LABOR LAW 200, 241(6) AND COMMON LAW NEGLIGENCE CAUSES OF ACTION PROPERLY SURVIVED SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THIS WORKPLACE SLIP AND FALL CASE (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department determined plaintiff’s Labor law 200, 241(6)  and common law negligence causes action properly survived summary judgment in this workplace slip and fall case. Plaintiff fell going down a staircase and there was evidence that dust and perhaps paint was on the stairway associated with sanding and painting the walls. Although the stairway was not a passageway pursuant to the Industrial Code, there was a question of fact whether the stairway was a work area, even though no work was being done at the time of the fall. The defendant responsible for cleaning up, Magnetic, could be liable as a statutory agent:

… [P]laintiff’s identification of the cause of his slip and fall is not merely speculation. He testified that after he fell down the stairs, the steps he could see from the bottom of the staircase were dusty, his clothes were dusty, and his jacket was wet with paint. Further, there is testimony in the record that the walls of the stairway had been sanded and painted before plaintiff’s accident. * * *

Industrial Code § 23-1.7(e)(2) may serve as a predicate for plaintiff’s Labor Law § 241(6) claim, as it applies to slipping as well as tripping hazards … . …

Industrial Code § 23-1.7(d) is applicable to plaintiff’s accident. While a staircase used to provide access to a job site is not a passageway or other working surface within the meaning of the provision unless it is the sole means of access … , the provision is applicable if the staircase was a work area … . …

Insofar as Magnetic was delegated authority for the injury-producing work, retained subcontractors to perform the injury-producing work, and was responsible for clean-up at the site, it may be held liable under Labor Law § 241(6) as a statutory agent … . Ohadi v Magnetic Constr. Group Corp., 2020 NY Slip Op 02278, First Dept 4-16-20