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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Construction_AccidentAmong all industry sectors in the U.S.,  construction has the highest number of fatal injuries with  more than 800 construction workers dying every year.  A  lot of  research has been done and written on construction safety and health but the challenge is to ensure that  promising research findings become safer practices on construction sites.

Last month, the  American  Journal of Industrial Medicine devoted a special issue on Research to Practice (r2p)  at The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR)  covering the following subjects:

  •  Using social marketing to stop construction falls
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yield to pedestriansVision Zero’s “Right of Way” law makes it a misdemeanor for drivers who killed or injured a pedestrian because they failed to yield. However after 6 bus drivers were arrested last year, TWU, the bus drivers’ union started a heavy campaign to protect bus drivers from the law. Yesterday a federal lawsuit brought by TWU against Mayor de Blasio in April resulted in a settlement that drivers will not be strictly liable for seriously injuring or killing pedestrians in a crosswalk. Investigators will have to determine that a driver failed to “exercise due care,” which will now be defined as “care which is exercised by reasonably prudent drivers.”  Read more in the NY Daily News

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Death or personal injuries such as burns, smoke inhalation and wounds from falling merchandise are among the risks faced every day by New York High end store Idea Nuova’s employees. According to OSHA, the aisles are clogged with merchandise and, at the time of the inspection, an emergency exit was blocked by disco balls, desks and lamps preventing a quick evacuation in case of a fire. Additionally many stairwell exit doors that must remain closed to prevent the fire from spreading were propped open, haphazardly stacked merchandise was  threatening to fall on  anyone passing to close to it and exposed electrical outlets were a risk for electric shock.

This is the second time in two years that OSHA found unsafe conditions at the high end store located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The company was cited in 2013 for similar hazards at the Manhattan location as well as the Brooklyn location.

Read the OSHA press release

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Stone_Retaining_wallIn a busy city like New York retaining walls that are not proprely maintained can cause serious damages to the public and to adjacent properties. Retaining walls are built to retain soil on steep slopes.  They are designed to resist the lateral pressure of the soil’ however hot weather conditions such as those experienced this summer in New York City can accelerate their deterioration.

After a 75 foot-high stone retaining wall that was built in 1908 collapsed on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Upper Manhattan in May 2005, the NYC department of Buildings launched an Annual no penalty retaining wall inspection program that allows property owners to request an inspection of their property by an NYC Buildings Inspector without incurring violations.  This free service is available until September 18th. For more info click here

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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 female pedestrian was left injured on the road by a negligent driver who backed into her and took off.  The accident was caught on camera. The video shows that after the driver struck the victim, he stopped and got out of his car. However moments later he got back into his car and took off.  The accident happened on August 19th in front of Jackson Ave in Mott Haven. The police are looking for the hit and run driver.

 

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legionellaAfter a dozen died and over 100 more suffered serious personal injury from Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks this summer in New York City, Local Law 77 of 2015 was recently enacted to identify, regulate and inspect all buildings using a cooling tower.  As a first step building owners have until September 17, 2015 to register existing cooling towers with the NYC Department of Buildings. A new NYC Cooling Tower Registration Portal has been created for this purpose. More information can be found here.

The dangerous bacteria continues to spread in the city. Yesterday, a catholic school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan had to temporarily close for disinfection after tests showed some legionella bacteria in a cooling tower.

 

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Daniel+Pollack-1By simply noting red-flag concerns front and center of  a patient’s file, child welfare workers can protect children from being seriously abused, injured or killed. In a recent article in Youth Today, Daniel Pollack, a professor at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University in New York City and a frequent expert witness in child welfare cases describes how crucial information related to a child’s personal safety can get buried into electronic files and later lead to disaster. For example red flag sentences such as “Johnny is a runner. He needs to be watched at all time” should not be hidden somewhere in the child’s file but should be front and center of the file so, as time goes by, the next person to open the file will make sure Johnny doesn’t get killed running into traffic.

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8 year old Jadan William died last week after being struck by a car in Brooklyn, NYC. The young girl was playing with her friends on E. 22nd Street, a dead end street near Ditmas Ave in Ditmas Park when she was struck by a SUV heading south in the cul-de-sac. A neighbor and two nurses from a nearby nursing home performed CPR on the young girl while waiting for the ambulance. The girl who suffered severe head trauma was transported to the hospital in  critical condition but couldn’t be saved. The driver, 35 year old Reginald August, lived on the block and and was a “known speeder” according to residents. After the crash the driver was punched in the face by Tony Romans who knew the girl and witnessed the crash. He was also transported to the hospital and wasn’t immediately charged. The man who punched him was arrested and charged with assault.

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Tow teenagers from Manhattan were injured, one critically in a car accident on Saturday around 8 pm.  The  non identified 17 year old driver and his 18 year old passenger identified as Steven Fermin had stolen the car from the Six Flags Great Adventure theme park in New Jersey. They were pursued by the police on the New Jersey Turnpike near Ridgefield Prk when the accident happened. During the crash the driver was thrown from the car. He was transported to the hospital in critical condition. Read more in the NY Daily News