Labor Law § 240(1) is construed as liberally as possible in order to accomplish its purpose of protecting workers. The statute imposes a nondelegable duty on owners and contractors to protect workers from the risks associated with the erection, demolition, repairing, altering, painting, cleaning, or pointing of a building or structure, and it puts the ultimate responsibility on them to provide scaffolding, hoists, stays, ladders, slings, hangers, blocks, pulleys, braces, irons, ropes, and other protective devices. The failure to do so resulting in injury to a worker engaged in the type of work covered by the statute establishes an owner or contractor's liability as a matter of law. An owner is liable under the statute even where it exercises no control over work being performed by a contractor.
Mananghaya v. Bronx-Lebanon Hosp. Ctr., NY Slip Op 06061 (1st Dep't September 13, 2018)
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