New York City Construction Accident Statistics: 2024-2025 Data

In 2024, New York City recorded 638 construction incidents and 482 worker injuries on building sites. That was a 10-year low, per the NYC Department of Buildings. But NYCOSH's broader count found 19 construction worker deaths citywide. That rate is still nearly six times the average across all NYC industries. Falls remain the single leading cause.

New York City builds more, taller, and faster than almost anywhere in the country. That scale comes with risk, and construction is consistently one of the city's deadliest industries. This post pulls together the most recent official New York City construction accident statistics. We cover fatalities, injuries, causes, borough breakdowns, and the laws that protect workers. The goal is to help injured workers and grieving families see how common these accidents are and what rights they have.

How NYC Counts Construction Accidents — and Why Two Sets of Numbers Exist

One of the most confusing things about this data is that you will find two very different death counts for the same year. In 2024, one widely cited figure was seven fatalities. Another was 19. Both are correct. They simply measure different things.

The NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) tracks incidents only on permitted building construction sites. Those are the projects its inspectors regulate, so its count is narrower on purpose. For 2024, DOB reported 638 construction incidents, 482 injuries, and 7 fatalities on building sites (NYC DOB Construction-Related Accident Reports).

The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) uses federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and OSHA data. It counts all construction work. That includes highway and bridge projects, utility and transit construction, demolition, and smaller jobs that fall outside DOB's permitting authority. Under that broader lens, NYCOSH's 2026 Deadly Skyline Report counted 19 construction worker deaths in New York City in 2024. It counted 55 across New York State (NYCOSH 2026 Deadly Skyline Report).

Neither number is wrong, but it matters not to mix them. The DOB figure tells you how safe regulated building sites are. The NYCOSH figure tells you the full human cost of construction across the city. Throughout this post, every statistic is labeled with its source so the two counts stay distinct.

New York City Construction Accident Statistics: 2018–2025 Trends

The trend over the last decade follows the building cycle. Construction injuries rose through the 2010s and peaked in 2018, when 759 workers were hurt citywide. That was one of the most dangerous years on record. Injuries then fell for two straight years, dropping to 595 in 2019 and 502 in 2020. The 2020 drop was helped by the COVID-19 shutdown of nonessential construction.

As building activity rebounded after 2020, so did accidents. By the broader NYCOSH count, citywide construction worker deaths climbed from 20 in 2021 to 24 in 2022. Then they hit 30 in 2023, the highest in a decade. Statewide, 2023 was just as grim, with 74 construction deaths across New York.

Then 2024 marked a real turning point on building sites. DOB incidents fell to a 10-year low of 638, down 24% from 2023, and injuries dropped roughly 30%. NYCOSH's broader citywide death count fell 37%, from 30 in 2023 to 19 in 2024. The statewide total dropped 26% to 55.

The two official datasets look like this side by side:

NYC DOB building-site data (permitted construction only):

Source: NYC Department of Buildings construction safety reports.

NYCOSH all-sector data (all construction work):

Source: NYCOSH 2026 Deadly Skyline Report (BLS/OSHA data).

The 2024 improvement is real, but it deserves context rather than a victory lap. Part of the decline reflects reduced permitting and slower activity in some sectors, not purely safer conditions. The 2025 full-year data shows the tension. DOB incidents fell again to 432 and injuries to 320, yet building-site fatalities ticked back up to 10. Federal enforcement weakened over the same period. OSHA inspections in New York State dropped 29.1% compared with pre-pandemic levels. Safer building sites and thinner enforcement are pulling in opposite directions.

Leading Causes Behind NYC Construction Accident Statistics

Across every dataset, one hazard dominates: falls from heights. According to NYCOSH, falls account for 58% of all fatal NYC construction accidents. Falling is also OSHA's most-cited violation category nationally, and it has held that spot for 14 years straight. In the 2024 DOB data, "Worker Fell" was the single largest incident category. Those falls came from scaffolds, ladders, roofs, elevator shafts, and unguarded floor openings.

The other leading causes, drawn from 2024 DOB incident data, were:

• Other construction-related incidents: This broad category covers electrical contact, trips, and tool injuries.
• Material failure (falling objects): Debris, tools, or materials drop onto workers below. These are the core of "struck-by" injuries.
• Mechanical construction equipment: This covers heavy machinery, cranes, hoists, and power tools.
• Scaffold and shoring installations: These are scaffold collapses and failures, which often overlap with the fall category.
• Excavation and soil work: These are trench collapses and related hazards.

There is a direct legal reason falls and falling objects matter so much in New York. Under New York Labor Law § 240, known as the Scaffold Law, owners and general contractors face strict liability for gravity-related injuries — that means accidents caused by a worker or object falling because of inadequate safety devices (NY Labor Law § 240). Because the law squarely targets the most common construction hazards, fall and falling-object cases often produce large recoveries. This does not mean recovery is automatic. These cases still require proof of a statutory violation and that it caused the injury.

Which Boroughs See the Most Construction Accidents

Where construction happens, accidents follow. So the borough breakdown tracks building volume more than anything else. The 2024 DOB incident data looks like this:

Source: NYC DOB 2024 Accident Summary.

Manhattan leads in total incidents, a function of sheer density. High-rise towers, façade and sidewalk-shed work, and large developments are packed onto a small footprint. Brooklyn follows close behind. It has historically carried a heavier share of fatalities relative to its incident count. Much of its construction is mid-size residential and renovation work, where safety oversight tends to be thinner. Queens sees a lot of activity too, especially in Long Island City and Flushing. In the Bronx, most fatalities happen on residential renovation and demolition jobs.

