New York’s unique Labor Law §240 states in part “All contractors and owners and their agents…shall furnish or erect…scaffolding, hoists, stays, ladders, slings, hangers, blocks, pulleys, braces, irons, ropes and other devices which shall be so constructed, placed and operated as to give proper protection to a person so employed.”
When defendants fail to provide proper fall protection, courts have interpreted this law to impose strict and vicarious liability even though those words are not found in the statute. Blake v. Neighborhood Hous. Servs. of New York City, Inc., 1 N.Y.3d 280, 287 (2003).
