Held each year on April 28, Workers Memorial Day provides an opportunity to pay tribute to the thousands of Americans who lose their lives on the job each year. But beyond honoring the working men and women who tragically lost their lives, this day of remembrance serves as a reminder of the critical need to prioritize occupational safety and protect the individuals who keep our economy moving.

There is a particularly crucial need to reinforce safety protections for individuals working within industries that present heightened occupational risks. Here in New York, construction workers across the state experience on-the-job deaths and serious injuries at an astonishingly high rate, exemplified by a string of fatal incidents earlier this month. And yet, despite the clear need for stronger regulatory enforcement and controls, business interests are spending millions of dollars on misinformation campaigns to weaken and derail legislative safeguards for construction workers.

Labor protections are effective when backed by adequate resources and meaningful regulatory enforcement. The most recent available data indicates that construction safety guidelines have delivered results when they are properly prioritized by public officials.

In New York City, policymakers have raised funding for the Department of Buildings from $107 million in 2015 to $183 million in 2019, allowing the agency to increase its staff by more than 700 employees and conduct a greater number of worksite inspections. Officials have also implemented measures designed to improve safety knowledge with required worksite training and safety certifications. The city's efforts to improve construction safety were bolstered by the Manhattan District Attorney office's enforcement of criminal penalties through the Construction Fraud Task Force.

These protections are already making a difference. A report published earlier this year found that fatal constructions incidents in New York City have declined 23% over the last five years while increasing by 39% across the rest of the state in the same timeframe. That's not to say that we've reached 'Mission Accomplished' for construction safety in New York City-the heartbreaking deaths of three individuals at separate NYC worksites demonstrate that we need to be doing more to protect our workers. However, the overall drop in fatal and injurious incidents show that proactive policymaking and enforcement will be central to fostering a safer environment for workers.

State policymakers must similarly devote greater resources to safety inspections and agency staffing. It is also critical that lawmakers uphold the Scaffold Safety Law, and resist attempts by business interests to weaken it on the basis of false characterizations and unsubstantiated claims. When you cut through the political noise, the Scaffold Safety Law is quite straightforward in practice. The statute merely requires contractors to provide the necessary safety equipment to workers. In the event that proper safety equipment isn't provided and injury results, workers and their families are able to hold the negligent parties accountable for medical expenses and lost wages.

We've seen that stronger regulations can significantly improve worksite safety. The Scaffold Safety Law is one of the few ways that New York construction workers and their families can hold negligent contractors accountable. Repealing or weakening the law would further incentivize contractors to grow their profits by cutting corners on safety, placing workers in even greater danger than they are already in. Elected officials must refrain from taking business groups' misleading claims at face value, and prioritize worker safety ahead of construction profits.

Policymakers across New York should also further emphasize transparency by establishing mechanisms to expand the enforcement of existing labor rules. Public databases that identify bad actors and labor transgressions would provide an additional layer of scrutiny that would encourage a stronger commitment to worker safety. The state should also pass Carlos' Law, a bill that would raise the maximum fines for safety violations and implement safety training requirements that have proven successful in New York City.

On Worker Memorial Day, we will grieve with the friends and families of those who have lost their lives while simply trying to make a living. We can help honor their memories by doing everything we can to make New York a safer place and put our workers' well-being first.

David Oddo is the president of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. Mario Cilento is the president of the New York State AFL-CIO.