Work injuries resulting in death have been on the decline for the last 20 years. The total number of workers who died on the job was 4,383 in 2012 compared to 4,693 in 2011 and 6,217 twenty years ago according to the preliminary 2012 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published at the end of last month.
The decline is also confirmed in the preliminary rate of fatal work injuries which was 3.2 fatal work injuries per 100,000 full time worker in 2012 compared to 3.5 in 2011.
Traffic fatalities recorded during the last five years are at the lowest level ever recorded in New York City according to the recently released 2012 edition of “Sustainable Streets Index“.
In 2008, The New York City Department of Transportation launched a strategic plan called “Sustainable Streets” with the objective of improving traffic condtitions and increasing street safety with a special focus on pedestrians. The yearly publication of the Sustainable Street Index provides an overview of the efforts undertaken by The New York City DOT over the last year and measures their effect on traffic conditions and street safety.
Some of the projects completed in 2013 significantly reduced personal injuries related to crashes and improved traffic conditions. Among them it is worth mentioning:
A surgeon can be sued for Medical Malpractice if he or she failed to properly communicate care instructions to a patient after the surgery.
Recently Web M&M analyzed the case of a woman who needed arthroscopic surgery after she tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee.
The surgeon talked to the patient before the surgery and gave her postoperative instructions for ACL repair that included 50% weight bearing immediately after the surgery
1697 motorists, 2055 passengers, 470 cyclists and 855 pedestrians suffered personal injury while 10 motorists and 12 pedestrians died in traffic accidents in New York City during the month of July according to the most recent data from the NYPD.
The number of accidents amounted to a total of 17,548 for the month of July. “Driver inattention and distraction” was the biggest contributing factor of personal injuries and wrongful deaths followed by “following too closely” and “failure to yield the right of way”.
Looking at each borough, Brooklyn recorded the highest number of personal injuries with 517 motorists, 675 passengers, 295 pedestrians and 195 cyclists injured in traffic accidents. Queens recorded the most deaths with 5 motorists and 3 pedestrians killed.
Surgical errors and complications occurring during robotic laparoscopic surgery have to be reported by hospitals to the robot manufacturers. The manufacturers will then report them to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Because of the financial interests at stake hospitals and manufacturers tend to keep complaints quiet. An independent and transparent reporting system may provide a more accurate picture of the actual level of safety of robotic surgery.
According to a study led by Martin A. Makary, M.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, more than one million robotic surgeries have been performed in 12 years but only 245 complications including 71 deaths were reported to the FDA. For a new and complex technology these numbers seemed too low to Dr. Makary and his team. To prove their assumption, the researchers compared the incidents reported to the FDA between 2000 and 2012 with legal judgments and adverse events using LexisNexis to scan news media, and PACER to scan court records. They found that 8 cases were not properly reported. Among them some were never filed and other were filed after the media talked about them.
The study also reveals that out of the 71 deaths, 22 were related to gynecologic procedures, 15 happened during urologic surgery and 12 during cardiothoracic surgery. The most common cause of death was excessive bleeding. When patients survived, hysterectomy was the robotic surgical procedure that had the most complications with 43% of all injuries.
Four young people died in a car accident at 5:00 am Saturday morning on a highway in Westchester, New York. The 19 year old driver Bruno Vaccarezza, a fast car enthusiast, was driving a Volkswagen Golf that his dad rented for him after Bruno crashed his Mini Cooper three weeks ago.
According to the police, the car was traveling at a high rate of speed when the driver lost control of the car and slammed into the pillar of an overpass The impact was so severe that the vehicle was completely destroyed and caught fire. The occupants were burned beyond recognition.
Vacarezza’s hobby was to soup up cars and his facebook profile shows pictures and video of such cars. One of the Youtube videos he posted was titled Craziest Car Wreck EVER.
Kingfisher, an Indian carrier owned by United Breweries has filed a $ 236 million lawsuit against U.S.-based International Aero Engines, which is part owned by United Technologies Corp’s Pratt & Whitney unit. Kingfisher alleged that the IAE V-2500 A5 engines supplied to Kingfisher were “inherently defective, both in design and manufacture,” .
Read complete article at Reuters.com
To assure the safety and the quality of their products manufactured abroad, Western companies are relying on factory inspections conducted by external monitoring companies. Audits not only monitor timing and quality of the production before it is shipped abroad but also make sure that working hours, compensation, management practices and health and safety are adequate so workers are protected and big companies can project a good corporate image to their consumers.
An extensive investigation by Stephanie Clifford and Steven Greenhouse from the New York Times, reveals that the inspection system intended to protect workers and make product safer is riddled by flaws.
A woman was struck and killed by a hit and run driver in the Bronx, New York, yesterday night after a a club bouncer asked everybody to exit the club because someone had a gun. Over a hundred patrons started to run out of the club and poured across the street in a panic. As she was running away, a young woman was struck and killed by a car who sped away without even slowing down.
Nightclub owners are responsible for providing adequate safety for their patrons. This includes the responsibility to hire an adequate number of properly trained security employees who can monitor the crowd in any type of situation and are able to act effectively when problems arise. In this particular case, the security staff seems to have been completely overwhelmed by the situation. Therefore the club owner may be liable for negligent security.
Driving too fast and weather conditions are the main causes of cargo tank truck rollovers but other factors such as vehicle design, load effect or liquid slosh and surge, highway factors and driver factors can also be at the origin of a rollover.
This very instructive video from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) explains in detail how each factor can contribute to a rollover and look at common driving errors that can cause this dangerous type of truck accident.
New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog
