New York’s Scaffold Law
New York City, New York – A news report posted on ny1.com states that contractors and mayors are urging Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to revoke an important and necessary construction law that will put workers’ legal rights and their lives in jeopardy. The Associated General Contractors, the New York Conference of Mayors, the Minority & Women Contractors and Developers Association, and the General Contractors Association of New York sent a letter to Buttigieg last Wednesday perching urging the transportation secretary two use his department’s regulatory power to circumvent the New York scaffold law.
New York scaffold law is a regulation that local governments and construction organizations have heavily criticized because they allege the law places a substantial burden on construction projects. However, the New York Scaffold Law is designed to protect those who work in some of the most dangerous jobs. New York scaffold law places liability for “gravity-related” incidents involving injury or death on property owners and contractors. Opponents to the law state that the law does not take into consideration whether or not the worker was at fault for the accident.
According to the news report, the letter is requesting that I overriding the New York scaffold law, the cost of building the gateway tunnel would be a lot less. The letter stated that the group would like Mr. Buttigieg to exercise his regulatory authority to supersede New York’s absolute liability standard. And this would save the federal government hundreds of millions of dollars on the gateway tunnel project. The cost savings would come through savings in lower liability insurance premiums.
The gateway tunnel is a project that will connect New York and New Jersey via a tunnel underneath the Hudson River.
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