New York’s “Scaffold Law” (NY Labor Law Sections 240/241) makes property owners in New York “absolutely liable” for elevation-related injuries to contractor employees working
at commercial properties (office buildings, co-ops, condos, apartments, etc.). New York is the only state in the country with such a law (all other states apply a “comparative negligence” standard, where the worker can be partially responsible for his/her own injury, to the extent he/she was negligent.)
As a result of this law, New York property owners routinely attempt to transfer this liability exposure from their buildings and
their insurance carriers, to the contractors and the contractors’ insurance carriers.
Learn more about proper risk transfer, and the impacts of the scaffold law here.
