The plaintiff was minding her business, doing her assigned work, when she was struck by a 60-pound pipe. Or perhaps plaintiff was struck by an unsecured wooden dolly, or by an improperly affixed window frame. Does the accident come within the ambit of Labor Law §240(1), the so-called scaffold statute?
Per a Court of Appeals decision rendered earlier this year, Fabrizi v. 1095 Ave. of Americas, Labor Law §240(1) applies only if the plaintiff demonstrates that the object that fell, (a) was being hoisted or secured at the time it fell, or, (b) “‘required securing for the purposes of the undertaking.’”1
