Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is a New York Plaintiff's personal injury law firm specializing in automobile accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct and all types of New York personal injury litigation.

Articles Posted in Construction Accident

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New York Construction Site SafetyUnfortunately too many construction workers are injured on the job in New York City. In order to reduce these accidents and make construction the safest possible in the city, the Department of Buildings is organizing an annual conference on Construction Safety. The 2018 Build Safe│Live Safe Conference will take place Thursday May 10th at 117 West 46th Street in Manhattan. During this one day conference, the DOB invites experts to present the most recent trends in construction and discuss safe construction operations.

NEW YORK CONSTRUCTION SAFETY WEEK

This conference is one of the many activities that will take place in New York City during Construction Safety Week (May 7-11). During this week, staff from the DOB will visit NYC construction sites to promote workers and public safety. They will promote a multilingual campaign entitled Experience is Not Enough. This campaign is stressing the importance for every construction worker independently of his experience to use safety equipment especially fall protection such as harnesses, guardrails and netting.  The DOB staff plans to distribute flyers in various languages such as Arabic, Chinese, English, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Haitian Creole.

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New York Personal Injury lawyer Anthony GairNew York Personal Injury Attorney Christopher DonadioOur NY Construction Accident law firm is proud to announce that our attorneys Anthony H. Gair and Christopher J. Donadio obtained a $1 million settlement in a construction accident that occurred in New York. The case involved an incident that occurred on a construction site in Manhattan. The plaintiff, who was a worker on the job site, suffered a crush injury to his thumb when a small crane (known as a “gin pole”) failed, and caused a several hundred pound motor to fall on to the plaintiff’s hand.

Due to the incident, the plaintiff was taken by ambulance to the hospital. At the hospital, the plaintiff was diagnosed with a crushed thumb on his non-dominant hand. As a result of the injury, the plaintiff required three surgical procedures to his thumb, including a revascularization procedure and a skin graft.

An action was brought in New York County, Supreme Court, against the general contractor of the construction project, and the owner of the construction site. The action was brought under New York Labor Law §240(1). The Labor Law of New York §240(1) provides that:

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Construction_AccidentAmong the 350,000 construction sites who were required by OSHA to electronically file their annual injury and illnesses log summary by December 31st only 153,653 complied.  61,000 construction sites that were not required to provide electronic records did it anyway. Almost 200,000 work sites  didn’t comply with OSHA’s new electronic record keeping rule. It is not exactly clear why so many companies didn’t comply with the new rule. Some companies may have believed they were exempted, some thought that the deadline would be extended one more time. Other employers didn’t want their data to be published online as the new rule requires it.

Technically OSHA now has  until June 15 to visit the 200,000 locations that violated the rule. Companies who didn’t file may risk up to $12,934  in penalties. Companies who can demonstrate they had difficulty filing electronically as well as companies who can provide a paper copy of their report may be exempted from a fine.

According to Construction Dive, some experts believe that OSHA wasn’t aggressive enough in its compliance effort.

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A hard hat died at a NYC construction site after being crushed between a forklift and and a flatbed truck. 46 year old Jorge Castaneda from Queens was working at a Brooklyn construction site located at the intersection of Stewart Street and Broadway in Buschwick, Saturday afternoon around 3:00 pm. The construction worker walked between a flatbed truck and a forklift that was carrying scaffolding pipes. The forklift tipped over as it was passing next to Castaneda, crushing him against the truck.  Emergency responders lifted the forklift, liberated the poor man and rushed him to the hospital. Unfortunately the worker couldn’t be saved. He died from his injuries.  Read more in the NY Daily News

Forklifts are dangerous machines and unfortunately accidents involving workers on foot struck by such machines are all too common. Very often accidents occur because safety protocols established by the New York State Department of Labor were not followed. In the case of the death of Jorge Castaneda, the forklift may have tipped because it was not in compliance with Industrial Code §23-9.8(b) stating that forklifts may not be overloaded.

Picture of the site of the accident courtesy of Google Map

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Dilber Kubic a contractor accused of manipulating the gas line that led to the fatal explosion of a building in the lower east side in March 2015 is back at it. The contractor who was arrested after the accident is now doing illegal construction work in Harlem. Kubic is due to appear in court on March 23rd for the 2nd Ave accident.

