Fatal motor vehicle accidents increased by 5.3% in 2012 compared to 2011 according to the projections recently published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. If theses projections are confirmed it would be the first year to year increase in fatalities since 2005.
In an Upstate New York truck accident that happened several days ago, a trailer disconnected from the rig that was pulling it and crashed into a minivan killing 7. Investigation will determine if the cause of the accident was mechanical failure or driver action.
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, mechanical failures are the cause of only 1% of fatal accidents involving large trucks and among mechanical failures, the truck’s couplings, hitches or chains are the cause of 1 in a thousand fatal accidents.
The new CPSC Pool or Spa Submersions: Estimated Injuries and Reported Fatalities, 2013 Report indicate that 75% of victims of drowning in a pool or spa are younger than 5 years old. Government data also show that the majority of African American and Hispanic children between 5 and 14 years old don’t know how to swim and therefore have a much higher risk of drowning in a pool.
Every year more than 5000 children visit the emergency room after a pool or spa related injury and an estimated average of 390 children drown. Most of the accidents happen in backyard pools.
In its new pool safety campaign, The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is asking parents and families to teach their children how to swim, to install a fence around backyard pools and spas and to watch children when they play around the pool.
Diagnostic errors are not a new problem, in 1991 the Harvard medical Practice Study, investigated Medical Malpractice in New York Hospitals and found out that diagnostic errors were accounting for 14% of physicians errors and that 75% of them were due to doctors negligence.
In 1999 a study from the Institute of Medicine “To Err is Human”, looks at diagnostic errors and classifies them in four different categories: error or delay in diagnosis, failure to employ indicated tests, use of outmoded tests or therapy and failure to act on results of monitoring or testing.
Despite these studies, diagnostic errors have been largely ignored until recent research calculated the impact of such errors. Results from a 2009 report funded by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality showed that 28% of diagnostic mistakes were life-threatening or had resulted in death or permanent disability.
After 4 children died and 360 suffered injury in 1200 strollers incidents that occurred from 2008 through 2012, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recently proposed a federal safety standard for strollers.
The report of incidents would scare any mother or caregiver. In one of the fatal accidents the head of the infant became entrapped between the seat and the tray. In the second fatality the infant’s head was wedged between the car seat of a travel system and a metal bar located under the cup holder. In the third accident the stroller collapsed on the child resulting in asphyxiation. In the fourth incident the stroller fell off a dock and the child drowned, however there were not sufficient details to define whether incident was product related.
Among the non fatal incidents reported injuries were mostly lacerations requiring stitches, tooth extractions, fractures head injuries and partial amputation of fingers.
Temporary workers have a high risk of suffering fatal injury on their first days of work because they are untrained and not aware of hazards specific to the workplace. Often employers failed to provide safety training to temporary workers or, if some instruction was given, it inadequately addressed the hazard, and this failure contributed to their death.
OSHA recently launched a new initiative to protect temporary workers from work hazards. Among the new measures created, field inspectors will assess if employers using temporary workers are complying with their responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act and will check that training is provided in a language that the temporary worker can understand.
OSHA indicated that in recent months, they have received an increased number of reports of temporary workers being killed on their first days in a new position. One of the highest profile cases was the death of a 21-year-old temporary worker in August 2012 at the Bacardi Bottling’s plant in Jacksonville. Lawrence Daquan “Day” Davis was crushed to death by a palletizer machine on his first day at work.
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
A recent study on safety in hospitals conducted by Consumer Reports shows that hospitals are not a safe place to be.
For this study Consumer Reports magazine ranked more than 2000 hospitals based on the following criteria:
-Infections aquired in hospitals
-likelyhood to be re-admitted in 30 days
-communication issues around drugs and discharge
-likelyhood to get too many CT scans
-likelyhood of complications
Dr John Santa, director of Consumer Reports’ Health Ratings Center, was recently on “CBS This Morning” (see video below) to express his concerns.
In the New York area, out of 70 hospitals studied, 58 hospitals rank below the national average when it comes to safety.
Among these hospitals 27 out of the 28 teaching hospitals are scoring below average with some of them among the worst of the nation. The only teaching hospital in the New York region that scores above average is the the Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, NY with a safety score of 58 out of 100.
Teaching hospitals are supposed to lead by example as they are training the future doctors of our nation. It is an alarming fact that most teaching hospitals in the New York area are actually the most unsafe in the country.
In the New York area, the worst teaching hospitals when it comes to safety are the Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. with 22 points, the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center Health Care System in the Bronx, N.Y. with 25 points, the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y. with 28 points, Harlem Hospital Center in New York City with 28 points and the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y. with 29 points.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently published the initial release of the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.Here is a summary of their findings:
The 2011 preliminary total of 4,609 fatal work injuries represents a slight decrease from the final count of 4,690 fatal work injuries reported for 2010
The preliminary rate of fatal work injuries in 2011 was 3.5 fatal work injuries per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, down from the 2010 final rate of 3.6.
More fatal work injuries resulted from transportation incidents than from any other event.
Roadway incidents alone accounted for nearly one out of every four fatal work injuries in 2011.
In 2011, falls to a lower level accounted for 541 fatal work injuries. Of those cases
where height of fall was known, 57 percent involved falls of 20 feet or less.
Roadway incidents accounted for the greatest number of work-related transportation fatalities. Of these, 512 deaths resulted from a roadway collision with another vehicle. Pedestrian vehicular incidents constituted the second greatest number transportation-related fatal injuries Continue reading →
On April 24, 2009 a 40 year old woman died in a gas explosion that took place in her house in Floral Park, Queens, New York. The defendant in this action, Consolidated Edison, was notified of the gas leak by a neighbor of the woman; however, the Con-Ed workers were not timely dispatched to evacuate residents in the area. As a result of the negligence of Con-Ed, the woman was never notified of the gas leak nor was she evacuated from her home. The gas explosion was severe – – the house was demolished and the woman was killed. Three children were left without their mother. The woman’s husband was left without his wife.
In a record settlement, Ben Rubinowitz of Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf settled this claim for $12,400,000.00. This is one of the largest settlements in New York for a Wrongful Death case. “The woman who died was a wonderful mother to her children and a loving wife,” said Rubinowitz. “It is indeed unfortunate that no one listened to the warnings of a concerned neighbor – – he tried so hard to do the right thing. If only Con-Ed had just paid attention to a known fact and followed proper protocol this never would have happened. While I realize that no amount of money can compensate for this family’s loss, I am very pleased that we were able to provide financial security for the needs of this family who lost so much in this terrible explosion.”
New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog
