Construction Accident

Published on: May 6, 2014

Interview with 1996 Hard Hat Hero Nick Pavlou who was crushed by a crane boom shows that construction workers who have been injured in catastrophic accidents will often live a life of continuous pain and suffering

Construction Accident Injuries are often catastrophic and the pain and suffering endured by the victims will last until the end of their life. In her recent blog for the Huffington Post “Astoria Characters; The Forgotten Hero”, Nancy Ruhling meets with Nick Pavlou, the construction worker who became known as the Hard-Hat Hero in October 1996 after he risked his life to save a woman’s and her son and granddaughter from a crane accident. His partner Paul Foti who was the crane operator died in the accident. Nick was crushed by the 6-ton boom and doctors thought he would never survive and if he would he could never be able to walk again. After 60 surgeries, Nick is alive and on good days he can walk for four blocks.But Nick’s life will never be the same again and the pain and suffering is present everyday..

Published on: May 2, 2014

New report highlights that, in New York, construction is the most dangerous industry and immigrant workers are the most at risk of a fatal accident; report also indicates that many injuries and deaths are preventable

By GGCRBHS&M

A new report entitled “ It’s No Accident, Examining New York’s Workplace Deaths and the Construction Industry” and published by the New York Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) looks at deaths related to construction accidents in New York.

The reports starts with a list of the names of the 23 construction workers who died on the job in New York last year before providing a comprehensive review of the recent construction fatalities. The report demonstrates that construction has the highest rate of fatality among all industries and that the majority of people dying on the job are immigrants. Age is also an important factor in construction site fatalities: 37% of the workers who died were above 55 year old. Statistics also show that a quarter of the construction workers who died were self employed.

Because there are only 71 OSHA Health and Safety Inspectors in New York State, it is impossible for OSHA to adequately enforce construction site safety standards. Adding to that OSHA penalties are so low that they are not an incentive for employers to make the workplace safer. In 66% of the construction sites that OSHA inspected there was at least one violation of a safety standard. This high prevalence of safety violations in the construction industry is an indicator that many injuries and deaths were preventable.

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Published on: April 29, 2014

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says changes to the Scaffold Law are not on his priority list and are unlikely to happen this year

By GGCRBHS&M

Labor Law 240 known as The Scaffold Law protects New York construction workers from elevation related construction accidents. Recently the construction industry and real estate developers have been making another legislative push in Albany to change the law to their advantage. In response to this push, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said last week in an interview with the Crain’s editorial board that he had no intention to change the law. Cuomo said that changes to Labor Law 240 were not a top priority for business interests or for him.

Cuomo also added that the law couldn’t be changed because of the strength of its supporters, particularly the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. The trial lawyers as well as immigrant rights and community organizations support the law because even though it is not perfect it remains the only way to make sure construction workers are adequately protected from dangerous accidents.

Read the Crain’s article

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Published on: April 28, 2014

Today is Worker’s Memorial Day 2014: New York honors the memory of workers who have died or have been injured on the job and fight for the safety of those who are alive and in good health

By GGCRBHS&M

Worker%27s%20memorial%20day.jpg In New York City, a memorial including the Hardhat Procession into the Cathedral will be held this afternoon at St Patrick’s Cathedral during which OSHA’s Manhattan Area Office Director Kay Gee and Labor Liaison Laura Kenny will read names of construction workers killed on the job in New York City over the past year.

Other events will be held by OSHA and by other occupational safety activists and unions such as CSEA all around New York State and around the country.

Every year in New York close to 70,000 workers will suffer personal injury or illness related to their job and hundreds of them will die on the job.

Published on: April 23, 2014

Department of Buildings Seminars: Rebuilding after Sandy – 2014 New York City Construction Codes Overview

By GGCRBHS&M

the 2014 NYC Construction Codes include new enhanced standards to prepare buildings for extreme weather in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and the DOT is organizing training events to inform the industry professionals about these changes.

The seminar will provide an overview of the changes made to the NYC Construction Codes as part of the NYC Department of Buildings Code Revision process and by other local laws passed by The City Council in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, collectively known as the 2014 NYC Construction Codes.

