Another workplace accident has occurred in New York City early Tuesday, this time an elevated work platform raised at 40-feet tipped over and killed its two passengers, 35-year-old Robert Fabrizio of Las Vegas and 37-year-old Garin Fabrizio of Milford, Penn. The terrible mishap occurred at the World Financial Center where the two, both employees of Total Building Services in Elizabeth, New Jersey, worked as window washers. They were cousins.

This is a very sad and unfortunate thing to have happened, especially since it was only in December of last year when a team of two brothers also fell 47 stories from their scaffold in the Upper East Side. One of them died, but the other miraculously survived the fall.

New York is known to have among the strictest regulations when it comes to safety standards. Commercial window washers in the city are protected by a special labor law that makes a building owner liable for injuries due to defective equipment such as a safety harness or scaffold. Unionized window washers in the city must also learn basic regulations, as well as know how the equipment (whether it’s a ladder, scaffold or belt anchored to a window) works. But despite this, workplace accidents are still an occurrence in the Big Apple. The recent accident is a testimony to the loopholes of the city’s safety systems. To add, May of this year saw another construction accident involving a crane that fell, killing several people, damaging property, disrupting construction work and affecting the locals.

Though OSHA admits to not having specific regulations that apply particularly to window washers, the agency enforces general industry safety standards for equipment and employee training. This includes conducting a safety training program for window washers, wherein they are taught how to reduce the risks of such a dangerous and life-threatening occupation. Safety is still a law, and it is still the right of workers to be formally trained by their employers when it comes to safety in the workplace, especially if the work environment is by nature unsafe.

Such jobs may be risky but the fact is that there is still a work demand for such jobs and that the work supply is available due to lack of employment choice. This is why safety should always be a first in the workplace, because lives don’t have to be spent for us to take safety seriously.

Helpful Links:

• New Lead in the Window Washing Accident
• Emergency Response Plan for Fall-Related Emergencies
• PPE and How It Can Save Your Life – Part 1
• PPE and How It Can Save Your Life – Part 2