Costly U.S. work-related injuries and illnesses
How does $250 billion per year in health costs sound to an employer? Not very healthy! A newly released government study shows that amount and more is the cost to employers in New York and across the U.S. for work site accident injuries and illnesses. This total exceeds all costs for cancer, more than costs for diabetes, and it is more than double the costs for strokes.
The author of this study, Paul Leigh, claims that not enough attention is being paid to occupational health. The University of California (Davis) professor of public health sciences says risk from job-related injury and illness is so high because the average worker does spend about 40 percent of his or her time at the workplace. Continue reading
Family says restraints could have saved NY construction worker
In New York, a construction accident involving a worker who was killed after a wind gust blew him off a roof apparently involved employer negligence and liability as described by personal injury laws. The family of the deceased worker is suing the subcontracting firm, claiming employer negligence in failing to provide any type of safety protection for the worker to prevent a fall.
The 36-year-old worker fell over 50 feet onto a concrete slab and died at the scene. In this lawsuit, personal injury claims are also being made against the development partnership owners of the property as co-defendants. Under Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations and laws designed to protect workers from on-the-job injuries, there should have been adequate protection provided to prevent this fall. Protection could have been provided with restraining devices or a safety harness configuration for that worker. Continue reading
Father loses son under Manhattan streets in construction accident
New York has one of the largest underground mass transit systems that transport children to school, employees to work and tourists to famous see famous sights. While the residents and visitors to the large city benefit every day from the network of tunnels, maintenance and construction workers must work in the dark tunnels to build the system and keep it safe for travelers.
A26-year-old New York construction worker recently lost his life approximately 140 feet beneath the Manhattan street level. Not only did the construction accidentclaim the life of the young man, but a father was forced to watch the one thing that should never happen to a parent. He watched the young life of his son slip away before his eyes. Continue reading
Construction workers injured, one dies in Brooklyn building collapse
On Tuesday morning construction workers arrived at their Brooklyn job site as usual. They set up their gear and began construction on the 14-unit condominium in Brighton Beach. As the day wore on, the workers were unaware of the structural problems lying in wait and increasing in danger. The building finally gave out at 2:30 in the afternoon, collapsing on top of the group of workers.
Firefighters were immediately called to the scene to rescue the men from the debris, including corrugated metal and freshly poured concrete that fell on top of them. Firefighters were able to rescue the four trapped workers, but they later learned that the collapse had turned into a fatal workplace accident when medical doctors pronounced the death of one of the men. Continue reading
Subway construction accident ends worker’s life, injures five others
New York subways have made commuter transportation not only easy, but possible in a city with a population that significantly outweighs the automobile traffic capacity. The underground transportation system is an amazing and useful invention, but it poses a serious risk of construction site accidents for the thousands of maintenance workers that keep the transit system operating.
One New York construction worker was killed and five others were injured this week while working on a future site for a subway station that has been under construction at the York University campus. Continue reading
Falling scaffolding injures 17 people in Harlem
Construction work sites can be very dangerous places, especially in New York where many of the buildings reach high heights. Workers must use dangerous tools around structures that are often either incomplete or falling apart and in need of the repair being done on them. Scaffolding is used to hold workers and transport heavy material used at the construction site.
When scaffolding falls, it can cause serious damage to those unlucky enough to be on the structure at the time or to those standing below. Falling scaffolding was to blame for causing injury to 17 people in Harlem early Tuesday morning.
The scaffolding had been erected around an old five-story brick building on West 125th Street in Harlem. According to reports, work was being done on an elevator shaft when bricks came loose, falling on the scaffolding. The scaffolding collapsed at approximately 9:25 in the morning when the streets were filled with pedestrians and commuters.
Of the 17 people injured, eight of them had been riding on a city bus when the scaffolding collapsed and landed on the back end of the bus. A reporter for The New York World was riding on the bus at the time and related his experience. “I heard a falling sound of something collapsing toward the back, and the back of the bus filled up with smoke,” he said. “People were running from the back and screaming.”
The reporter talked to a young boy who “said that he thought he was going to die.” The fear of the young boy was by no means over exaggerated. Scaffolding accidents are considered very dangerous, often leaving families to find a way to survive after their primary income-earner is seriously injured or even loses their life in one of the accidents.
Source: The New York Times, “17 Injured as Scaffold Collapses Onto Bus in Harlem,” Andy Newman and Matt Flegenheimer, Sept. 20, 2011