Last weekend, one immigrant died in Brooklyn and another was injured - both just doing their jobs. They worked in construction, and their accidents happened on scaffolding at the sites. Such things take place because contractors cut corners, trading the safety of their workers for profits.

In New York, it's not supposed to be this way. The city has a scaffold law that requires building owners and general contractors to provide workers with proper scaffolds, hoists, harnesses and other safety equipment. The law works: New York's construction industry fatality rate is one of the lowest in the nation.

But a recent increase in scaffolding accidents is alarming. And so is the fact that a lot of building owners, developers and contractors are seeking to destroy the scaffold law. They are pressuring legislators to amend it to shift ultimate responsibility for work-site safety onto workers instead of employers.

Immigrant workers, especially Latinos, would be the most likely to pay the price for contractors' negligence if the law is changed. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, construction is one of the most dangerous industries, accounting for 20.8% of all workplace deaths in 2001. Latinos account for a fast-growing share of the construction workforce. In 2001, they held 17.4% of construction jobs nationally, up from 10.2% in 1993. Their share of New York City construction jobs is substantially higher.

It is often immigrant construction workers who take on the most dangerous jobs at the riskiest construction sites and who get injured the most. Seven of the 25 workers who were killed by accidents at New York City construction sites between October 2001 and September 2003 were classified as day laborers, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Almost every major scaffolding accident in the past 12 months has involved immigrants.

Workers who speak little or no English and those who are undocumented are in no position to complain to their employer, a labor union or the government about work-site safety lapses.

The scaffold law is often their only protection. If a contractor violates it and a worker is injured, the law allows the worker to sue for his medical bills, lost wages and damages.

If the law is gutted, an important protection will be lost. So, too, will be New York's ability to call itself a place that protects those who come here looking for opportunity and are willing to work for it.