Construction, Industrial and Workplace Accidents

Published on: December 18, 2009

New York Construction Accident Decision Impacts Injured Worker Rights (Runner v. New York Stock Exchange)

Injured construction workers increase in number every day. Many workers injured on the job live in Syracuse, New York, and in surrounding Central New York cities and towns, including Watertown, Oswego, Utica, Herkimer, and Binghamton. Many injured workers file lawsuits for their injuries. Generally, those lawsuits are filed against general contractors or those who own the property where the injury occurred. Most involve claims of construction site falls, laborers struck by falling objects, scaffolding accidents and machinery accidents.

Earlier this week, the New York State Court of Appeals issued a decision clarifying New York State Labor Law Section 240, which provides that “[a]ll contractors and owners and their agents, except owners of one and two-family dwellings who contract for but do not direct or control the work, in the erection, demolition, repairing, altering, painting, cleaning or pointing of a building or structure shall furnish or erect, or cause to be furnished or erected for the performance of such labor, scaffolding, hoists, stays, ladders, slings, hangers, blocks, pulleys, braces, irons, ropes, and other devices which shall be so constructed, placed and operated as to give proper protection to a person so employed.”

The Court of Appeals held that the statute applied to the case, even though the plaintiff did not fall from a height. Rather, the plaintiff was injured when a heavy reel fell from a height and, because he was holding on to a rope wound around the reel, was propelled horizontally and sustained severe injuries to his hands. New York State’s highest court ruled: (1) that the worker’s injury was elevation-related, and (2) that the worker did not have to be struck by the falling object (reel) in order to recover under Labor Law 240.
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Published on: November 22, 2009

New York Workplace Injuries Going Unreported

By Bottar Law, PLLC

Syracuse jobsite accidents causing workplace injuries are common. According to the Department of Labor, countless workplace injuries occur every year, leading to tens of thousands of injured workers. Those most likely to suffer a workplace injury include construction workers, those working around machinery, and those involved in manufacturing and transportation.

According to a new study by the United States Government Accountability Office, many company doctors under pressure from employers are concealing workplace injuries. In extreme cases, company doctors are providing inadequate medical care to injured workers. According to a GAO survery:

* 1/3 of company doctors interviewed reported being directed by employers to provide inadequate care to injured employees to improve the appearance of company injury report logs;

* 1/2 of company doctors interviewed reported receiving pressure from company officials to minimize worker illnesses and laborer injuries; and

* 2/3 of company doctors interviewed reported knowing about employees who did not report workplace injuries because they feared company discipline.

One example of collusion between company officials and company doctors to better company safety records is the treatment of cuts. Workplace lacerations that are closed with stitches must be reported to OSHA. However, cuts that are closed with a bandage are not reported. Another example is the certification of a workplace injury, even a very serious injury, as one that requires only “first aid.” Injuries treated by “first aid” need not be reported.

Tom O’Connor, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, commented on the GAO’s findings. He stated that they were “dramatic,” adding: “If healthcare professionals are being asked to not record injuries properly, then we have a pretty broken system.”
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Published on: November 22, 2009

Utica Hospital Fire Injures No Workers Or Patients

By Bottar Law, PLLC

The laundry room of Faxton St.-Luke’s Hospital, based in Utica, caught fire on Saturday. According to firefighters, the smoldering fire was caused by laundry lint and pipe insulation that had been ignited by sparks created by welding underway to repair a washing machine. The worker was not injured on the job and, fortunately, the fire was extinguished before any hospital patients were injured due to smoke inhalation or burned by flames.

Generally, hospital fires occur in the kitchen and other cooking areas — as many as 1,600 each year. According to the National Fire Protection Association, as many as 52% of hospital blazes arise out of cooking-related activities. Often, this is because there is a heat source, fuel source, and poor supervision.

Very few hospital fires cause fatalities. On average, only one death per year. By comparison, the Centers for Disease Control reports that as many an 99,000 people die each year from infections acquired during a hospital admission.
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Published on: June 7, 2009

Watertown Construction Accident Lawsuit Filed For Death Of Mannsville Man

By Bottar Law, PLLC

A lawsuit was filed last week on behalf of a Mannsville woman whose husband was killed in a construction accident last month at Hanson Aggregates, Inc. According to court documents, the man was operating a bulldozer while building a ramp on the property when he lost control of the machine and was ejected, then run-over. Court documents allege that the ramp partially collapsed, leading to the loss of control.
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Published on: May 9, 2009

Work Zone Accidents Are Top Priority For New York State Troopers and DOT

By Bottar Law, PLLC

Highway and roadway work zones, which are the areas along many Central New York Roadways now marked by orange cones and hazard signs, are dangerous for all involved. Hundreds of car accidents occur every year in and around work zones. Many of those accidents are driver vs. driver, such as when one operator fails to slow for a work zone and rear-ends another driver. Others are driver only, such as when an operator loses control of his or her car because of construction underway at a work zone, e.g., a pavement drop off.

