PICCIONE v. 1165 PARK AVENUE, INC

Plaintiff fell and was injured when the ladder on which he was standing while repairing a fluorescent light fixture collapsed. The repair work consisted of replacing the ballast and sockets, disconnecting the wires, stripping them and reconnecting them. Such repairs, which entailed much more than merely changing a lightbulb, constituted "repair[s]" within the meaning of Labor Law § 240 Lab. (1) and 12 NYCRR 23-1.4 (b) (13) (compare, Purdie v. Crestwood Lake Hgts. Section 4 Corp., 229 A.D.2d 523, 525, with Smith v. Shell Oil Co., 85 N.Y.2d 1000, 1002), and are thus protected under Labor Law § 241 Lab. (6) as well as section 240 (1) (see, Joblon v. Solow, 91 N.Y.2d 457, 466). Indemnification in favor of the apartment occupants and against the building owner and maintenance contractor was properly granted upon proof establishing that the latter alone controlled and supervised plaintiff's work (see, Kelly v. Diesel Constr. Div., 35 N.Y.2d 1). Plaintiff's conclusory and unsworn legations that the floor on which the ladder stood was slippery is insufficient, standing alone, to raise an issue of negligence on the part of the apartment occupants (see, Silver v. Brodsky, 112 A.D.2d 213, 214).

Concur — Sullivan, J. P., Ellerin, Lerner and Rubin, JJ.