In Bland v. Manocherian, 66 NY2d 452 (1985) the Court held that "the absence of ... protective devices resulted in a denial of proper safety protection to claimant while he was working on the scaffold and, in turn, that this absence was a proximate cause of claimant's fall to the ground below ..., claimant's own negligence being inapplicable under section 240 (1), the Defendants are properly held absolutely liable for the full extent of the damages proximately caused by the absence of guardrails or other safety device to prevent a fall from the scaffold." (Bland v. Manocherian, supra, 66 NY2d at 462.)