A Worker Fell From a Scaffold in Ridgewood. DOB Cited the GC for Not Reporting It.

A worker fell from a scaffold at the third-floor level of an interior demolition jobsite and sustained a back injury, according to a DOB ECB violation served October 5 against Volk Industrial Services, a contractor listed at 599 N. Maple Ave. in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

The violation, number 39560166Z, states the fall happened at approximately 7:30 a.m. and cites the general contractor for failing to immediately notify the Department of Buildings of the accident, a Class 1 violation under Building Code 3301.8.

DOB classified the violation as Class 1, the department's most serious construction-safety tier, and imposed a $5,000 penalty with the full balance still due, per DOB ECB records. A hearing is scheduled for December 9 at 8:30 a.m.

The violation does not identify the job site address, the injured worker, or the building's BIN beyond internal DOB tracking (BIN 3247005, Brooklyn block 8770, lot 13) tied to the respondent's listing.

Under city rules, a contractor must notify DOB of any construction-related accident immediately — the notification requirement exists independent of fault for the accident itself, and this violation addresses only the failure to report, not the cause of the fall.

For GCs and demolition contractors: accident-notification failures carry their own separate exposure on top of whatever caused the injury, and DOB treats the reporting lapse as a Class 1 item regardless of how minor the underlying incident turns out to be. Contractors with active demo permits should confirm site supervisors know the immediate-notification trigger before OSHA or DOB asks why they didn't hear about it sooner.

The hearing is scheduled for December 9, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. DOB's ECB violation record (number 39560166Z) is the official source; no court or OSHA record has been checked against this filing as of this writing.