The plaintiff in Berg v. Albany Ladder Company, Inc., et al., was working on a flatbed truck unloading steel trusses. While standing on top of a bundle of trusses, approximately 10 feet off the ground, another bundle began to roll on top of him. The plaintiff climbed into the bundle as it fell to the ground and was injured. In granting the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the Court of Appeals reiterated that the protections of Labor Law §240(1) do not apply to every worker who falls and is injured at a construction site. Rather, the worker must first demonstrate the existence of an elevation-related hazard contemplated by the statute and a failure to provide the worker with an adequate safety device. The Court held that the plaintiff failed to adduce sufficient proof to create a question of fact regarding whether his fall resulted from the lack of a safety device.
