The construction industry is associated with numerous dangers and many workers are injured every year. Working on a construction site is literally like walking through a minefield, you never know when you will encounter a life-threatening hazard. One of these many hazards has to do with scaffolding.

Scaffolding has been known to lead to serious injuries. Sometimes scaffolding is put together hastily or has defects, ultimately resulting in a scaffold accident. While scaffolding is crucial to the construction industry (it was even used in ancient times), it can be dangerous. The dangers are so great, that the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) produced a list of safety tips for scaffolding.

According to OSHA, anyone using a scaffold must be properly trained. This training needs to incorporate the hazards of different types of scaffolding, load capacity, maximum weight, dangers of scaffolding falls, recognizing scaffolding defects and the dangers of overhead lines.

OSHA also provides guidelines to prevent injuries from a scaffolding accident. For example, guardrails must be installed on platforms that are 10 feet or higher and working platforms need to be planked near these guardrails.

For more information on this topic, read the article, How to Avoid a Serious Scaffolding Accident.

Contact a New York construction accident lawyer at the law firm of Rappaport, Glass, Greene and Levine at 800.734.9445 if you have been injured in a construction accident in Manhattan, Long Island or other area in New York.