Labor Law §200 (General Duty)

N.Y. Labor Law § 200

Imposes a general duty that all workplaces covered by the Labor Law be constructed, equipped, arranged, operated, and conducted — and all machinery, equipment, and devices placed, operated, guarded, and lighted — to provide reasonable and adequate protection to the lives, health, and safety of all persons employed there or lawfully frequenting the site. Courts treat it as a codification of the common-law duty of owners, general contractors, and their agents to provide a safe place to work; liability is fault-based (unlike the strict liability of § 240), requiring proof that the defendant created the dangerous condition or had actual or constructive notice of it, or supervised and controlled the means and methods of the work.