Before any lawyers start proclaiming that this is why we need scaffold law…I need to nip this in the bud. This is evidence of just the opposite. We have the law, and stuff like this keeps happening. Guess what, that means it doesn’t work. NY is the only state with this stupid law. It causes construction companies to drown in legal and insurance costs regardless of how attentive they are to safety. Proponents of the law say “it only hurts companies who skimp on safety.” That’s BS. I know companies with dedicated full-time safety professionals, the best protective equipment money can buy and intensive safety training who are still 100% at-fault when a worker is injured in a fall of even a few inches. With the current law in place, a company that is strict about safety and companies like this one who seemingly don’t care are treated the same in a gravity related suit. How is that equitable? It isn’t. Instead of claiming companies like this are the reason scaffold law is necessary, someone just explain to me why it is right that this company and a conscientious one are treated the same? And don’t tell me they aren’t. All we want is to change the law so that firms like this are STILL taken to the cleaners, while the ones who do the right thing, while still liable, are so to a lesser degree. This law is all stick and no carrot. Give a carrot in the form of proportional liability to financially incentivise good safety. There is no financial incentive if you get screwed either way. Personally I think anyone who says different is misinformed, or just plain in the pocket of the plaintiff’s attorneys lobby.
You are correct Mr Opinion. I have contractors who have sophisticated safety programs, supervisors on site and do everything correct and still with human nature, there are accidents that happen. That is why they have Workers Compensation to take care of injuries.
Before any lawyers start proclaiming that this is why we need scaffold law…I need to nip this in the bud. This is evidence of just the opposite. We have the law, and stuff like this keeps happening. Guess what, that means it doesn’t work. NY is the only state with this stupid law. It causes construction companies to drown in legal and insurance costs regardless of how attentive they are to safety. Proponents of the law say “it only hurts companies who skimp on safety.” That’s BS. I know companies with dedicated full-time safety professionals, the best protective equipment money can buy and intensive safety training who are still 100% at-fault when a worker is injured in a fall of even a few inches. With the current law in place, a company that is strict about safety and companies like this one who seemingly don’t care are treated the same in a gravity related suit. How is that equitable? It isn’t. Instead of claiming companies like this are the reason scaffold law is necessary, someone just explain to me why it is right that this company and a conscientious one are treated the same? And don’t tell me they aren’t. All we want is to change the law so that firms like this are STILL taken to the cleaners, while the ones who do the right thing, while still liable, are so to a lesser degree. This law is all stick and no carrot. Give a carrot in the form of proportional liability to financially incentivise good safety. There is no financial incentive if you get screwed either way. Personally I think anyone who says different is misinformed, or just plain in the pocket of the plaintiff’s attorneys lobby.
You are correct Mr Opinion. I have contractors who have sophisticated safety programs, supervisors on site and do everything correct and still with human nature, there are accidents that happen. That is why they have Workers Compensation to take care of injuries.