Black & Decker Spacemaker Coffeemaker coffee pot handle can break, causing cuts and burns to the consumer. So far Black and Decker has received 1607 reports of handles breaking with 83 reports of burns and cuts. Consumers who own this product should stop using it immediately and contact Applica Consumer Products Inc. of Miramar, Fla. for a full refund.
For more info go to the Consumer Product Safety Commission webiste.
Thankfully no one was injured after a 40 foot long tractor trailer truck was engulfed in a massive fire on the Queensboro Bridge in New York. The bridge is still closed.
Read the complete story in the Daily News
If a car, a motorcycle or a small truck is defective, the manufacturer has to initiate a recall campaign to correct the defect by repairing or replacing the vehicle or by offering a refund to the consumer. Despite the manufacturer’s efforts, recall campaigns are not always successful especially when the cars, motorcycles and trucks being recalled are older and are likely to have been resold at least once. Too many vehicles owners are not aware of recalls and continue to drive unrepaired cars, trucks or motorcycles unknowingly exposing themselves, their passengers and other road users to potential accidents, damages or injuries.
Starting next year every owner or potential buyer of a car, a motorcycle or a small truck will be able to check if all recalls related to their vehicle were addressed. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) just announced its plans to require automakers and motorcycle manufacturers to provide consumers with a free online tool that will enable them to search recall information by Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). Consumers will be able to instantly check if their vehicle is safe and address any defect related issue if necessary.
This new measure is a step ahead to protect consumers from the harm and property damage that can be caused by a vehicle with a serious safety defect.
Safety Programs reduce construction accident injuries and significantly improve productivity and competitiveness according to the 2013 report “Safety Management in the Construction Industry: Identifying Risks and Reducing Accidents to improve Site Productivity and Project ROI” from McGraw Hill Construction.
Nationally two thirds of construction firms are now following fully inclusive safety programs. Most large firms (more than 500 employees) have adopted extensive safety programs while only half of the small firms (less than 50 employees) have reached this level of safety.
The McGraw Hill Construction Report demonstrates that contractors implementing a safety program experience a decrease of personal injuries and an increase in productivity. Half of the contractors using safety programs were able to reduce their project schedule by a week or more. Three quarters of them reduced their budget by 1% or more and a quarter of them reduced their budget by 5% ore more. Adoption of a safety program lead to an increased return on investment (ROI) of more than 1% for three quarters of the construction companies and an increase of ROI of more than 5% for a quarter of them.
Many bus accidents happen because the bus company was negligent or careless. Defective equipment, poorly maintained buses or not properly trained bus drivers put the life of passengers at risk.
All Nation Coach in Staten Island, New York, a high-risk passenger carrier was shut down yesterday by the The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The bus company was the reincarnation of Tichy Express, Inc. that was shut down last year for multiple violations of federal safety regulations.
This action is the 16th out-of-service order issued by FMCSA since the deployment in April 2013 of more than 50 “Operation Quick Strike” safety investigations targeting high-risk passenger carriers.
Severe mitral valve regurgitation is a life threatening condition that affects millions of Americans. It happens when the mitral valve doesn’t close properly and allows blood to flow backward to the heart. Most doctors treating severe mitral valve regurgitation use a watch and wait approach but a recent Mayo Clinic-led study by U.S. and European researchers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrates that patients that have surgery early after diagnosis have improved long-term survival and lower risk of heart failure.
“No helmet system can protect you from serious brain and/or neck injuries including paralysis or death. To avoid these risks, do not engage in the sport of football” is the type of language that consumers will read on most warning labels when they purchase a football helmet these days.
Football has a very high incidence of catastrophic personal injuries with traumatic brain injury and cervical spinal cord injury being the most common. Recent lawsuits have accused the league and some product manufacturers of hiding evidence or not properly warning about the dangers of repeated head trauma.
In a recent article, Ken Belson, a sport reporter for the New York Times, gives a complete overview of what type of warning helmet manufacturers are using Today to warn the players and to protect themselves from a product liability lawsuit.
Millions of toys that contained dangerous levels of lead paint and other toxins as well as dangerous children products have been recalled since the Consumer Safety Improvement Act was signed into law 5 years ago.
This bipartisan legislation made a real difference in protecting young Americans from personal injury and wrongful death.
Read more in Consumer Reports.
Complications during or after surgery are happening too often at New York City, St Luke’s Hospital. The Hospital scored a low overall surgery rating on the new Consumer Reports surgery safety rating. The safest hospitals in the city to have surgery are Mount Sinai, NYU Langone Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Consumer Reports looked at medicare claims data from 2009 through 2011 for patients undergoing 27 categories of common scheduled surgeries. For each hospital, the results for all procedures are combined into an overall surgery rating.The global ranking is based on who died in the hospital or stayed longer than expected for their procedure. More detail by type of surgery as well as a hospital ranking by state can be found on the Consumer Reports website.
Most common surgery complications are bad reaction to anesthesia, heart problems or surgeon nicking a blood vessel, leaving an instrument inside, or even operating on the wrong body part. Complications can also happen after the surgery. Nationally, 30 percent of patients suffer infections, heart attacks, strokes, or other complications after surgery and sometimes even die as a result.
LATCH stands for “Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children”. They became mandatory in vehicles in 2002 to help parents better secure the baby seat in the car and eliminate seat belt incompatibility. Pursuant to the actual law the lower anchors are designed to support a maximum weight of 65 lbs. Most parents are not aware that this weight includes the child and the child seat. When the total weight exceeds 65 lbs the child seat must be secured with the car seatbelt.
In order to make this information clear to parents the new LATCH law effective in February 2014, will require child seat manufacturers to modify their label to make sure parents understand that their child weight determines how long they can use the lower anchors.
This legislation was heavily pushed by automakers in order to protect themselves from product liability lawsuits as baby seats these days are heavier than those manufactured in 2002 and are putting increased strain on the lower anchors.
New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog