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Does Your State Have a Scaffold Law? Usually the Answer Is No
New York is the only state left with a true scaffold law: a statute that puts absolute liability on owners and general contractors when a worker falls from a height.
Every other state answers a construction fall with something weaker, and the differences decide cases.
A handful of states kept heightened-duty statutes that still do real work for injured workers.
A few wrote their rules in the other direction, shielding the property owner instead.
Most left falls to ordinary negligence law, with OSHA standards filling in what care should have looked like.
This page maps where every version of the rule lives, with the statute and the case that anchors each one.
Call (888) 713-6653 for a free case review under your state's actual rule.
At-a-Glance: Fall Liability Statutes Across the States
- New York Labor Law 240(1) is the last absolute-liability scaffold statute in the country
- Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Montana keep statutes or doctrines that raise the duty owed to workers
- Texas and California wrote their rules to protect owners; most states default to ordinary negligence plus OSHA
- Free case evaluation, any state, and you pay nothing unless we win
The State-by-State Map of Construction Fall Liability Statutes
Each row below states the rule, its source, and what it means for a fallen worker. Last verified August 14, 2026; legislatures amend and courts reinterpret, so treat this as the starting point and get a current answer for your own case.
| State | The Rule | What It Means for a Fallen Worker |
|---|---|---|
| New York | Labor Law § 240(1), the Scaffold Law: absolute liability on owners and general contractors for gravity-related injuries; comparative negligence is not a defense | The strongest fall statute in the country. If a safety device failed or was missing, the owner and GC answer for the fall |
| Illinois | Structural Work Act repealed for claims accruing on or after February 14, 1995; falls now proceed as construction negligence under retained-control principles[2] | Once the second scaffold-law state, now a negligence state. The case turns on which contractor retained control over the work |
| Washington | Stute v. P.B.M.C., 114 Wn.2d 454 (1990): the general contractor has per se liability for WISHA safety violations, owed to every worker on the site[3] | Closest living relative of the Scaffold Law. A WISHA violation puts the GC on the hook without proving it supervised your work |
| Oregon | Employer Liability Law, ORS 654.305: a heightened statutory duty on every owner or contractor in charge of work involving risk or danger, including indirect employers[4] | Reaches owners and GCs above your direct employer when they kept a right to control the risky work. Scope is before the Oregon Supreme Court on review granted in March 2026 |
| Wisconsin | Safe-place statute, Wis. Stat. § 101.11: a heightened, nondelegable duty on employers and owners to keep the place of work as safe as its nature reasonably permits[5] | The owner cannot hand the duty to a contractor and walk away, though comparative negligence still applies |
| Montana | Scaffolding Act, Mont. Code Ann. § 50-77-101: contractors and subcontractors who build or use a scaffold are liable for negligence in its use or construction, subject to comparative fault[6] | A real scaffold statute, but negligence-based and it excludes your own employer. Useful against other contractors on the site |
| Texas | Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 95: a property owner is not liable to a contractor's worker unless it both retained control over the work and had actual knowledge of the danger[7] | The rule runs against the worker. Two hurdles, control plus actual knowledge, before an owner answers for a fall |
| California | The Privette doctrine: a hirer is presumed to delegate all safety responsibility to the independent contractor, with narrow exceptions for retained control actually exercised and concealed hazards | The presumption starts against you. The case is won inside the exceptions, and pleading them correctly is everything |
| All other states | No scaffold statute. Ordinary negligence against parties beyond your employer, with retained-control doctrine and OSHA standards defining the duty of care | The fall is litigated as a negligence case. OSHA's fall protection rules become the yardstick a jury measures the defendants against |
New York Labor Law 240(1) Is the Last True Scaffold Law Standing
New York's statute dates to 1885 and it survived every repeal campaign that killed its relatives.[1] When a worker falls from a height, or is struck by a falling object that should have been secured, the owner and general contractor are liable if a required safety device was absent or failed. The worker's own carelessness does not reduce the recovery, which is the feature no other state kept.
This page holds the national map; the statute's mechanics, its ladder and scaffold case types, and the defenses that actually work in New York are covered in depth on our page on New York's Scaffold Law, Labor Law 240, and the companion page on Industrial Code claims under Labor Law 241(6).
Four States Kept Statutes That Still Raise the Duty Owed to Workers
"The same fall, from the same height, is worth different amounts in different states. The statute is the reason."
Washington comes closest to New York. Under Stute, the general contractor owes every worker on the site compliance with WISHA safety regulations, and a violation is per se liability rather than mere evidence of negligence. Washington courts have extended the duty to upper-tier subcontractors and owner-developers who function as their own GC.
Oregon's Employer Liability Law is older than OSHA and blunter: anyone in charge of work involving risk or danger must use every practicable device and precaution for worker safety. Its reach past the direct employer is the live question; the Oregon Supreme Court agreed in March 2026 to review how tightly the indirect employer's control must connect to the injury, so the doctrine's edges are moving right now.
Wisconsin's safe-place statute and Montana's Scaffolding Act round out the group. Both raise the standard above common-law negligence, and both stop short of New York: comparative fault still applies, and Montana's act cannot be used against your own employer.
The pattern that matters: in each of these states, the statute is what reaches the parties above your direct employer. Workers' compensation bars most suits against the employer itself, so the value of a serious fall case usually lives in the claims these statutes make possible.
Texas and California Wrote Their Fall Rules to Protect the Other Side
Two of the biggest construction states run the opposite direction. Texas Chapter 95 gives property owners a statutory shield: no liability to a contractor's worker unless the owner retained control over how the work was performed and had actual knowledge of the specific danger. Both prongs, not one.
California's Privette doctrine reaches a similar place through case law. The hirer of an independent contractor is presumed to have delegated all workplace safety responsibility to that contractor, and the presumption holds unless the hirer retained control and actually contributed to the injury, or concealed a hazard the contractor could not have discovered.
Neither rule ends the case. Both change what the case must prove, and they punish complaints drafted by lawyers who assumed the ordinary rules applied. In shield states, the investigation into who directed the work and who knew about the hazard has to start immediately, because it is the whole ballgame.
How a Fall Case Is Won in the Forty-Plus States With No Statute
In the default states, the fall becomes a negligence case against every party beyond your employer, and two tools carry it. The first is retained-control doctrine: a general contractor or owner that kept authority over how the work was done owes a duty to the workers doing it, and the contracts, schedules, and safety meeting minutes prove who kept that authority. The second is OSHA. The fall protection standards say exactly what should have been in place at six feet, and a jury hearing that the guardrail required by federal law was never installed does not need a statute to understand the breach. Our page on using OSHA violations as evidence covers how a citation becomes proof.
Workers' compensation pays regardless of fault in every state, and in every state it pays less than a serious fall costs. The claims described on this page are the ones that reach full damages, which is why identifying your state's rule is the first strategic decision in the case. Our page on third-party liability in construction accidents explains the comp-versus-lawsuit split in detail.