The New York City Department of Buildings has compiled data showing that, on average, one pedestrian per month is injured in a construction-related accident. The Wall Street Journal analyzed the data, choosing to focus on injuries to passersby rather than construction workers. According to the analysis, there were 96 total construction accidents involving injuries to pedestrians between 2008 and 2014, causing a total of 155 injuries. More than 75 percent of these accidents occurred in Manhattan.
In 2014 alone, there were 18 construction accidents that injured pedestrians, the most in any year since 2008, when the city started recording details of such incidents. Those 18 accidents resulted in 22 injuries to pedestrians.
Multiple issues involved in construction accidents
The statistics that the Wall Street Journal analyzed do not include information on materials falling from a building that did not lead to any injuries. This has also been a fairly significant problem in New York in recent years. According to the newspaper, One57, a subsidiary of Extell Development based in New York, had three of those incidents in less than a year.
In response to this analysis, the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer voiced her concern over the findings and said that all individuals who walk along the city streets deserve to feel safe and should not have to be constantly on guard for potential falling objects.
The city has begun to put a greater focus on construction safety in recent weeks. In one accident this year, a woman died after a piece of plywood flew off the Greenwich Lane construction project in the West Village.
If you have been injured in a construction accident as either a passerby or a worker, you may be able to seek monetary damages from those responsible. Contact an experienced New York personal injury attorney at Rubenstein & Rynecki at (718) 522-1020 or online to learn more.