MULTIPLE VIOLATIONS OPENED AGAINST THE BUILDING

According to people living in the building on West 154St in Harlem, Kubic was doing demolition work in 3 one-bedroom units to convert them into 2 two-bedrom units. Kubic doesn’t have any permit for this job. A broker for the building told the NY Daily News that he stopped working for the building after the alleged  illegal work started. He also filed a complaint that is being investigated by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance. Investigators were unable to enter the building on Thursday and posted a notice for the landlord to get back to them. Journalists from the NY Daily News were able to get in and talk to tenants. They said contractors gutted all the walls in the apartments making terrible noise. The Daily News was also contacted by Joe Yusef owner of Allstate Home Remodeling who told the Newspaper that he hired Kubic to work for him. The News also called the landlord who replied that he didn’t know which apartments the News journalist was talking about. The building conditions are scary and tenants are dealing with mold, roaches and crumbling infrastructure. There are 18 violations opened with the Department of Buildings including 2 for defective elevators. In the past the landlord paid a $10,000 fine for not submitting papers to renovate the exterior of the building. He has a history of non-compliance. Read more in the NY Daily News

 

 

 

 

 

 

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church fails to maintain buildingA man scavenging for construction material in a half demolished building was seriously injured after he fell through the floor. The accident occurred at a dilapidated Brooklyn building located at the intersection of Rutland Road and Brooklyn Ave in Prospect Lefferts Gardens.  The floor gave way under the weight of the 33 year old man and he got trapped. It took an hour for the paramedics and the firefighters to shore up the basement to take him out. The man was then rushed to the hospital where he was listed in serious condition.

Before being bought by the church next door, the building was a lounge. The church received a violation from the city Environmental Control Board for failure to maintain the building  after it partially collapsed. Concerned neighbors told the DOB at the end of January that the structure “was leaning”. The owner was supposed to raze the entire building but only half of it was demolished.

After the accident the DOB issued 3 violations to the church:

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entrance of the German Masonic homeA hard hat was in critical condition after he was hit by debris at a NY construction site. 49 year old Arian Hila was working on the renovation of the Germanic Masonic Home at 120 Western Highway in Tappan, NY. On Friday afternoon one of the debris chutes became clogged with construction material. Arian and another construction worker went inside the dumpster and tried to clean the chute from there. As they were trying to unclog it, the clogged chute detached and fell onto Arian. He was crushed by the debris and could hardly breath. Police officers, firefighters and paramedics all jumped into the dumpster and removed the debris to free him. He could barely breath. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

Adrian Hila is an idenpendant contractor employed by Atria Consulting 3. The property is owned by Noble Ninth Inc. The renovation of the building started in 2016. The accident is being investigated.

Read more in the Lohud

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An 8 year old girl suffered head injury after being hit by debris falling off a NYC construction site.

Last Friday morning, Tatiana Devia was in the courtyard of her family’s apartment building on 35th Avenue near 83rd Street in Jackson Heights, Queens, when a wooden plank fell on her head. She was rushed to the hospital to be treated for a mild concussion and a large wound to her head. 3 staples were needed to close the wound. The wood fell from a construction site located at the fourth floor of the building were workers where renovating an apartment. Workers were moving planks from the construction site to the ground by letting them down with a rope from the fire escape. One of the wood pieces slipped from the rope and hit the girl. Construction workers were working without having proprely safeguard the area. The man who was lowering the board ran away and was nowhere to be found.

Investigators from the Department of Buildings issued a full stop work order and the contractor was hit with 3 violations including failure to safeguard a construction site. The family and other witnesses who live in the building said that the little girl could have been killed. Her brother was so traumatized that he was scared to return home.

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Construction worker helpin another one to set up safety harness
In New York almost half of the fatal accidents on construction sites are caused by falls. Most falls are preventable. OSHA is requiring that any worker who is working at a height of 6 feet or more from the ground and who is near an unprotected side or edge be protected with either or both of the following safety equipment:

  1. Fall restraint systems such as guardrails or safety nets
  2. Personal fall arrest system (PFAS) that includes full body harness, shock-absorbing lanyard vertical lifeline and a solid anchorage point.
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CPWR at a glanceProtecting construction workers from being injured or dying in accidents is the mission of the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR). CPWR not only publishes in-depth research in the field of construction safety and health but also provides services and training programs for construction workers.

The researchers at CPWR are working in close collaboration with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)  on safety and health issues affecting construction workers. Based on research results, CPWR develops new interventions to protect construction workers.  CPWR is working with tool and equipment manufacturers, instructors and insurance companies to reach out to contractors and workers. They believe in r2p: research to practice and p2r: practice to research.

Last year the institution offered 6,133 courses and trained 1,177 trainers who themselves trained 78,702 workers. CPWR firmly believes that improving safety culture and climate leads to a reduction of injury and illnesses.