Recently, a long-simmering rift has widened within the Appellate Divisions regarding the application of Labor Law §240 to the common worksite accident scenario where a portion, but not all, of a worker’s body falls through an opening.

Under strikingly similar factual scenarios in which workers walking on top of rebar grids partially slipped into 12-inch by 12-inch openings, the First and Second Departments reached opposite conclusions.