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.
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OSHA workplace injuries and ilnesses posterEmployers who are required to fill what is commonly called the “OSHA Log” have to submit their 2016 injury and illness data electronically by December 1st. The original deadline was July 1st but OSHA announced in May that the deadline would be postponed. OSHA didn’t provide any specific date at the time.

This requirement complies with OSHA final rule to “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses” that was released last January.  This final rule requires that all employers who need to file OSHA Form 300A, file the form electronically. Employers that have 250 or more employees as well as employers with 20 to 249 employees that are working in risky sectors such as the construction industry must all file this form. In 2018 the deadline for 2017 data will be July 1st and in 2019 as well as all the following years, the deadline will be March 2nd. Employers can now go online anytime to access the Injury Tracking Application and login to file Form 300A electronically. Paper filings are not accepted anymore by OSHA.

As part of the new rule, the information provided will be released in standard open format on OSHA website to encourage employers to improve work safety and to enable research. Researching data related to injuries and illnesses  can help identify and mitigate workplace safety hazards.

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accident sceneTwo teenagers died in a car accident in New York City on Monday night.  19 year old Daniel Castellano was driving a 2009 Ford Fusion while his friend 17 year old, Sebastian Serrano was sitting in the passenger seat. They were heading North on Richmond Ave in Bulls Head, Staten Island. When they were near Signs Road, the young driver lost control of his vehicle and hit a parked car. The impact was so intense that the car then veered into a pole and then crashed through the wall of a construction site. Both teenagers were killed during the accident.  The accident occurred less than a mile away from the location of another crash that occurred the day before and left a NYPD detective seriously injured (see previous blog).

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accident sceneA pedestrian was seriously injured in a car accident in New York City. Lisa Bergen, a 50 year old NYPD detective was crossing the street with her partner when a minivan struck her.  The accident occurred  on Richmond Ave near Akron St. in Bulls Head, Saten Island on Sunday a little before 9:00 pm. The minivan was speeding and the 31 year-old driver hit the detective so hard that her body flipped several time in the air before landing with a loud sound. The detective was rushed to the hospital with a fractured skull. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident but wasn’t arrested. So far she hasn’t been charged. Detective Bergen who is assigned  to the 121st precinct squad was on the job at the time of the accident.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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police car obstructing bike path creates additional risks of bicycle accidentsSecurity measures on the Greenway are creating unnecessary risks of bicycle accidents. In response to last week’s terror attack, the NY state DOT and the NYPD have installed extremely intrusive security barriers on the Hudson River Greenway. 57 crossings have been fortified between 59th Street and Battery Park. On more than half of them, long concrete Jersey barriers have been installed diagonally.  Additionally several police cars were seen parked on the Grenway.  These safety installations are forcing cyclists as well as pedestrians from both direction to use the same narrow path. They create a high risk of head-on collision accidents.

On Friday mayor de Blasio said the barriers need to change so “people can still ride their bike” after many users complained about the bottleneck created by the huge concrete barriers.  The Greenway can get very crowded with cyclists, joggers and pedestrians and the security installed by the State DOT and the NYPD funnel people uncomfortably close together.

On Friday, the State DOT instructed workers to walk down the bike lane and to straighten out the vertically placed Jersey barriers. The DOT also said in a press conference that the barriers were temporary and that they were working on a permanent solution. No timeline was provided. Street safety advocates believe the permanent installation of steel bollards would be an optimal solution for the Hudson River Greenway.

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Best Personal Injury Law Firm 2018The New York Personal Injury Lawyers at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf, are proud to announce that for the eighth consecutive year the firm has been listed in the newly released 2018 ranking of the Best Law Firms by U.S. News and Best Lawyers®.

For New York City the firm obtained the following rankings:

  • Tier 1 in Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs
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New York Personal Injury Lawyer Howard HershenhornNew York Personal Injury Attorney Christopher DonadioOur partner, NYC Personal Injury Attorney Howard Hershenhorn assisted by Christopher Donadio is representing Kyle Green in a lawsuit against rapper Travis Scott and the New York concert venue Terminal 5. 23-year-old Kyle Green was left paralyzed after he fell from a balcony during Travis Scott’s concert on April 30 at Terminal 5 in New York.

