The New York construction accident attorneys at Block O’Toole & Murphy have been down this road far too many times.
A victim who is injured in a work site accident is victimized yet again by the unsavory developers and contractors who tried to blame the injured worker for his own accident. This kind of egregious conduct is most often seen when a worker is performing construction without being provided the necessary safety devices by his bosses. Instead of accepting responsibility the boss’ first instinct is to often point fingers, to blame everyone but him or herself. Why does this happen? It is sometimes an effort to avoid hefty fines for running an unsafe jobsite. Occasionally it is to avoid looking bad for a superior. Sometimes, it is an utter lack of respect for the well-being of another human being.
One would think that after compelling someone to work under unsafe and dangerous conditions that, after the worker is hurt, their supervisors would accept some form of responsibility. It just isn’t so.
The New York Daily News authored another article today as part of a series of investigative pieces on how workers are often mistreated after a serious accident. The article uses the World Trade Center site construction work as its focus. They use a series of accidents which occurred there to illustrate the point that there are major contractors handling massive construction jobs whose sole interest is protecting themselves, even in the face of a serious injury or death of one of their employees.
These examples often involve workers who are injured as a result of their bosses failing to give them necessary safety equipment. They are injured as a result of the unsafe work conditions. Then their boss pens a report seeking to blame the worker for the accident. Many of these injustices are caught by the regulatory agency OSHA but far too many of them fall through the cracks. In fact, the article discussed 34 of at least 81 serious accidents that occurred at the World Trade Center site which were not reported to OSHA. You have to wonder if the contractors are brazen enough to falsify the circumstances of an accident in a report submitted to OSHA – – what are they putting into the reports that they are hiding from OSHA? You can be certain that the worker and the safety of workers is not a priority for those in charge given their actions. This article predominantly focuses on what is happening at the World Trade Center site. What goes unmentioned is what happens at less prominent worksites. Clearly those workers’ rights are trampled on even more.
The deceitful actions described in this article make it all the more important for us as citizens to stand behind the hard working women and men in the construction industry. Collectively, we need to impress upon our lawmakers that worker safety laws are important for our citizens, families and way of life. If these laws are watered-down there will be very little to deter the unsavory developers and contractors who seek to exploit the working class.
Block O’Toole & Murphy is a law firm who prides itself on fighting for the women and men in the construction trade. We have represented construction workers and fought for their families for decades. Our results, including recovering more than 800 million in verdicts and settlements, are second to none. You may learn more about these construction accident lawyers by reviewing the firm website at www.BlockOToole.com.
Read the Daily News article: