New York Scaffold Accident Attorneys

How Do NY Scaffolding Accidents Happen?

Common causes of scaffolding accidents include the following:

• Lack of training
• Bad scaffolding design
• Lack of guardrails
• Bad scaffolding construction
• Equipment failure

If you believe these or other factors contributed to your scaffolding accident, our experienced and aggressive New York scaffolding accident attorneys are ready to help you explore your legal options.

We are committed to giving your claim the attention and consideration it deserves and to recover the largest available damages award to compensate you for the expenses you incur due to your injuries. This could include your current and future medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

What Legal Protections Are Available After a Scaffolding Accident?

For example, Section 240 of the NY Labor Laws requires owners of buildings and general contractors to provide safety protection for all construction site workers and imposes absolute liability on those owners and contractors for injuries resulting from their failure to provide that protection. 

Labor Law 240 applies explicitly to construction, demolition, repairing, altering, painting, cleaning, or pointing of a building or structure when workers are at risk of falling or being struck by falling objects.  

The law mandates that employers, general contractors, and property owners (excluding single- and two-family homeowners who do not direct the work) provide workers with proper safety equipment, including ladders, hoists, swings, ropes pulleys, braces, blocks, or other devices necessary to ensure worker safety. 

Unlike traditional personal injury claims, Labor Law 240, as noted above, imposes absolute liability on employers and contractors who fail to meet its safety requirements.  

This means: 

• Workers do not have to prove negligence; they only need to show that the employer or property owner failed to provide adequate protection. 
• Comparative negligence does not apply—the worker’s own carelessness is generally not a valid defense if safety measures were inadequate. 
• Employers and owners are responsible for any fall-related injuries, even if they claim the worker was at fault for the accident. 

This strict liability provision ensures that workers have strong legal protection in the inherently dangerous construction industry. 

If a worker is injured in a New York scaffolding accident, the statute of limitations is three years from the date of the accident to file a third-party lawsuit against the responsible party (property owner or contractor) under Labor Law 240. 

However, these laws are not self-enforcing. When a construction worker is involved in a scaffolding accident, they will need to hire a New York construction accident lawyer and file a lawsuit to recover damages for their losses. 

Can an Injured Party in a Scaffold Accident File a Third-Party Claim?

Sometimes, injured employees can sue third parties whose recklessness or careless actions caused their accident. A third-party claim can seek additional compensation to cover damages outside workers’ compensation benefits, like pain and suffering, emotional anguish, and loss of spousal consortium.

A construction worker who has been injured in a NY scaffold accident may have a valid reason to sue parties other than their employer, including:

• Subcontractors who provided or negligently assembled the scaffold.
• Other subcontractors at the construction site who contributed to flaws that caused the scaffold to fail.
• Architects and engineers who did not plan the construction site properly for safe use of scaffolds, ladders, or mechanized lifting equipment.
• Owners of the construction site who negligently tolerated the use of sub-standard scaffolding.

Each accident reflects a unique set of facts that your New York scaffolding accident attorney will analyze before they file a third-party claim to recover damages. When you are looking for representation in a New York scaffold accident lawsuit to protect your interests, ensure they have the expertise to review all aspects of your accident and injuries and to pursue damages from all potentially liable parties.

What is the Statute of Limitations to File a NY Scaffolding Accident Lawsuit?

If the construction work occurred on a government or municipal building, you may only have 90 days to file a claim.

Otherwise, you generally have three years from the date of the incident that caused your injuries to file a NY scaffolding accident lawsuit. However, from a practical perspective, you should not wait three years. Instead, contact a construction accident lawyer as soon as possible after your accident to allow sufficient time to preserve and analyze the evidence that will support your claim for damages.

Call Rheingold Giuffra Ruffo Plotkin & Hellman for a Free Consultation

The NYC scaffolding accident attorneys atRheingold Giuffra Ruffo Plotkin & Hellman are ready to help you explore your legal options after you have been hurt in a scaffolding accident. Please schedule a complimentary and confidential consultation with a New York construction accident lawyer about how you can get the damages award you deserve.

If you retain us and we accept your case, we will thoroughly analyze the evidence about your accident and identify all parties that may be liable for your damages. You will pay nothing for our services, and we will earn our fees as part of the settlement or jury award that we recover for you.