Responding to a spate of construction-related fatalities in recent months, the city rolled out a task force yesterday to address safety concerns associated with hanging scaffoldings.

Representatives of public sector and private sector industry stakeholders will offer recommendations for safety training, oversight, and enforcement, officials said. Headed by the Department of Buildings commissioner, Patricia Lancaster, the task force will present their suggestions to two deputy mayors, Carol Robles-Roman and Daniel Doctoroff, in December.

Yesterday, officials noted a recent wave of fatalities, including that of 25-year-old Klever Ramiro Jara, who fell 19 stories at a Fifth Avenue construction site on Wednesday. Even as officials convened a press conference to announce the new initiative, firefighters were responding to a Queens construction site, where a female contractor fell three stories from a pipe scaffolding inside an elevator shaft. Officials said the woman was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries. According to a spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings, Jennifer Givner, a stop-work order was issued at the site, on Jamaica Avenue.

Even before learning of the most recent accident, officials underscored a need for increased safety. According to data obtained from the federal Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration, there have been 17 fatal falls at construction sites citywide since October 2005. There were five such deaths in Manhattan since August.

Officials also noted the particular safety threat facing immigrant contractors who may not speak English or receive safety training. “We must make sure the city’s workers are protected — all of them,” Ms. Lancaster said. “One death is one death too many.”

Asked about the wave of construction fatalities, Mayor Bloomberg acknowledged the upsurge and urged contractors to comply with safety regulations. “It’s a phenomenally dangerous occupation,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t improve safety.”

According to Ms. Lancaster, the buildings department already has taken steps to curtail safety violations. Over the past two weeks, she said inspectors have conducted a sweep of 332 construction sites citywide that utilize hanging scaffolding. They issued 30 stop-work orders to sites that failed to comply with department regulations, she said.

Industry insiders blamed the recent wave of accidents on the city’s construction boom, increased work on exterior facades, contractors who are rushing to finish jobs before winter, and a shortage of trained workers.

According to the president and CEO of the Building Trades Employers’ Association, Louis Coletti, who offered to pay for Jara’s body to be shipped back to Ecuador, safety should not be a union issue. “This is not an issue of union or nonunion,” he said. “It’s an issue of protecting the public and worker safety.”