How Dangerous is that Scaffolding?

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, about 2.3 million construction professionals work on scaffolds each year. Unfortunately, an average of 4,500 of them fall and become injured—and worse, about 50 people die as a direct result of working on scaffolds every year.

That may seem like a relatively small number of injuries and fatalities… until it hits close to home.

Scaffolding Injuries on Brooklyn Construction Sites

While most construction accidents are completely preventable, some employers don’t take the necessary precautions to keep workers safe. Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time around a Brooklyn construction site has seen blatant safety violations, whether it’s a pile of unstable objects or uneven terrain that goes unmarked.

But how safe are scaffolds, really?

Ask anyone who has been injured by a fall from scaffolding and they’ll tell you it’s not as safe as it seems.

What OSHA Recommends to Mitigate Scaffolding Risks

In order to ensure that workers, visitors and passersby are safe from the inherent danger that a scaffold poses, construction sites are required to meet OSHA safety standards. However, the agency has several recommendations that employers may or may not choose to follow, including:

• Erecting and dismantling scaffolds must be done under the supervision of a competent person.
• A competent person must inspect and reinspect the scaffold at designated intervals.
• Unstable objects, such as barrels or concrete bricks, should never be used to support scaffolds.
• Employees must be instructed on the hazards of using diagonal braces as fall protection.

Workers should also use fall protection any time they’re above ground-level (realistically, though, we’ve all seen people working at lofty heights without so much as rope to save them in the event of a fall).

Falling from Scaffolding

Even given that workers should know that standing on or using scaffolding poses inherent risks, there are several instances where employers bear the brunt of responsibility for falls and injuries. It’s the employer’s responsibility to make sure anyone working around scaffolding knows the risks, and it’s the employer’s responsibility to ensure workplace safety standards are being met at all times.

The truth is, even if you’ve fallen from a scaffold and you believe you’re at fault, you might not be. The laws in New York State are complex, especially when it comes to scaffold injuries. In most cases, it’s best to talk with a lawyer to find out whether you were at fault or your employer was at fault for what happened. You may even be entitled to financial compensation that helps cover your medical bills and make up for your lost wages.