Artículos publicados en Fatal Construction Accidents

According to research completed by the Center for Construction Research, more than 7,600 construction workers lost their lives between 1992 and 2010 as a result of “mobile heavy equipment” accidents. Those extreme dangers remain present today, including here in the New York City area. Whether you are working in or around an excavator, forklift, bulldozer, or other pieces of heavy equipment, you are entitled to a safe workplace. If you got hurt in or by a piece of heavy equipment because of a lack of proper safety protections, then you may be entitled to recover a significant amount of compensation. You should reach out to an experienced New York City construction accident attorney promptly to find out more about the case you may have.

A news report from WABC is a stark reminder of the severe dangers these construction workers face. The WABC report covered a fatal excavator accident in North Jersey. The worker was inside his excavator when the machine reached a point too close to the nearby river and flipped over. When it did, it trapped the man in about six feet of water for more than one hour. The water was estimated to be about 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) at the time.

At the time of the WABC report, the investigation was ongoing, and investigators had yet to rule out windy conditions as a possible factor in the fatal accident. This accident happened in New Jersey but, certainly, many New York City construction workers who operate excavators might potentially face similar risks in working job sites located near rivers or other bodies of water.

Continuar leyendo ›

Tragically, another month has brought yet more news of a fatal construction accident in New York. This time, the location was a construction site on Long Island. Again, the accident involved workers hurt because they didn’t receive the proper equipment they needed to do their job safely. These accidents are happening far too often here. When they do and you are injured as a result, be sure to reach out without delay to an experienced New York City construction injury attorney to learn more about the options the law gives you.

In the Long Island accident, a crew was working on the construction of a new home in Freeport and was standing on what news reports described as “makeshift scaffolding” as they worked on the third floor. The makeshift scaffold appeared to be two-by-four planks placed atop wooden beams, according to the report.

Reportedly, the makeshift device failed and the two workers on the scaffold platform fell to the ground 25 feet below. One of the two workers, a 17-year-old from Hempstead, suffered a fractured skull and later died from his injuries.

In basketball in the United States, there is something called the “Final Four.” In the world of construction safety, there’s something called the “Fatal Four,” which, for construction workers, is far more important and much more serious. These four areas are responsible for 60% of all fatal construction accidents in the private sector. If these deaths were avoided, 582 construction worker lives would have been saved in 2017.

What this tells us is that the task of providing construction workers with adequate safety protections is still a work in progress and that too many workers are being failed. If you’ve been hurt (or a loved one has been killed) while working at a construction job in New York, you want answers and you need to know where to go to get those answers. Start by reaching out to a skilled New York City construction accident attorney to schedule a time to discuss your situation in detail.

So, what exactly are the “Fatal Four” in construction? They are, in order by deadliest:

  • falls
  • being struck by objects
  • electrocutions
  • workers crushed when caught in or caught between objects, including materials, equipment or a collapsing structure

Continuar leyendo ›

Back in January, the Commercial Observer published a headline that stated “Construction is Still NYC’s Most Fatal Industry.” Tragically, the events of early April serve as a sad and sober reminder of the harsh reality behind that headline. While construction work in New York carries with it many dangers, the laws of New York carry with them several possible options to help those harmed in construction accidents to receive the compensation they need.

If you’re hurt in a construction accident, you are probably stressed and/or frightened. You may not know what to do or where to turn. Make sure that one of your first steps is to reach out to an experienced New York City construction accident attorney to learn more about getting the compensation to which you are entitled.

The first of the two terrible incidents occurred on April 8 and happened on East 50th Street in Manhattan. A 51-year-old worker was doing façade repair and standing on a scaffold, and, according to the New York Daily News, the apparatus that attached the scaffold to the building’s façade knocked loose a large, heavy stone located at the top of the façade.

Construction injuries involving falling workers are very serious matters. The most recent statistics show that fatal falls are unfortunately trending upward in New York. Falls suffered while working at a construction of construction-related job, whether fatal or non-fatal, are often extremely damaging for the worker and his/her family. If you’ve been hurt as a result of one, you should take action promptly by retaining an experienced New York City construction injury attorney.

Back in January of this year, the New York Committee for Occupational Safety & Health released its annual report called “Deadly Skyline: An Annual Report on Construction Fatalities.” That report contained some pieces of good news, such as the fact that construction fatalities were trending downward in New York City. It also contained some serious causes for concern, such as the information that was revealed about workers dying construction fall accidents.

Falls account for about 50% of all construction fatalities

According to the report, construction falls continue to be one of the largest causes of fatal construction accidents, both within New York City and statewide. In the previous decade, 187 workers in the state died in construction falls, with 78 of those occurring in New York City. Both in the city and statewide, those fatal falls represented roughly one-half of all of the construction accident deaths.

