Florence Ngwu, a beloved mother and nurse who was critically injured in a truck accident in New York City on Sunday morning did not survive. She died on Monday afternoon from her injuries.
The horrific accident took place on Mother’s Day around 8:30 am on 167th Street and 120th Avenue in South Jamaica, Queens, NYC.
2 hard hats died during the first quarter of 2022 and 110 of them were injured while working on construction sites in New York City. Both fatalities were fall accidents, both occurred in Brooklyn and both were preventable.
The first fatality occurred on February 11. Angel Pilataxi, a father of 3 children and 3 step children fell to his death at a construction site located at 124 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn. According to the DOB investigation, the worker was taking measurements on the edge of the roof on the eighth floor when the accident happened. He was not using a safety harness and fell over the parapet. He was found unconscious lying on the second floor terrace. He did not survive. Investigators found that the worker and a co-worker who was working with him at the time of the accident not only did not have a site safety training card but also did not receive any site-specific safety training and did not participate in a pre-shit meeting in the morning. At the time of the accident a full stop order was issued and the DOB issued a violation failure to safeguard persons and property affected by the construction operations.
The second fatal accident occurred on a construction site located at 295 St John’s Place on March 21st. A rigging foreman who was installing a suspended scaffolding go caught between the fire stairs and the scaffold, lost his balance and fell fifteen feet onto a metal fence. He died from his injuries. A full stop work was issued and the DOB also issued a violation for failure to safeguard person and property affected by construction.
Falls are the main cause of injuries and deaths for construction workers in New York City and most of them can be prevented.
A large safety awareness campaign is going on this week in New York City to reduce accidents on construction sites, with a focus on fall accidents.
Construction Safety Week is a yearly safety campaign organized by the NYC Department of Buildings to remind workers and their employers and families that safety best practices on construction sites prevent accident injuries and deaths.
29 pedestrians, 17 passengers and 12 motor vehicle operators died in crashes in New York City during the first 3 months of the year for a total of 58 fatalities. There were no cyclist fatalities. Since Vision Zero started in 2014, the highest number of auto accident deaths reached 51 in 2014. The only positive news during the first quarter was that no cyclist deaths were reported during this period which never occurred before.
NYC Car accident injuries were higher during Q1 22 than during the same period of 2010 and almost reached the same level than in 2020. Among the injured were 4,632 drivers, 3,120 passengers, 649 bicyclists and 2,100 pedestrians. Compared to the same period a year before, all categories of road users sustained a higher number of injuries with the exceptions of the cyclists which might indicate that all the new measures to make cycling safer in the city have a positive impact.
12 motor vehicle operators died in crashes during Q1 compared to respectively, 10, 10, 9, 13, 8, 13, 8, 15 and 15 during the same period 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. While the trend line of motorist deaths is still declining, the numbers of this last quarter are significantly above this trend line.
10 pedestrians, 8 passengers and 6 drivers died in crashes in New York City in February. No cyclists fatalities were reported to the NYPD during this month. 266 bus accidents, 577 truck accidents and 56 motorcycle accidents were reported among the total 7,261 motor vehicle collisions recorded in February.
Traffic accident fatalities in New York City reached a record high for the month of February with 24 people dying in traffic accidents compared to respectively 10, 17, 12, 16, 13, 18, 15, 12 and 20 in February 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. Traffic accident fatalities in the city last February were even higher than what they were in February 2013 before Vision Zero started. The trendline which had been steadily declining during Vision Zero is now almost flat. Since last February ,monthly car accident fatalities have been at the level of the trendline or above which is quite unusual and quite worrisome.
The high number of car accident fatalities in New York City last February is mostly due to a record high number of car passengers fatalities (see category in red in the graph below, click on it for full size). 8 motor vehicle passengers died in crashes last February compared to 5 in January 2020 and 2 in February 2021. Since Vision Zero started and even a year before, the highest total monthly passengers fatalities were 6 in April 2014 and 6 in July 2015.
Last year, 7 out of the 9 NYC construction worker deaths reported by the Department of Buildings were caused by falls. Additionnally the DOB also reported that 194 workers were injured in fall accidents on New York City construction sites during the same period. This was a record high compared to the previous years (see previous blog). Despite increased safety training requirements for workers, fall remains the number one cause of accident deaths and injuries in the New York construction industry and nationally as well. According to the most recent statistics from the BLS 351 out of the 1,008 construction fatalities recorded nationally in 2020 were fall fatalities. Most of these accidents were preventable.
