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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NYC explosionA construction worker was critically injured and two others suffered serious personal injury in a gas explosion that rocked the walls of the science lab at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, NYC. 36 year Luigi Barillaro, 38 year old James Intriago and 53 year old Charles Marullo, were all working for the plumbing and heating company Mar-Sal Plumbing & Heating Inc., based on Pitkin Avenue in Ozone Park, Queens, NYC. The company was hired to install a tabletop gas valve as part of a science lab construction project located on the sixth floor of the building. The 3 men had been working all day and the room was filled with gas but they apparently didn’t detect the smell of gas because they had been desensitized to it. At one point Luigi Barillaro lit a match to check if the gas was working, sparking a huge explosion, blowing out the walls and sending debris flying 200 feet.

Barillaro was critically injured and had burns over most his body. He has already undergone multiple skin-grafting surgeries. Intriago and Maruallo were also still in the hospital and being treated for burns to their arms and faces.

The school was issued a full vacate order for the entire building and a safety zone was put in place along some facades. Students who were supposed to start school there on September 9 will have to be temporarily relocated.

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A construction worker died after he fell down an elevator shaft in New York. The accident happened yesterday at the beginning of the afternoon at the construction site of a future hotel located at 577 9th Avenue near 41st Street in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan.

According to DNA Info the construction worker  was not wearing a harness at the time of the accident. He was working on the fourth floor near the elevator shaft which, at the time, was just a hole that extended all the way to the ground. He fell in and landed on his back. The man who was 30 years old was transported to the hospital in critical condition. He later died.

A few months ago the general contractor for the construction site, BRF Construction Corp, was fined for failing to secure the site after a construction worker was spotted on a 15 to 20 foot wall without a harness. BRF employed non union workers.

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Last April, 22 year old Carlos Moncayo died in a construction accident in New York because two construction managers put profit over safety.  According to the NY Daily News, on April 6th, Christian Ofusu, an independent engineer assigned to oversee the work on a Ninth Ave site in the Meatpacking district warned Alfonso Prestia, the construction site superintendent, that the site was too dangerous and that it should be shut down. Prestia ignored the engineer’s warning so Ofusu went to voice his concerns to foreman Wilmer Cueva who also refused to stop the work. Moments later, as Ofusu was trying to convince the project manager, Mohamad Sharif to shut down the site, a wall collapsed and crushed Carlos Moncaya to death. Cuevas who works for Sky Materials Corp and Prestia who works for Hartco Consultants Corp have both been indicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter and reckless endangerment.

Yesterday another wall collapsed on a construction site in Nolita, downtown Manhattan, injuring two construction workers (see NY Daily News) and the day before a construction worker was seriously injured after falling two-stories at a construction site in Hudson Yards on the west side of Manhattan (see previous blog).

 

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A worker was seriously injured in a construction accident in New York yesterday afternoon. The worker fell from the second floor of  a future 62-story building located at 435 W. 31st St in Hudson Yards on the west side of Manhattan.  He was taken to the hospital in serious condition. The builder, Hunter Roberts Construction Group told the New York Daily News that they were cooperating with investigators.

A few hours before the accident happened, The NY Daily News published an article indicating that The Department of Buildings agreed to the construction of 52,618 residential units over the last fiscal year, a massive 156% increase from the previous fiscal year and a 749% increase from the post-recession low of 2010. As construction is booming, construction accidents increase as well (see our previous blog).

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A worker was injured in a construction accident Friday in New York City. The accident happened at the Red Hook East Houses on Henry Street in Brooklyn, NYC. The worker was standing on scaffolding on the second floor when an AC Unit fell on him. The cooling unit was being removed from the sixth floor by other workers when it fell. The construction worker was transported to the hospital. He suffered non life threatening trauma and was hospitalized in stable condition. Read more in the NY Daily News

Red Hook East Houses

Red Hook East Houses, picture: Google Maps

 

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Pipe_installation_2During the summer, outdoor construction workers such as those raking asphalt or sweating pipes can suffer from personal injury such as dizziness, discomfort and the fogging of safety glass and put themselves and others at risk of accidents. In some cases heat exhaustion can even lead to death. According to OSHA statistics an average of 30 construction workers die every year from heat stroke.

Construction workers can mitigate these types of injuries by arriving at work rested, wearing light clothing, drinking water every 15 minutes, doing demanding tasks in early morning when the heat is lower and when resting in a shady area is possible. Workers should also check their colleagues for signs of illness. Symptoms of heat exhaustion include headaches, dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting, weakness, moist skin, mood changes such as irritability or confusion, upset stomach and vomiting. Heat stroke is an immediate threat to life. Rapid cooling with ice packs or cold water must begin at once. A victim may sweat a lot, but some may have hot, dry skin and no sweating. Either way, it’s an extreme emergency. Call 911 immediately.  For more info see the CPWR Hot Weather Toolbox

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Christian GinelliChristian Genesi, a 25 year old construction worker, fell 24 stories to his death at the beginning of May  as he was riding a temporary hoist to get to the top of a hotel that was being built on 8th Ave.  The city building inspectors who have been investigating the case found out that the hoist temporarily lost power that day and that the electrical system that powered it was installed without a permit. The elevator relied on “unapproved, unsafe, unsuitable electrical equipment” that shouldn’t have been in use, documents show.New York Wrongful Death Lawyer Howard Hershenhorn

Howard Hershenhorn was quoted in the NY Daily News stating “It’s obvious that this is an enormous tragedy, which could have absolutely been prevented had basic safety measures been put in place,” he also added Ginesi wouldn’t have died “had there been safety netting, had there been safety harness and had there been a working electrical system.” “There’s blatant violations of multiple laws in the State of New York, which caused this senseless death,” he also said.

Read the complete article here

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Two construction workers as well as several pedestrians and car passengers suffered personal injury in a crane accident in New York yesterday morning. The crane was hauling an air conditioning unit of the size of a shipping container to the top floor of a 30-story building at 261 Madison Avenue, N.Y.C. when a rigging strap broke. The unit first crashed into the side of the building before landing on Madison Avenue between 38th and 39th streets. 10 people were injured by the falling debris. The crane operating company, Skylift, had a similar accident in 2010 during which no one was injured and received two serious OSHA violations.

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Domikick Deluca, a Yellow hard hat25 year old construction worker, died after falling from scaffolding yesterday.  The young worker was doing facade work at the Butler Houses on Webster Ave in Claremont in the Bronx when he lost his footing and fell 15 feet . He landed on his head and was transported to the hospital unresponsive and with severe trauma. He was declared dead when he arrived at the hospital. This construction worker is the 8th person to die in a construction accident in New York City since the beginning of the year (see previous blog) .

Read more in the NY Daily News

 

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Shulem Benyosef suffered fatal injuries after he fell from a ladder at a construction site in Brooklyn, NYC. the 44 year old man was married and the father of two children. He was working on a rooftop at 449 20th Street in Windsor Terrace in Brooklyn when the accident happened.  Shulem was standing on the ladder when he fell from at least 30 feet. Paramedics found him on the ground with serious head trauma. He was transported to the hospital where he later died from his injuries.

Read more in JP Updates and  the NY Daily News