Shaub, Ahmuty, Citrin & Spratt, LLP, Lake Success (Payne T. Tatich of counsel), for appellants.

Pollack, Pollack, Isaac & DeCicco, LLP, New York (Brian J. Isaac of counsel), for respondents.

Manzanet–Daniels, J.P., Singh, Scarpulla, Shulman, JJ.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Arlene P. Bluth, J.), entered March 4, 2020, which granted plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of liability on their Labor Law § 240(1) cause of action, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

The bracing timber thrown into the trench where defendants' contractor was installing a water main, to brace a section of pipe, was "a load that required securing," regardless of the fact that it was deliberately lowered down ( Gutierrez v. 610 Lexington Prop., LLC, 179 A.D.3d 513, 117 N.Y.S.3d 208 [1st Dept. 2020] ; Diaz v. Raveh Realty, LLC, 182 A.D.3d 515, 516, 120 N.Y.S.3d 776 [1st Dept. 2020] ; see Mora v. Sky Lift Distrib. Corp., 126 A.D.3d 593, 594–595, 4 N.Y.S.3d 211 [1st Dept. 2015] ). Contrary to defendants' contention, plaintiff construction worker was not standing in a drop zone and was not struck by an object or debris for which a securing device was not "necessary or even expected" ( Roberts v. General Elec. Co., 97 N.Y.2d 737, 738, 742 N.Y.S.2d 188, 768 N.E.2d 1127 [2002] [internal quotation marks omitted]; compare Torres v. Love Lane Mews, LLC, 156 A.D.3d 410, 411, 67 N.Y.S.3d 139 [1st Dept. 2017] ).