Travis Scott concerts are infamously known to be wild and the singer himself  encourages fans to stage dive and surf the crowd. During the New York concert before Green was pushed from the third floor balcony, Scott put the spot light on a fan who was attending the concert from the first floor balcony and encouraged him to jump which the fan did. He said to the fan, “They going to  catch you, don’t be scared.” (see video below). Other fans then did the same.  Shortly after, Green who was watching the concert from the third floor balcony was pushed over the railing by the surging crowd. He fell and hit the floor. Security guards immediately surrounded him and Travis yelled at them to bring the fan to the stage. Green who was in tremendous pain was lifted up, pulled around and dropped in front of the stage without using any backboard or neck brace. Then Scott gave him his ring.

Kyle Green is now in a wheelchair. He suffered serious injury that includes fractured vertebrae, a broken left wrist and fractured right ankle.  The injuries required surgery and he was left paralyzed on his left side and must get around in a wheelchair. He had to quit school and move out of his Brooklyn apartment to go live with his parents in Dutchess County.

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New York Wrongful death Attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Peter SaghirOur New York Personal Injury Attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Peter Saghir  recently obtained a $41.5 million Verdict for the wrongful death of a City sanitation worker who was struck by a sweeper truck.
43-year-old Steven Frosh, a City worker died on the job in 2014. He left behind a wife and 4 children aged 7 weeks, 3, 8 and 11 year-old. At the time of the accident, Mr. Frosh was in a city garage in Maspeth. He was making adjustments to his street sweeper truck when he was fatally hit by another street sweeper. He suffered excruciating pain for 2 to 3 minutes before succumbing to his injuries.
His wife, Bina Frosch, sued the City of New York for the negligence and carelessness of the worker driving the sweeper truck.
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deblasioToo many construction workers die or are getting injured on the job in New York City. A majority of fatal construction accidents occur at non unionized sites. Most of them can be prevented if workers observe basic safety rules. Unfortunately too often construction workers are not proprely trained about the dangers of working on construction sites. Many greedy contractors or developers hire cheap immigrant workers with little to no experience who get injured or even die in accidents because they haven’t been proprely trained.

To curb the recent increase of deaths on NYC construction sites,  Mayor de Blasio signed yesterday “Intro. 1447-C” a bill requiring each construction worker to attend 40 hours of safety training to be able to work at a New York construction site. “For the hard-hats in one of our city’s most dangerous jobs, this bill will help get them home to their families at night and keep the general public safe around construction sites. I want to thank Speaker Mark-Viverito and the Council for bringing this legislation into fruition and helping making our city even healthier, fairer and safer city for all.” said Mayor de Blasio in his press release.

The bill was supported by the construction workers unions but most of the contractors and the real estate industry opposed it. They argue that it would be expensive and that the timeline was impractical.  However, according to Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn), a sponsor of the bill, the city will provide $5 million to help pay for the training for small companies and minorities.

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37,461 people died in car accidents in the US last year according to data released last week by the US Department of Transportation’s National Traffic Safety Administration. This number is the highest since 2007. Traffic fatalities rose 5.6% compared to 2015. This increase follows another 8.4% rise from 2014 to 2015.  Speeding, drunk driving and the lack of seat belts were the most common factors in the deadly accidents. Car accident deaths related to distracted driving and drowsy driving recorded a decline.

 

Top 5 factors of traffic accidents in the US

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New York Forklift Accident Attorney Christopher DonadioOur Construction Accident Attorney Christopher J. Donadio obtained a $1.1 million settlement in a construction accident that occurred in New Jersey.

The case involved a construction accident that occurred on April 15, 2015 on a construction site in Hackensack, New Jersey. On that date, the plaintiff,who was a worker on the job site, was struck by a large forklift, suffering injuries to his left leg and right ankle.

Due to the impact, the plaintiff was taken by ambulance to Hackensack University Medical Center. At the hospital, the plaintiff was diagnosed with fractures of his left leg and right ankle. As a result of the injuries, the plaintiff required a surgery to repair his fractured left leg, and required three surgeries on his right ankle.