Since January, there have been 20 fatalities in New York City surrounding construction accidents. Now to combat the growing epidemic, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is stepping in to add twelve more inspectors to examine high rise construction sites, cranes, and other high risk areas for accidents.
"There is no one - among regulators, employers, employees, unions and trade associations - who will accept these lost lives as the byproduct of work in a dangerous industry," said Louis Ricca Jr., OSHA’s acting regional administrator in New York. "We must all commit to maintaining safety as the number one job priority each and every day."
Richard Mendelson, OSHA’s area director in Manhattan, added: "The number and frequency of construction-related deaths and accidents in the city, and their associated human cost, is unacceptable. We’re using every available resource and tool - enforcement, outreach, education, persuasion, even peer pressure - to better identify and proactively eliminate hazards, and to compel employers and employees to do likewise."
The new inspectors have been working since June 23.