Two New York City construction workers have died as a result of injuries they sustained in workplace accidents. On May 19, 2021, an elevator collapsed at a construction site in the Bronx resulting in one fatality and a serious injury. The building where it happened, most recognized for the“iHeartRadio” sign on its roof, is currently under construction to be a school. Workers said the supervisor and his right-hand man were in an elevator, along with some equipment when the elevator plummeted from the fourth floor to ground level. The supervisor died of his injuries while the other construction worker in the elevator was rushed to a local hospital with serious injuries.
In a separate incident less than a week later, a construction worker died after falling four stories at a construction site in Long Island City, Queens, authorities said. Diego Lliguicota, 32, of Maspeth, fell from the sixth floor to the second floor of a building under construction at 45-18 Court Square. Preliminary reports said Lliguicota fell down an elevator shaft at about 9:30 a.m. He was rushed to Mt. Sinai Queens, where he succumbed to his injuries.
The city Department of Buildings issued a full-stop work order on the site while it investigated the incident.
Both accidents are tragic losses of life. Construction site accidents like these are the leading cause of work-related fatalities in the country. The fact that New York City has experienced such tragic events is further proof that many construction sites lack proper safety equipment and/or disregard safety regulations placing workers in perilous situations.
If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a construction site accident, contact the attorneys at Rheingold Giuffra Ruffo Plotkin & Hellman. We have decades of experience investigating these accidents and obtaining justice for those whose lives have been impacted by such tragedies.
