NYC councilmember calls for database to track worker deaths

New York — Legislation recently introduced in New York City would establish a database on workplace deaths, and employers could be fined up to $2,500 per violation for not reporting data.

Introduced by Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa (D), Intro 865 – also known as the Worker Fatality Bill – would direct the commissioner of the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to create a publicly available database in which information on workplace deaths could be compiled and maintained.

During a Sept. 25 City Council meeting, De La Rosa contended that issuing workplace safety citations doesn’t do enough to “deter deaths or shame unscrupulous actors into compliance.”

Under the bill, the city’s chief medical examiner would have to deliver reports of workplace deaths to the Consumer and Workplace Protection commissioner. This would allow the city to follow up on fatality cases while holding employers accountable and financially liable, De La Rosa said.

The minimum fine per violation would be $1,000 but can rise to $2,500.

The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health’s 2024 Deadly Skyline Report states that, in 2022, 24 construction workers died in the city. That’s a 20% increase from the year prior and an 85% jump from 2020.

De La Rosa, chair of City Council’s Committee on Civil Service and Labor, noted that Latino and Black workers are dying at higher rates, citing data from NYCOSH.

“Immigrant workers are less likely to report safety violations out of fear of retaliation from employers and government agencies,” De La Rosa said. “Violations at worksites coincide with worker fatalities, as we know, pointing to a trend of unscrupulous employers who put work over safety.”