NYCOSH Releases 2023 Deadly Skyline Report

Twenty construction workers died on the job in New York City in 2021, according to a new NYCOSH report released this week, with the pace of fatalities rising back to pre-pandemic levels after a year of industry shutdowns. The analysis of federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data makes year-to-year comparisons by looking at the death rate per 100,000 workers.

In 2021, the rate in NYC was 11.2 per 100,000. That’s a 60% increase from 7 deaths per 100,000 in 2020 — the year that COVID began and construction slowed — when 13 workers died. In pre-pandemic 2019, however, the rate was higher than 2021: 24 workers lost their lives on city construction sites, for a rate of 11.6 per 100,000.

“Construction workers should not have to kiss their loved ones goodbye in the morning, fearful to never return again,” NYCOSH Executive Director Charlene Obernauer told THE CITY. “Every number in this report represents a person with a family who should still be alive today. Their deaths were often gruesome, always heartbreaking, and preventable.”

In addition to highlighting fatality trends in New York’s construction industry, the report also makes recommendations on how the state and city can make worksites safer for construction workers. Read THE CITY's coverage here and read the full NYCOSH report here.