Under the Scaffold Law, contractors, employers and property owners are held 100 percent liable for any gravity-related injury of a worker, even when the worker is at fault. That may have made sense back in 1932, when ironworkers labored in shirt sleeves and worn shoes, but times have changed. In fact, new safety protocols, equipment and regulations have mitigated risks so much so that ours is the only state where a Scaffold Law still exists.

Proponents of the law claim it increases safety. Statistics prove otherwise. Fatality rates from gravity-related risks have actually declined in states without Scaffold Laws. In fact, the rate of occupational fatalities among construction workers in New York far exceeds the national average.

Still, New York clings to this obsolete law.  Read the full article here.