WEGNER v. STATE STREET BANK TRUST COMPANY OF CONNECTICUT NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (2002)

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Sheila Abdus Salaam, J.), entered June 13, 2001, which granted defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

 This action is for personal injury sustained when plaintiff tripped over either a prong or leg of a pallet jack while steadying a cabinet, and twisted his back.   The Labor Law § 240(1) claim was properly dismissed because plaintiff's injury was not the result of an elevation-related risk.   As is evident from plaintiff's own testimony, he was not performing work involving a significant physical change to the configuration or composition of the building so as to constitute an alteration (see Joblon v. Solow, 91 N.Y.2d 457, 465, 672 N.Y.S.2d 286, 695 N.E.2d 237).   The section 241(6) claim was properly dismissed because plaintiff failed to rebut, by submission of an expert affidavit or other proof of industry standards, defendants' showing that 12 NYCRR 23-1.27(d), requiring the immediate blocking or cribbing of an object once raised to a desired height by a jack, and 12 NYCRR 23-1.28(a), requiring safe maintenance of hand-propelled vehicles, have no application to pallet jacks (see Murphy v. Broadway 48-49th St. Assocs., 246 A.D.2d 392, 668 N.Y.S.2d 25;  McCormack v. Helmsley-Spear, Inc., 233 A.D.2d 203, 649 N.Y.S.2d 697).   Moreover, section 23-1.28(a) is a general directive that cannot serve as a predicate for liability under section 241(6) (see Maldonado v. Townsend Ave. Enters., 294 A.D.2d 207, 208, 741 N.Y.S.2d 696).   We have considered plaintiffs' other contentions regarding the applicability of other Industrial Code sections to the Labor Law § 241(6) cause of action and find them to be unavailing.