These training events will be held during the months of April May and June in New York City. The complete schedule can be found here.

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Published on: April 21, 2014

In a new attack against Labor Law Section 240 (Scaffold Law), the NY construction industry lobby paid more than $80,000 to the Rockefeller Institute to fund a study that misuses sophisticated statistical techniques and produces inaccurate results

By GGCRBHS&M

New York Labor Law Section 240 or Scaffold Law was enacted more than 100 years ago to protect construction workers from elevated work related accidents. It holds general contractors, owners and others liable if unsafe conditions at the job site lead to a worker’s injury or death (to learn more about NY Labor Law 240 see recent presentation by NY Construction Accident Attorney Anthony Gair)

The construction industry has been trying to repeal and amend this law since it was created and the last attack came with a report entitled “The Costs of Labor Law 240 on New York’s economy and Public Infrastructure” and published by the The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York. The report uses questionable statistic methodologies to blame The Scaffold Law for creating more accidents and more injuries.

The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) discovered that the report was actually commissioned by the New York Civil Justice Institute, a front group that was specifically created for this purpose by the Lawsuits Reform Alliance of New York who paid $82,800 for it. The Lawsuits Reform Alliance of New York is well known for lobbying against laws protecting plaintiffs in favor of the construction industry and other corporate interests. The CPD and the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) just published a paper entitled “Fatally Flawed: Why the Rockefeller Institute’s Scaffold Law Report Doesn’t add up”

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Published on: April 20, 2014

More than three dozen open violations discovered by the NYC Department of Buildings after the fatal fall of a worker at 424 West 33rd Street construction site

By GGCRBHS&M

After a worker fell to his death at a NYC midtown construction site, the city issued a full stop work order at the site.

The Department of Buildings issued 41 violations including 6 for work without a permit. Other violations included failure to safeguard persons or property; failure to report an accident; no record of daily inspection of suspended scaffold; work doesn’t conform to approved plans; failure to provide approved plans; failure to provide guardrails; and failure to provide protection.

When the accident happened, the worker, 34 year old Lukasz Stolarski of Brooklyn, was doing facade restoration work. He wasn’t wearing a harness and fell from a ledge he was standing on between the roof and the penthouse. He landed on the top of the sidewalk shed at the 424 West 33rd Street construction site resulting in his death.

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Published on: April 10, 2014

New York Construction Accident Lawyer Anthony Gair: State of NY Labor Law Section 240(1) in 2014

By GGCRBHS&M

Our partner, New York Construction Accident Attorney Anthony Gair was recently invited by the New York State Bar Association to speak about New York Labor Law Section 240 also commonly known as the scaffolding law. Here is his presentation.
To learn more about Construction Accident Law in New York visit our website

Published on: March 26, 2014

Demonstration of an Opening Statement in a New York Construction Accident Case by our Partner Chris Sallay

By GGCRBHS&M

Our partner, New York Construction Accident Attorney Chris Sallay was the chair of the Litigating Construction Site Accidents NYC 2014 seminar presented by the New York State Bar Association last Friday . In this video Chris Sallay provides tips and demonstrates how to present an opening statement in a New York Construction Accident case.
To learn more about New York Construction Accident Law click here)

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=P46y1a_5Mu4

Published on: February 16, 2014

GGCSMB&R Attorneys to chair the “Litigating Construction Site Accidents” Seminar presented by the New York State Bar Association

By GGCRBHS&M

Sallay%20and%20Hershenhorn.png New York Construction Accident Attorneys Chris Sallay and Howard Hershenhorn from Gair Gair Conason Steigman Mackauf Bloom and Rubinowitz will be the Co Chairs of the Litigating Construction Site Accidents Seminar presented by the New York State Bar Association.

Our managing partner, Ben Rubinowitz will be the local chair for the Long Island Session and our Partner Anthony Gair will be a panel member for the NYC Session. Chris Sallay will also be a panel member at the Long Island Session.

New York Personal Injury Lawyers (plaintiffs and defense), liability insurance carriers in house counsel, workers ‘compensation lawyers, municipal lawyers as well as lawyers representing construction companies, general contractors and sub-contractors are invited to attend this program.

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