 Report on Construction Fatalities in NYC,” attempts to reveal the true conditions of the city’s poorly regulated, unsafe construction sites. Researchers found that construction accounts for a disproportionate number of accidents, with the vast majority of fatalities occurring at non-union sites and immigrant and/or Latino workers.
The report’s key findings include:
- Though construction accounts for less than 4 percent of employment, it represents 20 percent of on the job fatalities in New York State.
- Falls from deadly heights make up half of the construction fatalities in New York State and 71 percent of all injuries in New York City.
- Immigrant and/or Latino workers and non-union workers are at the greatest risk of death – in 2012 79 percent of fatal fall construction accidents occurred at nonunion construction sites and 60 percent of fatal fall victims were immigrant and/or Latino.
- Violations in New York are routine – two-thirds of OSHA construction inspections in New York between 2010 and 2012 resulted in citations for “serious” safety violations. Despite this, city agencies continue to work with criminal contractors, 89 percent of contractors working on affordable housing projects have OSHA violations.
- OSHA has only 71 inspectors to monitor all worksites in all industries in New York City, meaning most sites are never inspected until a worker is injured or killed.
- OSHA fines for criminal contractors are little more than a slap on the wrist – the average penalty for fatal height-related construction accidents in 2012 was only $7,620.
Report: Young Hispanic Immigrant Construction Workers Face Greatest Safety Challenges
“The findings are clear — New York City has an epidemic of construction site deaths and it has to stop,” said Charlene Obernauer, executive director of NYCOSH. “There have been nine workers killed in the city this year, and it’s only May. We need to talk about how we can improve safety and crack down on criminal contractors and employers, instead of looking the other way or listening to lobbyists who’d prefer to cut corners on safety. Innocent workers should not have to die so that we can build our city’s infrastructure.”
As initial steps to increase safety and save lives, advocates called for public agencies to:
- Stop awarding taxpayer dollars and public contracts to repeat safety offenders
- Prosecutors to use existing criminal statutes to go after contractors who violate safety regulations
- Increased resources for OSHA inspectors to spot problems before they become fatalities
- Elected officials to keep a strong Scaffold Safety Law, which holds those who control construction sites responsible if they fail to provide proper safety equipment and a worker is injured or killed as a result.
“The NYCOSH data is unambiguous," said Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. "It strongly and clearly confirms that nonunion developers and contractors are putting the safety of workers and the general public at risk. While construction can be a very dangerous occupation and we are not immune to accidents ourselves, the rigorous training and safety programs administered by the unionized building trades ensure that our workers are the best trained, most skilled and safest in the world.”