Continuar leyendo ›

Usted puede recibir una compensación por un accidente de construcción bajo la Sección 241(6) del Código del Trabajo debido a violaciones de las leyes de seguridad del Estado de Nueva York.   Para defender sus derechos, consulte a un abogado con experiencia en accidentes de construcción.

Por ejemplo, el carpintero M. L. se lesionó la rodilla cuando se cayó en un hoyo mientras trabajaba en el baño de un hotel en Manhattan.  De acuerdo a la Sección 12 NYCRR 23-1.7(e)(2), los pisos, las plataformas y otras áreas similares de construcción, “deben estar libres de sucio y de materiales desechados.”  En el caso de M.L. su lugar de trabajo estaba sucio con tuberías y otros materiales desechados en el piso.  La sentencia de apelación le dio a M.L. el derecho de recibir una compensación.

Usted puede recibir una compensación si i usted sufrió lesiones en un accidente de construcción debido a violaciones de las leyes de seguridad de Nueva York.  Actúe de una vez.  Consulte con la firma de Nueva York Arcia & Associates con experiencia en accidentes de construcción.  Nuestro equipo lleva muchos años practicando la ley a favor de trabajadores lesionados en accidentes de construcción.  Usted decide.

As 2018 has drawn to a close, information about construction work in New York City reveals both good news and bad news. While the number of construction permits in the city rose substantially in 2018, meaning a growth in the availability of construction work, so did the number of construction worker injuries and deaths on the job. Unfortunately, those two things often go hand in hand. As the demand for new construction increases, frequently so does the pressure to work quickly and, too many times, to cut corners to meet tight deadlines.

When safety gets sacrificed in the name of efficiency and speed, and construction workers get hurt in the process, New York law may allow those injured workers to sue and get much-needed compensation through the legal system. To discover more about your legal rights in relation to your on-the-job construction accident, be sure to talk to a knowledgeable New York City construction attorney.

Recently, The Jewish Voice published a report about the state of construction work, and construction injures, in New York City in 2018. The Jewish Voice‘s report indicated that construction permits were up in the city this past year, as builders sought to replace properties washed away by Superstorm Sandy with new buildings, both commercial and residential.

Any accident that costs the life of a construction worker is a tragedy. When a construction worker dies on the job, he or she likely leaves behind a family that depended on him/her for many things, including wisdom, guidance, leadership and financial support. While no amount of money can replace a lost loved one, that undeniable fact does not replace another inevitable fact, which is that such a loss has the potential to put an enormous financial burden on the family left behind. Fortunately, here in New York, the law provides many families with legal options for getting much-needed monetary compensation. To learn more about your options if a loved one has been fatally injured at a construction job, reach out to a skilled New York City construction attorney to get the help your family needs.

Unfortunately, 2018 has had its share of these types of accidents. A.E. was a construction worker from Staten Island who tragically became the city’s fifth construction fatality back in July while on the job at a project in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. NBC New York reported that workers were dismantling a scaffold when a beam that was being used as part of that scaffolding fell 12 stories inside the courtyard of the building. It eventually crashed down on A.E.’s head. The fallen worker was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

More recently, a family of construction workers from Newark suffered a catastrophic loss at a job site in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The New York Daily News reported that workers were hauling a metal wall with a forklift on the day before Thanksgiving when the fatal accident happened. The forklift tipped over on its side and the wall fell onto O.P., killing him. A worker told the Daily News that O.P.’s son and two brothers also worked on the site.

April 26, 2018 marked an important milestone date. That date, as reported by the New York Daily News, was the 10th anniversary of the first Memorial Mass for Deceased Construction Workers in New York City. Two days later, on April 28, the 2018 “Hardhat Mass” was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The annual event serves many useful purposes. It gives survivors the chance to mourn those lost to construction accidents. It also, though, provides a platform to shine a light on the extent of the problem of construction safety in New York City. The number of hardhats and roses laid out each year at the mass is a reminder that more is needed to ensure the safety of construction workers. If you have been injured in a construction accident, or if a loved one has been injured or killed, it is important to take action swiftly. To learn more about your legal rights and options, talk to an experienced New York City construction accident attorney right away.

At the annual hardhat mass, chairs are staged in the cathedral’s upper sanctuary. In those chairs, one engraved hardhat and one rose is left for each of the construction workers who have died in the city in the previous year. At the 2018 mass, 19 such hardhats and roses were placed in chairs. Since the tradition began, a total of 166 such memorials have been laid out.

As Fr. Brian Jordan, who presided over the mass and authored the article for the Daily News, correctly pointed out, “Construction workers have one of the highest death and injury rates in the private sector throughout the entire United States. Yet the safety crisis they face rarely gets much attention.”

Contact Information