Scaffolding Accident in SoHo by Michael Rose The SoHo scaffolding collapse on November 19 was yet another beautiful display of New Yorkers uniting when catastrophe strikes – several people instinctively charged towards danger to help complete strangers. While the selfless efforts of a handful of New Yorkers ensured the injuries were reduced in Sunday’s accident, our next brave and benevolent citizens may multiply the injuries by becoming casualties themselves.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), there are 4,500 injuries and 60 deaths yearly from scaffold-related accidents, which only considers construction workers. The unlucky passerby injured by collapsing scaffolding and the Good Samaritan charging in to help is only inevitable, especially because of the 280 miles of scaffolding in New York City. A contributing factor to excessive scaffolding is the utter lack of regulation regarding scaffolding lifespans. At 100 Lenox Avenue, for example, a scaffold has been up for the past 17 years. City Councilman, Ben Kallos, introduced a bill requiring work on scaffolding to be completed within 3-6 months of putting it up, which will hopefully gain some traction in light of this incident. This would make New York's streets more aesthetically pleasing and protect the public from scaffolding accidents caused by old scaffolds in disrepair.
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