Cronyism, erosion of the law, wrongful convictions and death: Brad Gerstman warns this is the future of the construction industry.In an op-ed for Crain's , the employee contact list New York lawyer argues that the criminalization of construction accidents threatens construction companies of all sizes. He points out that “a prosecutor can lay criminal charges against any contractor or subcontractor…whenever there is a death, the general contractor will be held liable in almost any circumstance imaginable”. The employee contact list is, if ever there is an accident – regardless of whether the contractor himself is at fault (eg: drunk on the spot).
The construction company is responsible. Gerstmann continues:Once prosecutors become an intimate part of construction safety enforcement, the collusion of regulators and the criminal justice system will leave contractors and subcontractors virtually defenseless. With the threat of lawsuits hanging over a company, regulators will have a way to employee contact list enforce the most draconian regulations as companies seek to avoid the difficulties of lawsuits.When the floodgates of criminal prosecution are wide open, even an acquittal might not save a company because it is the process – with its expense and cost to employee contact list a company's goodwill.
That is the punishment.Let's make the industry safer for the men and women who work in it, let's not use tragedy to employee contact list score cheap political points. And let's also make sure that the heavy hand of the employee contact list criminal justice system does not deprive conscientious and honest contractors of their rights and livelihoods by turning all construction accidents into potential criminal prosecutions.If Gerstman's analysis holds true, construction companies face unprecedented liability for on-site workers' injuries.construction_safetyAnd since this is the case, accident prevention must be even more at the center of the concerns of site managers.Construction safety is not an issue.