A frightening New York City construction accident happened yesterday, Wednesday January 27, 2016, at approximately 8:25a.m. The worker, whose name has yet to be revealed, was performing work at 34 West 17th Street in Manhattan, a 12-story building currently under construction for conversion into condominiums. According to reports, the worker fell as many as five stories to the basement level of the building, where he landed on a piece (or multiple pieces) of rebar, which impaled him. For those unfamiliar with the terminology, “rebar” is shorthand for reinforcing bar, and is a mesh of steel wires threaded into the shape of a rod, which is used to hold concrete. A witness, Chuck Hayes, was quoted as saying, “he was on a stretcher and had a piece of rebar in his stomach. It was sticking out 8 to 10 inches…”. The worker was rushed to Bellevue Hospital with serious injuries, and we are relieved to see reports that he is currently in stable condition.
Our thoughts and prayers are with this injured worker, as well as his friends and family. We wish him a full recovery. We will continue to keep you posted as more information becomes available. In our experience as New York construction accident lawyers, adequate fall protection is all too often lacking at construction sites. We hope that the Department of Buildings and OSHA take a serious look at this site and determine whether proper equipment was provided, which could be anything from safety harnesses to guardrails or fencing at any exposed areas around the building’s perimeter.
At Block O’Toole & Murphy, we take great pride in helping victims of construction accidents, and in holding the developers and contractors who put them in harm’s way responsible whenever they fail to provide adequate protection to their workers. We have recovered over $850 Million for our injured clients, and we fight to preserve and expand the laws that exist to protect New York construction workers. You can learn more about our firm by visiting www.blockotoole.com, and you can always call us for a free consultation at 212-736-5300 to speak with one of our many experienced trial lawyers.