Crane & Construction Accidents

There has been a tragic increase in accidents involving cranes on construction sites. These accidents have killed or maimed not only workers, but innocent bystanders as well. While we are happy to note that the construction industry in New York is booming, we deplore the growth of underground construction companies who underpay workers to work on unsafe scaffolds, ladders, and roofs, and we deplore the lack of care taken by far too many employers to ensure that tower cranes are properly assembled, especially during the process known as "jumping" the crane, and that mobile cranes are not excessively loaded. We also deplore the willingness to ignore OSHA regulations concerning safe worksites.

Workers who operate cranes and who work near cranes, and on construction sites, and on or near scaffolds, construction holes, ladders, etc., are contributing to the economic health of our city. A worker who is undocumented but who puts his health and safety at risk deserves to be properly paid by his boss. A worker injured on the job has the right to file for workers' compensation benefits - it is wrong for employers to underpay and mistreat workers in hazardous workplaces, then to intimidate and threaten them when they file for their rightful workers' compensation benefits after they get hurt on the job.

We also believe that it is wrong for employers to offer money to injured workers in exchange for a promise not to file a claim. Your boss may give you some money today for your injury and promise to give you more later - but in three months or six months he may refuse, or he may disappear altogether. Today your boss might promise to pay your hospital bill and medical expenses - but when the bill comes in he may refuse, or, again, you may find that he has disappeared. Workers' Compensation offers an injured worker the protection of the law and the supervision of a judge. And even if an employer has no insurance, an injured worker is still full covered - just as if his boss did have insurance.

Tower cranes and mobile cranes are very dangerous instruments, as we have seen with the recent tragedies that have occurred. When a crane is being "jumped," or a crane is being loaded, it puts the lives and safety of many people at risk. We all the right to demand and to expect safe construction and work sites, that obey all of New York's laws and all OSHA regulations.