New construction projects for institutional and commercial buildings are generally causes for celebration among organizations that are expanding, relocating or otherwise marking their overall success. Occasionally, however, construction projects are reminders that great risk — even fatal risk — too often accompanies these projects. The recent release of a report on fatalities in New York City construction projects offers one such grim reminder.
New York City officials say the city has witnessed a post-pandemic construction boom, but that is a cause of concern for safety advocates who say fatalities among construction workers also have grown, according to CBS News. The data, released by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), shows that Brooklyn has had the most deaths of workers.
This comes as NYCOSH released a recent report that says construction fatalities increased for the third year in a row in 2022, the most recent year that data was available.
2022 saw 19 OSHA-investigated fatalities, of which Brooklyn led the way with eight, followed by Queens and Manhattan with four each, then two in the Bronx, and one on Staten Island, according to NYCOSH.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