Preventing fall accidents is the reason why, every year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in collaboration with multiple other partners involved in workplace safety such as the CPWR and NORA are organizing a National Stand Down during which employers are invited to voluntarily take a break from work and sit down with their workers to discuss or participate to activities related to fall hazards.
Anyone can participate and every year sees more and more participants from major corporate construction companies to small contractors, including the US Army and other governmental participants. All employers participating receive a certificate.
6 pedestrians were injured in a car accident in NYC yesterday morning. A driver jumped the curb at the intersection of St. Johns Place and Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn, a little bit before 8:00 am. This is the time during which parents are bringing their children to school. A video below shows one of the victims crossing the street with his two children just before the driver looses control of his vehicle and jumps the curb at a high rate of speed. The 48 year old father and his two sons that are 9 year old and 11 year old were struck by the car. They sustained serious injuries but are in stable condition. Another woman got pinned between the car and a pole. A total of 5 people were rushed to the hospital with serious injuries and another person was treated at the scene for minor injuries. The police arrested the driver of the car but it is not clear if he will be charged. The accident occurred just one day after the police announced that the mother who was struck by a driver jumping the curb in Harlem a week earlier had died from her injuries, leaving behind her 6 year old son. (see previous blog) .
Earlier during the week, 7 people were injured in a car accident that occurred on the Brooklyn Bridge. The crash involved multiple cars and according to witnesses was “surreal”. A vehicle went airborne. A driver was critically injured after being ejected from his car. 6 other people were seriously injured and transported to the hospital. Tourists who were walking on the bridges aid they witnessed a horrific scene of wrecked cars and multiple bodies lying all over the ground. The police is still investigating the accident and said that previous to the crash the man who was ejected from his car was driving his white jeep at a high rate of speed but so far they could not confirm that he caused the accident. Read more in News Week
A 15 year old boy riding a scooter in Queens NYC was critically injured in an accident with a MTA BUS. So far the police are still investigating the accident and did not provide any information as how the collision occurred. The NYPD only said that the boy was riding the electric scooter near the intersection of Seneca and Gates Aves. in Ridgewood (see picture) when he was struck by the bus. He suffered severe body trauma and was rushed to the hospital. (read more in the NY Daily News)
Another motorcyclist was injured last week-end after he was struck by a hit and run driver who pulled out of a parking space and struck him. A surveillance video shows 35 year old Franck Guzman riding his motorcycle south bound on Boston Road when a driver pulling out of a parking area and crossing though traffic hit him. Guzman went flying in the air while the driver sped away and disappeared. Guzman could not stand up and was transported to the hospital to be treated. The police told him they would come to see him but never showed up.
A mother and her son were critically injured in a horrific car accident in NYC yesterday afternoon that was caught on video surveillance (see below) .The 38 year-old mother was walking and holding the hand of her 6 year old son on a Harlem sidewalk when the driver of a car lost control of his vehicle, jumped the curb at high speed and mowed them down. They were both critically injured and rushed to the hospital. The 69-year-old driver driver was also injured and according to the police he might have suffered a medical episode.
The accident occurred in the middle of the afternoon right by the West 145th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard bus stop. The video surveillance shows the red car jumping the curb and driving on the sidewalk at a high rate of speed right behind the unsuspicious mom and her son. After hitting them, the car then destroyed a flower shop and a few other vehicles.
Witnesses are still horrified by what they saw and are still wondering what can be done to prevent such horrifying accidents. Police are still investigating the accident and at this point it is still unclear what kind of medical episode the driver suffered.
Construction accident fatalities and injuries in New York City in 2021 were a little bit higher than in 2020 but lower than during the years preceding the Covid19 crisis according to the New York City Department of Buildings statistics. The DOB only reports construction worker fatalities that are caused by building code violations. Brooklyn and Manhattan had the most fatalities, 3 each while the other boroughs all recorded one fatality each for a total of 9 worker fatalities compared to 8 in 2020 and 11 in 2019.
7 out of the 9 hard hat deaths were caused by fall and 2 of them were caused by accidents related to mechanical construction equipment failure. Despite construction workers now being required to follow safety training, fall related fatalities were at their highest since 2017. Most fall accidents are preventable. They usually occur when safety rules are not respected.
Almost the same number of injuries were reported to the DOB in 2021 compared to 2020. 505 workers were injured in construction accidents in New York City in 2021 compared to 502 a year earlier and 596 in 2019. Most injuries’ occurred on Manhattan construction sites (300) followed by Brooklyn (105), Bronx (48), Queens (45) and Staten Island (7).
New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog