NEW YORK CITY-The controversial state "Scaffold Law" embraced by organized labor, but admonished by business and management groups, is costing the state billions of dollars in added costs, according to a study authored by Cornell University's Department of Policy Analysis & Management and SUNY's Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government.

The study charges that state Labor Law 240, also known as the Scaffold Law, which imposes liability for construction accidents solely on the builder, results in more accidents and costs the construction and real estate industries billions of dollars, according to Crain's New York Business.

The study, commissioned by the New York Civil Justice Institute, found that New York State has 667 more construction accidents per year on average due to the rule, and that the state suffers $3 billion a year in additional costs.

"If the Scaffold Law causes injuries and costs our economy three billion dollars a year, why are we the only state to have it?" Tom Stebbins, executive director of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York, states. "We cannot waste public money on a law that makes work sites more dangerous. It defies all common sense."

Paul Fernandes, chief of staff of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater NY, counters, "Yet another in the long line of anti-worker research that purports to advocate for worker safety by weakening business' responsibility for workplace safety and health." See story in Crain's New York Business.