Businesses and governments have a duty to create a safe work environment for their employees to do their jobs. Businesses and government entities in Kingston, Poughkeepsie and Newburgh, NY, and the surrounding area, are not exempt from this duty. Unfortunately, we tend to only find out about unsafe work environments after an accident has occurred or an OSHA violation has been logged.
If you’ve been injured in a workplace accident, give us a call at 845-600-0000 for a free legal consultation at our offices in Kingston, NY and Poughkeepsie. We’ll walk through all of your options with the goal of getting you compensation for your injuries, loss of enjoyment of life, lost income, and more. We push back against insurance companies.
There are four areas of the law that protect workers and give them some compensation after an accident:
- OSHA (Federal Government)
- The NYS Department of Labor and NYS Industrial Code
- Workers Compensation
- Personal Injury Law
Despite the many financial incentives and regulations to provide a safe work environment, there are still far too many workplace accidents and unsafe work environments. According OSHA, the most frequently cited violations are:
- Fall Protection
- Hazard Communication Standards
- Scaffolding
- Respiratory Protection
- Control of hazardous energy
- Ladders
- Powered Industrial Trucks
- Fall Protection Training
- Machinery and Machine Guarding
- Eye and Face Protection
County by county or local accident statistics aren’t available. The latest available information that we have for New York State was in 2018, when private industry employers reported 140,200 nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses. That’s a rate of roughly 2.2 per 100 full-time workers, below the national rate of 2.8 per 100 workers.
In state and local government workplaces, 60,400 injuries and illnesses were reported, for a rate of 6.4 cases per 100 full-time workers, up from the national rate of 4.8. 76% of the total injuries occurred among local government workers.
To get a sense of this problem, we looked at OSHA violations in Newburgh, Poughkeepsie and Kingston from 2015 to 2019.
How many OSHA Violations took place in Newburgh?
How many OSHA Violations took place in Poughkeepsie?
How many OSHA Violations took place in Kingston, NY?
Many accidents take place on construction sites in the Hudson Valley. Some of the most common kinds are:
- Electrocution Accidents
- Lift/Forklift Accidents
- Scaffolding & Ladder Injuries
- Falls and Injuries from Slippery Conditions
- Third-Party Claims