WORKER STRUCK BY DEBRIS WHICH FELL THROUGH A GAP IN PROTECTIVE NETTING ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON LABOR LAW 240 (1) CAUSE OF ACTION.
The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, granted summary judgment on plaintiff’s Labor Law 240 (1) cause of action. Workers were using jackhammers to chip away concrete on an elevated structure. Netting had been installed to catch falling pieces of concrete. Plaintiff was struck and severely injured by a four-foot piece of concrete which fell through a gap in the netting. The netting was deemed to be an inadequate safety device:
The plaintiffs’ submissions demonstrated that the injured plaintiff suffered harm that “flow[ed] directly from the application of the force of gravity” to the piece of concrete that struck him … , and that given the nature and purpose of the work that was being performed at the time of his injury, the falling debris presented a significant risk of injury such that the … defendants were obligated under Labor Law § 240(1) to use appropriate safety devices to safeguard the injured plaintiff from the harm it posed … . The plaintiffs’ submissions also demonstrated that the injured plaintiff’s injury was “the direct consequence of a failure to provide adequate protection against [the] risk” of harm posed by the falling debris … . Indeed, the plaintiffs established that the vertical netting that was installed around the controlled access zone to protect workers from the falling debris had pulled loose from the plywood barricade, creating an opening through which the concrete that struck the injured plaintiff traveled. Under these circumstances, the vertical netting constituted a safety device within the meaning of Labor Law § 240(1) … , and the plaintiffs demonstrated that it was not “so constructed, placed and operated as to give proper protection” (Labor Law § 240[1]). Sarata v Metropolitan Transp. Auth., 2015 NY Slip Op 09667, 2nd Dept 12-30-15
LABOR LAW (WORKER STRUCK BY FALLING DEBRIS ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON LABOR LAW 240 (1) CAUSE OF ACTION)