A handful of accidents are driver vs. construction worker, such as when a careless operator strikes a construction worker performing his or her job along the side of a roadway. Last year, there were 18 work zone related accidents – three construction workers lost their lives. A fatal work zone accident occurred in Chenango County in 2005, when a tour bus operator drove crashed the bus into a work zone and killed three construction workers.

According to the New York State Department of Transportation and the New York State Police, work zone accidents are avoidable if drivers pay attention. Under the Work Zone Safety Act of 2005, Troopers are strictly enforcing work zone speed limits to ensure that construction workers, who are responsible for maintaining our roadways, return to their families at the end of each day. The Act increased penalties and fines for work areas throughout New York State. As few as two violations can result in a New York State license suspension.

From the New York State Department of Transportation website, please remember to slow for work zones, obey posted speed limits, maintain safe distances between you and other drivers, maintain safe distances between you and construction workers, and be courteous.
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Published on: April 30, 2009

Central New York Injured Worker Compensation Lawsuits Limited By Independent Medical Examinations

By Bottar Law, PLLC

Defense medical examinations, also known as IMEs, performed by Central New York doctors working for insurance companies are were recently the subject of a statewide investigation conducted by the New York Times.

According to a New York Times review of workers’ compensation case files, medical records, and patient interviews, “independent medical examinations” and the reports that follow are are frequently conducted or prepared in a fashion that benefits insurers by minimizing injuries or by attributing injuries to some other cause or event. Unlike a visit to a treating physician, an IME physician may meet with an injured worker for less than ten minutes. During that ten minute period, the IME doctor may take an abbreviated history, skim medical records, perform a very limited physical examination and send the patient on his or her way without an ounce of compassion. After that examination, the majority of IME reports conclude that the patient is not injured or, if injured, is not disabled.

Many refer to Syracuse-area IME doctors as “Dr. No” or “Dr. Says-No,” because no matter how badly injured, certain doctors will consistently find no injury or no disability. The New York Times interviewed Dr. Alan Zimmerman, an orthopedic surgeon practicing in Queens, New York. According to Dr. Zimmerman, “[b]asically, if you haven’t murdered anyone and you have a medical license, you get certified.” Dr. Zimmerman added that its “clearly a nice was to semi-retire.” Dr. Zimmerman, 75, conducts orthopedic IMEs.

IME examinations are very profitable for doctors (some earning nearly $1,000,000 per year performing examinations and testifying in court), and were poorly regulated until 2001. In 2000, a Long Island doctor conducted five IMEs in a Long Island bar. Some examiners, of course, do furnish honest examinations.

A small study conducted a few years ago at the Central New York Occupational Health Clinical Center in Syracuse, New York, revealed that the clinic’s treating physicians and local independent medical examiners almost always disagreed on whether an injured worker was disabled.
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Published on: April 25, 2009

Syracuse Work Injury Lawyer On Onondaga Construction In 2009

By Bottar Law, PLLC

While much of the country is experiencing a housing slump and a decline in construction, the City of Syracuse seems immune from the trend. Last year, nearly 5,000 building permits were pulled for projects totaling more than $200,000,000.

A look around Syracuse reveals where the construction dollars are being spent. Current construction sites in and around downtown Syracuse include a $21,000,000 office building at the intersection of South Clinton Street and West Jefferson Street, a $6,000,000 renovation of the old Dupli building on West Jefferson Street, and O’Brien & Gere’s move to a new building adjacent to Armory Square at Franklin and West Fayette Streets.

In addition, new townhomes are planned for Prospect Hill, the Kirk Hotel is under renovation, a new section of the Onondaga Creekwalk will be complete soon, and SUNY Upstate Medical University will soon break ground on the Central New York Biotech Center in the former Kennedy Square apartment complex. According to Syracuse Mayor Matthew Driscoll, as many as 231 rental and/or owner-occupied units will be constructed or renovated by the end of the year.

With construction underway throughout Syracuse, construction injuries are also expected to rise as unsafe jobsites, defective machinery and tight deadlines cause falling objects, falls from a height, and various other dangerous work environments that can lead to severe injury, permanent disability, and even death.
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