General Contractor Found Liable for Injuries to Subcontractor’s Employee

In an unpublished decision from March 25th, the Appellate Division found a general contractor to be responsible for providing a safe working environment for the employees of its subcontractors based on the specific set of facts in that case.  Notably, the court did not examine the terms of the subcontract (which wasn’t signed until after the accident), but relied upon provisions in the general contractor’s agreement with the owner that placed responsibility for safety barriers and OSHA compliance on the general contractor.  Consequently, the court found that the general contractor owed a duty of care to a subcontractor’s employee that fell through a hole in the roof where there were no safety barriers or other fall protection.  In doing so, the Appellate Division quoted the almost twenty-year-old case of Kane v. Hartz Mtn. Industries, stating, “[t]he public interest supports imposing a duty of care upon [the general contractor] for Plaintiff’s benefit. We have held the ‘public policy of this State … favors the general contractor as the single repository for the safety of all employees of a job.’” (Joel Rivera v. PNL Jersey Properties LLC, et. al.)