This citywide spread is part of why The Orlow Firm keeps offices in Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. Injured construction workers come from every borough, not just one.

Who Is Most at Risk: Non-Union Workers and Immigrant Laborers

The clearest pattern in the fatality data is not about geography. It is about who does the most dangerous work with the least protection. According to the NYCOSH 2026 Deadly Skyline Report, 81% of NYC construction fatalities involved non-union workers. Non-union sites are far less likely to have dedicated safety officers, formal hazard training, or enforced protective rules.

The disparity falls heavily on immigrant laborers. Latinx workers accounted for 25.8% of construction fatalities while making up 18.6% of the state's construction workforce. That gap is large and persistent. Undocumented workers are especially vulnerable. Fear of retaliation can discourage them from reporting unsafe conditions, refusing dangerous tasks, or even seeking medical care after an injury.

These deaths are largely preventable. NYCOSH found that 77% of fatal worksites had prior OSHA violations, which means the hazards were often known before someone died. Yet enforcement has been moving the wrong way. OSHA inspections in New York State fell 29.1% from 2019 levels, down to 3,162 in 2025. The average OSHA fine dropped to $25,295 in 2024, the lowest since 2017 and down from $32,123 in 2023.

One point matters above all for vulnerable workers. In New York, immigration status does not determine your right to recover for a construction injury. The Orlow Firm represents all injured workers, documented or not.

NYC's Legal Framework: What Protects Construction Workers

New York gives construction workers among the strongest legal protections in the country. Understanding the framework explains why the state's accident cases differ so much from those elsewhere.

New York Labor Law § 240 (the Scaffold Law) places strict liability on owners and general contractors for gravity-related accidents. That covers falls from heights and objects falling from above, when proper safety devices were not provided. Comparative negligence is generally not a defense under this statute (NY Labor Law § 240).

New York Labor Law § 241(6) requires owners and general contractors to follow specific OSHA-equivalent industrial safety codes on construction, excavation, and demolition sites. Unlike § 240, it applies a negligence standard (NY Labor Law § 241).

New York Labor Law § 200 is the general duty of owners and contractors to provide a reasonably safe workplace.

Carlos' Law, effective in 2023, sharply raised the criminal penalties for companies whose safety failures kill or seriously injure workers. Felony fines now range from a $500,000 minimum up to $1 million, up from a previous maximum of just $10,000. It is named for Carlos Moncayo, a 22-year-old worker killed in a 2015 Manhattan trench collapse (Carlos' Law, S621B). Carlos' Law is a criminal statute aimed at corporate liability. It is not a way for an individual worker to sue.

A common and costly misconception is that workers' compensation is the only option after a construction injury. In New York, an injured worker can collect workers' compensation from their employer. They can also separately bring a third-party claim against the owner or general contractor under the Labor Law. These are not mutually exclusive, and the third-party claim is often where meaningful recovery comes from.

A Notable Recent Incident

Some accidents show how quickly an urban construction site can turn dangerous. During the morning rush on July 26, 2023, a crane atop a high-rise under construction in Midtown Manhattan caught fire and partially collapsed. Its boom crashed into a neighboring building and onto the street below. No one was killed, but 12 people were injured. The episode was a vivid reminder. In a dense city, a single equipment failure can endanger workers and bystanders alike. The difference between a survivable incident and a fatal one is often a matter of feet.

The Bottom Line

The 2024 data offers cautious good news. Building-site incidents and injuries hit a 10-year low, and citywide deaths fell sharply from the 2023 high. But the broader picture is more sobering. Nineteen workers still died on NYC construction sites in 2024. The fatality rate remains roughly six times the citywide average across all industries. Falls still kill more workers than anything else. And the workers dying are overwhelmingly non-union and disproportionately immigrant laborers, often on sites that already had known violations. Behind every figure in this report is a person who went to work and did not come home whole.

Sources & Official Resources

New York Laws Cited

1. NY Labor Law § 240 — Scaffold Law (Gravity-Related Injuries)
2. NY Labor Law § 241 — Construction Site Safety Codes
3. Carlos' Law, S621B — Corporate Criminal Liability for Worker Deaths

Statistics Sources 4. NYC DOB Construction-Related Accident Reports (Annual Summaries) 5. NYCOSH 2026 Deadly Skyline Report — Annual Construction Fatalities

Contact The Orlow Firm

If you or a family member was hurt on a New York City construction site, the statistics above represent real people in situations exactly like yours. Construction accident cases turn on complex, overlapping laws. Those include Labor Law § 240, § 241, and the relationship between workers' compensation and third-party claims. You should have an attorney review your rights before speaking with any insurance company.

The Orlow Firm has protected injured workers throughout Queens and New York City since 1982, with more than 40 years of personal injury experience. Our construction accident attorneys have recovered millions for injured New York workers. That includes $3,375,000 for a worker who fell off a ladder and suffered neck, back, and shoulder injuries, and $2,474,000 for an undocumented worker electrocuted and injured on a scaffold. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. We serve all five boroughs from offices in Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, and we represent every injured worker regardless of immigration status.

Call (646) 647-3398 for a free consultation. Se Habla Español. No fees unless we win your case.

This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Every case is different. Contact an attorney to discuss your specific situation.