The law gives you the right to seek compensation from the party responsible for your injuries. In construction accident cases, you must prove negligent conduct on the part of the responsible owner or contractor. When a worker is working at a height, such as on a ladder or scaffold and an accident occurs, the key question is often this: Was your injury caused by the absence or failure of a safety device on a construction site? If the answer is yes, New York’s Labor Law Section 240 and its related statutes Labor Law 241(6) and 200 come into play.

New York’s Labor Law Section 240 – also known as the Scaffold Law, imposes what is known as absolute liability on the property owner and the general contractor at the construction site when a worker is injured as a result of the failure (or absence) of a safety device. There are a number of requirements that must be met in order to bring the worker into the protection of this statute. Call an experienced New York construction law attorney to discuss your rights under the Scaffold Law.

What if your case does not come within the protection of the Scaffold Law? For the lawsuit to succeed, you must demonstrate these four elements:

- Duty of care. All individuals involved in a construction project have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to ensure worker safety. These can include property owners, contractors, subcontractors, and equipment manufacturers.

- Breach of duty. A breach occurs when one party fails to uphold their duty of care. This breach is a deviation from acceptable behavior that puts others at risk.

- Causation. You must prove that the breach of duty directly caused your injury. We must show that the responsible party broke an important safety rule, so causation means that the accident and harm would not have happened if the responsible party had followed the rules and acted differently.

- Damages. You must have suffered actual losses as a result of the accident. These can include physical, economic, or mental damages.

Successfully proving negligence in a construction accident can be complex. Construction sites often involve multiple parties and hazards, and determining fault requires careful analysis. Call today to speak with a White Plains construction accident lawyer about your case.