A construction worker suffered fatal injury on Governor’s Island, New York. He and his son were standing next to a forklift that was unloading a heavy sewer pipe when a strap securing it broke. The 6000 pound pipe crushed the man to death in front of his son.
Read full story in Daily News.
Vordonia Contracting and Supplies Corp./Alma Realty Corp. of Long Island City, MSI of Brooklyn, and North Eastern Precast of Fultonville allowed employees to work dangerously close to high-voltage power lines despite multiple cease and desist notices from the Long Island Power Authority.
Contractors were working on a residential and retail project at the corner of Sunrise Highway and Rockaway Avenue in Valley Stream, Long Island, New York. According to OSHA inspectors, in some areas of the construction site, power lines were just 4 inches above the head of the workers and they have been fortunate not to have been electrocuted.
The 3 contractors were issued willful citations for allowing employees and crane operations in close proximity to the power lines and serious citations for failing to mark the power lines with warning signs. Additional violations were issued for failing to train workers on electrocution hazards, not checking to see whether the lines were energized and unsafe crane operating procedures.
During Hurricane Sandy, a tower crane at One57 construction site snapped backward during the 80-mile-per-hour winds and the 150-foot boom stayed tied to the mast, dangling dangerously nearly 1,000 feet high in the air over midtown Manhattan. The team of inspectors and engineers that responded to this crane accident and helped secure the collapsed boom recently received the Advancing Public Safety Award at the 2013 Commissioner’s Awards for Excellence, the New York City Department of Buildings annual ceremony held at Cooper Union in Manhattan.
After the collapse, Assistant New York City Department of Buildings Commissioner Michael Alacha, P.E., and Acting Assistant Commissioner Timothy Lynch, P.E., climbed to the top of 74-story unenclosed building to inspect the boom. In the following days multiple inspections of the crane, the hoist and the surrounding buildings were conducted and the two men as well as Executive Director of Cranes and Derricks Division Faisal Muhammed, P.E., Chief Inspector Frank Damiani and other engineers worked with the contractor and developer to devise a plan to secure the equipment. The entire operation lasted 5 days including 36 hours to slowly turn the crane mast sideways so the boom could then be secured.
OSHA recently issued a final rule to expand the exemption for digger derricks in its construction standard for cranes and derricks used in the electric-utility industry to telecommunications work. Digger derricks drill holes for utility poles. They are used by telecommunication companies to place poles inside holes and attach transformers and other items to the poles. The rule is effective June 28, 2013.
In a previous blog we mentioned that OSHA decided to apply cranes and derricks safety standard requirements to demolition and underground construction sites. The deadline for crane operators to get their certification was November 14th 2014 but OSHA just announced that it has was planning to extend it to November 10 2017 so that the certification requirements do not take effect during potential rulemaking or cause disruption to the construction industry.
Thankfully there was no injury following the crane accident near the Eat River at the Water Club restaurant. The 20 ton crane, a Grove RT540E owned by Phoenix Marine was doing work on a bulkhead on the south end of the restaurant when workers said it became snagged on a barge support beam and fell over.
The picture shows that at the time of the accident the crane seemed to be proprely set up and its boom was fully extended. Therefore at Gair Gair Conason Steigman Mackauf Bloom and Rubinowitz we think that the load being lifted was too heavy (overloaded) causing the crane to tip.
The New York City Department of Buildings is investigating.
In order to prevent and reduce hoisting equipment related accidents in demolition sites and underground construction sites, OSHA is extending the application of the requirements of the August 2010 cranes and derricks in construction standard to all construction sectors.
Starting May 13 2013, the separate standard applying to demolition and underground construction will no longer exist and employers will have to comply with streamlined OSHA standards. As a consequence, the existing operator-certification requirement will be extended to crane operators who perform underground construction work or demolition work. These crane operators have until November 14th 2014 to take their test and get certified.
OSHA says that the August 2010 crane and derricks rules saves an average of 22 lives per year and prevent 175 non fatal injuries per year and that it should also benefit demolition sites and underground construction workers.
While working on the Firefighter Injury Research and Safety Trend FEMA project, Workplace safety researchers from Drexel University School of Public Health found out that the addition of industry and occupation data information in the data collected by hospitals would benefit not only firefighters but also every woker in America. Here is a link to the white paper.
Every year an estimated 4.1 million workers suffer a serious work injury or illness however the number of workplace injuries as well as information about the type of injury and how, when and why specific injuries occur are not tracked by hospitals. In the “The Need for Industry and Occupation in Hospital Data” that was just published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Dr. Jennifer Taylor, Assistant Professor, and Leslie Frey, Policy Coordinator in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Drexel University School of Public Health petitioned for the inclusion of standards for industry and occupation within hospital data.
A new version of the Construction Chart Book: The U.S. Construction Industry and its workers was recently released by the Center for Construction Research and Training.
Here are some of the most interesting findings and graphs related to Fatal and Nonfatal Injuries:
– Electrical Power-Line installers are the most at risk to die in a construction accident
Our partner Ben Rubinowitz, assisted by Peter Saghir, obtained a verdict of $7,125,000 against the City of New York and its construction company, Burtis Construction Co., Inc. following a 17 day trial.
The plaintiff, a 41-year-old man and father of three young children, was returning home from work in the early morning hours of May 20, 2006. Six weeks earlier his wife had given birth to a baby girl via C section. His other two children included a four-year-old boy and a two-year-old boy. He worked as a film editor and was self employed. On the night of the accident the plaintiff left his midtown Manhattan workplace at around 3 o’clock in the morning. Unbeknownst to the plaintiff, the City of New York and its construction company (Burtis Construction Co., Inc.) were performing road repair work on the West Side Highway. They were involved in a short term construction project to repair expansion joints along the West Side Highway in the vicinity of 72nd to 79th Streets. As part of its contract with the City, the construction company was required to properly notify drivers that the roadway was being shut down from three lanes to one lane of travel. This closure of the roadway was supposed to be performed in conformance with the dictates of the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices and with the Maintenance and Protection of Traffic Plan spelled out by the City of New York in the contract. Specifically, appropriate signs should have been placed along the highway south of the roadwork along with tapers and transitions of barrels fitted with lights to notify and warn drivers that the left two lanes were being shut down. When the plaintiff left his office to drive home he drove northbound on the Westside Highway. As he reached the area of 79th St. he was involved in a fender bender with another car. He got out to check to make sure that everyone was alright. He then returned to his car to put on his hazard lights on and to obtain his insurance information to exchange with the other driver. Shortly after getting his insurance information and while he was out of his car he was struck from behind by another driver, Abelardo Da-Silva.
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