New York Injury Talk Blog

The New York Times reported that on February 20th three men were involved in train accidents, with two of those men dying, according to Metropolitan Transportation Authority. No names of the victims have been released but foul play is not suspected at this time.

Apparently, according to the Times, the first death happened in the early morning hours of February 20th, around 9:30 a.m. According to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a northbound train, No. 2, hit a Manhattan man-killing him.

The second man died around 8:30 in the evening, when a B train from Manhattan hit the man as it entered the Seventh Avenue station in Park Slope.

The third victim was seriously injured after being hit by an E train at the Queens Plaza station.

Continue reading "TWO DIE AFTER BEING HIT BY TRAIN, WHILE A THIRD VICTIM WAS SERIOULSY INJURED" »

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In a story reported by the New York Times, Architect, Robert Woo was seriously injured last December in a New York construction accident at the Goldman Sachs office tower, when a nylon sling failed causing seven tons of metal studs to fall crushing a construction trailer.

Two trailers were hit; about a quarter of the load hit the trailer where Mr. Woo was sitting, which was being used as an office, an official said. The Department of Buildings halted work on the office tower, but they partially reopened the site for further construction a day later.

The Times reported, that a spokeswoman for the Buildings Department Robin Brooks indicated that an investigation is ongoing as to the cause of the accident. Immediately after the New York crane accident, it was believed that a nylon sling snapped allowing the seven tons of steel to fall 13 floors. The Buildings Department issued four violations days after the accident. Violations were issued to the Tishman Construction Corporation, responsible for managing the site, at 200 Murray Street for unsafe hoisting conditions; failure to safeguard the public and property during construction operations; failure to maintain vertical netting along the sides of the building; and failure to provide toe boards, which prevent material from being pushed off the side of a building or into a shaftway. Richard M. Kielar, a spokesman for Tishman, said the project’s safety record has been excellent.

Continue reading "CRANE ACCIDENT AT GOLDMAN SAKS CONSTRUCTION SITE" »

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According to a press release yesterday by the New York City Department of Buildings, Buildings Commissioner Patricia J. Lancaster announced the launch of Phase II of the Department's Special Enforcement Plan to raise the bar for construction standards citywide to improve compliance with safety regulations and to avoid New York construction accident deaths. The proposed new rules include requiring more special safety managers at more construction sites-especially those involving concrete. Commissioner Lancaster indicated that, “concrete operations are extremely specialized and require a precise coordination or large numbers of workers.” Safety managers would be required at all buildings at least ten stories high. Present regulations require safety managers for buildings at least fifteen stories high.

According to a recent story in the New York Times, the proposed new rules will further require that general contractors, as well as those contractors working with concrete would have to register with the Buildings Department before obtaining building permits. Registration will enable the Buildings Department to better enforce present building codes and to ensure that safety violations are fined, according to Lancaster. A contractor’s record of compliance with safety and building codes, and whether or not fines have been paid, would be considered by the Department when issuing building permits. The proposed new regulations come shortly after the death of a man who plunged to his death while working on Trump’s SoHo Hotel. Yuriy Vanchytskyy fell to his death January 14, 2008, when wood forms used to hold wet concrete collapsed. According to the New York Department of Buildings’ data Vanchytskyy’s death was the third concrete operations-related death since 2006. Further, the Buildings Department reports that sixteen people have been injured in high-rise concrete construction accidents in the last two years. Sixty-one percent of forty one cases where construction materials fell from a high-rise site involved concrete.

Continue reading "NEW YORK CITY SEEKS TOUGHER CONSTRUCTION RULES " »

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In a classic example of the duty that municipal entities have to provide a safe environment for the public at large, a New York Times article reports that New York City has agreed to pay Mr. Shriram Agni a 6.5 million dollar settlement for injuries he suffered in Staten Island. Mr. Agni, 61, was on his way home from work in October 2003 when the Staten Island Ferry rammed into a concrete pier crushing his right leg. Mr. Agni was unable to return to work for a year after he suffered his injury. In addition to Mr. Agni, 11 people died that October day in 2003, and dozens more were injured.

The Times reported that according to the city Law Department approximately two thirds of the 186 claims have been settled, costing the city more than 34 million dollars. Of the $34 million, two of the largest settlements included a man and a woman who lost both legs. Each of them received payments of 9 million dollars.

The settlement comes after federal judge Edward R. Korman of the United States District Court in Brooklyn denied the city’s attempt to cap damages for those families who had family members killed and to those who suffered New York personal injury in the ferry crash. The city made an argument that damages incurred as a result of the crash could be capped under an 1851 law that limited any boat owner’s liability to the value of the boat, minus repair costs. In this case, if that law had applied the damages would have run in the neighborhood of 14 million dollars.

Continue reading "SETTLEMENT REACHED IN STATEN ISLAND FERRY CRASH" »

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In an example of a tragic motor vehicle accident, the New York Times reported that on February 14, 2008, after driving through a chain link fence's open gates, an SUV, filled with wallpaper and scaffolding, slid across about 150 feet of ice into a metal cable stretched across the edge of the garage, before it crashed 40 ft. below-landing on its roof- crushing and killing 46 year-old Julie Simon. Mrs. Simon and Charles, her 47 year-old husband, were working as wallpaper hangers as part of a crew of contractors working on a newly erected office building, police said.

