Compared to all construction workplace safety penalties, the number of safety-related criminal prosecutions in the industry is small. Such cases force prosecutors out of their familiar territory of thieves, drug dealers and killers into the technical and organizational complexities of the jobsite.
But if the civil penalty doesn't seem to fit in a high-profile accident, prosecutors will press charges. For example, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. has won indictments against construction site supervisors in connection with the 2007 Deutsche Bank building fire, which killed two firefighters. He also won indictments against a crane operator and crane owner in connection with two tower-crane accidents that killed construction workers and city residents in 2008.