The Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") requires that construction workers be provided with proper protection and adequate safeguards in the workplace. That standard of care imposed upon building owners, contractors, sub-contractors and employers was breached when an iron worker fell 20 feet from a collapsed second-floor balcony last December while working on a project at a residential building in Brooklyn.

The construction accident occurred when the balcony gave in as the worker was attempting to jack up the third-floor balcony. OSHA's investigation found that the second-floor balcony was improperly constructed, overweighted and incapable of supporting the additional weight placed upon it during the construction project. OSHA additionally found that an erected scaffold was insufficiently constructed and lacked any protection against employee falls.

OSHA imposed a total of $90,000 in fines against four New York contractors as a result of the collapse. The project general contractor, NNF Enterprises, Inc., was fined $46,250 for a variety of cited faults, including unsecured scaffold decking, lack of sufficient safety inspections and missing railings. N&C Iron Works, the worker's employer, was fined $29,250 for violations ranging from lack of fall protection to balcony overloading and lack of oversight concerning the balcony's stability. Two other construction companies were also fined for their lack of sufficient safety oversight and monitoring.

Kay Gee, OSHA area director for Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, offered blunt and unsparing criticism of the employers, saying that the result of their safety failures was "exposing workers at this jobsite to potentially deadly fall and crushing hazards." Gee added that "workers' lives cannot and must never be dependent on chance or luck."

Related Resource: ohsonline.com "Four NY Contractors Fined $90K Following Brooklyn Balcony Collapse" July 8, 2010