"The car teetered on the edge for a moment and then flipped over. Nassau Police Detective Michael Bitsko indicated to the Times that Mrs. Simon’s husband was able to get out of the SUV right before it started teetering. The Times story reported that apparently Mrs. Simon was unable to unbuckle her seat belt in time to get out of the GMC Suburban before it plunged off the upper level of the garage in New Hyde Park, L.I., which was partially under construction.

The Times story reported that Police and investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were investigating how the SUV got access to the off-limits area. Sgt. Anthony Repalone said "There is no concrete barrier to stop cars from going over”.

Continue reading "LACK OF BARRIERS LEADS TO FATAL DRIVE OFF ICY GARAGE DECK" »

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In a frightening example of employee negligence that resulted in the wrongful death of two innocent people, a truck driver who is reported to have voluntarily quit taking his seizure medication lost consciousness and control of his garbage truck, killing two tourists from England when his truck jumped a curb, according to the New York Times. The crash took place in the late evening hours of February 12th, in Manhattan, on West 35th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of Americas. Action Carting Environmental Services of Newark are the owners of the truck driven by the truck driver, 52 year-old Auvryn Scarlett. A passenger in the garbage truck with Scarlett indicated he saw that Scarlett was driving erratically and he tried to grab the wheel and get control of the truck.

The two tourists who died were identified by police as Andrew Hardie, 47 and Jacklyn Timmons from Yeovil in southern England. Both were killed when the garbage truck hit them while they were walking on the sidewalk at 42 West 35th Street in Manhattan.

According to the story in the Times, police investigators filed charges against Scarlett, because he was not taking medication prescribed to him to prevent seizures. The police said that Mr. Scarlett’s truck, owned by Action Carting Environmental Services of Newark, New Jersey, was traveling west, and struck lamp posts and storefronts before striking three people. The third person hit, also on the sidewalk, was identified by police as Abayomi Henderson, 23, of Queens. Mr. Henderson was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center, where he was in serious condition, the police said last Wednesday.

Continue reading "TRUCK DRIVER KILLS TWO IN MANHATTAN" »

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In Clinton Hill, a 42 year-old man, Jose Palacios, from Queens, trained as an accountant but working in construction for higher pay, died last month when he fell 12 stories after the scaffolding on which he was standing collapsed, according to the New York Times. A second man, whose name was not released, was taken to the King’s County Hospital in serious condition after falling from the same scaffold to the roof of a garage. Yet a third man was able to jump to safety on the roof. While an investigation is ongoing it appears, according to authorities, that Mr. Palacios was standing on an 18-foot-high tubular scaffold applying stucco when the scaffold collapsed beneath him. Safety netting was not in place when the Brooklyn accident took place, as is required by city law, because the Brooklyn project was nearly completed.

Wind gusts of up to 49 mph were recorded by the National Weather service, and the Department of Buildings had issued warnings to buildings and contractors earlier in the day instructing them to either, secure construction materials and tools, or to cancel work until winds subsided for fear of a dangerous construction accident.

Kate Lindquist, spokeswoman for the Buildings Department, indicated that Clinton Court Development, the Clinton project’s developer, had been cited for six violations last November.

Continue reading "CONSTRUCTION WORKER DIES IN BROOKLYN WHEN SCAFFOLD COLLAPSES" »

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According to the New York Times, The New York State Department of Health is again investigating Mercy Medical Center. Investigations of Mercy began last year when a woman had a double mastectomy immediately after receiving the news that she had breast cancer. The next day the woman died from complications of her surgery. Unfortunately, according to the State Department of Health, the 30 year-old woman never had cancer. Mercy Hospital’s lab had mixed up the woman’s test results with another woman’s results. Mercy Hospital, through its spokesperson, refused to release the woman’s name. In October of last year the Health Department concluded the investigation in that death by indicating that Mercy had taken proper ‘corrective action’ after the medical malpractice lab mix-up.

Now, the Health Department is investigating Mercy for the deaths of three other patients, and according to the Times this investigation was instigated by one of Mercy’s own doctors. Dr. Anthony Colantonio reported, according to the Times, that a physician’s assistant caused the deaths of three people: a 65 year-old man; a 64 year-old woman; and, a 19 year-old woman when catheters, chest tubes and pacemakers were improperly inserted into those patients.

Claudia Hutton, a spokesperson for the New York Health Department, indicated that the investigation is ongoing and she said it was unclear when the investigation would conclude. The Times further reports that a 1999 review by the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences showed that medical errors were responsible for the wrongful deaths of between 44,000 and 98,000 people a year in the United States.

Continue reading "LONG ISLAND’S MERCY HOSPITAL UNDER SCRUTINY AGAIN AFTER THE DEATHS OF SEVERAL PATIENTS" »

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Posted In: Medical Malpractice

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