ALBANY — Workers injured while repairing an ordinary highway are not protected by the strict liability provisions of the scaffold law, but a Court of Claims judge has ruled in a case of first impression that an elevated highway is a “structure” that is covered by the statute.

Labor Law �240(1) imposes absolute liability on building owners and contractors who fail to protect workers from elevation-related risks while they are engaged in the construction or repair of “a building or structure.”