New York Injury Lawyer Blog

With the start of the school year comes the increased risk for New York City school bus accidents or bicycle and pedestrian accidents involving students.

Our New York City injury lawyers encourage parents to speak with their children about school bus safety as well as pedestrian and bicycle safety. Thankfully, school buses usually do a good job of transporting children to and from school in a safe manner. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports an average of just 19 school bus fatalities occur each year in the United States. However, thousands of students are injured or killed each year while traveling to and from school.

Bicycle and pedestrian accidents continue to be a primary concern. In fact, the NHTSA reports more than two-thirds of fatal school bus accidents involve pedestrians getting on or off the bus. And motorists are reminded that the law requires them to stop for a bus with red flashing lights and the stop sign displayed. Only when the lights are turned off and the sign is retracted, are you permitted to pass a school bus.

By remaining patient and doing your part, you can help reduce the risk of traffic accidents involving students as classes resume across New York.

The New York Department of Education reports that all districts are required to conduct three bus safety drills per school year -- one the first week of school, the second in November or December and the third after March 1.

The safety drills include:

-Instruction on location and use of emergency doors, fire extinguishers, first-aid equipment and window escape routes.

-Instructions on how to safely enter and exit the bus.

-Specific instructions for students to move at least 10 feet in front of the bus before crossing and to make eye contact with the driver.

-Training for hazards including ice, rain and snow, poor visibility and reduced hearing.

-The importance of orderly conduct and the rules and regulations of the Board of Education.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides tips on helping your child stay safe while traveling to and from school.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also promotes the "Kids Walk to School" campaign which urges kids to stay safe but to consider walking to and from school as a healthy and environmentally friendly alternative.

Continue reading "Students at increased risk of school bus accidents, bicycle and pedestrian accidents in New York City as school year begins" »

A judge is weighing whether a crane contractor should be held criminally responsible for a deadly 2008 New York City crane accident that prosecutors argued could have been prevented with proper safety measures.

Closing arguments are over in manslaughter trail; the defendant declined a jury, leaving the decision up to the judge. The March 15, 2008 collapse is among the deadliest crane accidents in U.S. history. The accident killed seven people and led to an overhaul of crane safety at New York City construction sites.

Prosecutors claim polyester straps were to blame as they failed to hold an 11,000 pound piece of steel. The case against the defendant and his company, Rapetti Rigging Services, Inc., is the only criminal prosecution directly tied to the midtown Manhattan accident. Two dozen people were injured, a brownstone was crushed and several other buildings were damaged. The crane accident was one of several in the spring of 2008 that led to new safety measures and a bribery case among some crane inspectors.

Prosecutors argued that the crane fell because the defendant did a reckless job of deploying straps to fasten a steel collar to the crane some 18 stories above the ground, according to the Associated Press. Four straps were used rather than the eight called for by the manufacturer. One strap was badly worn and instructions on the strap's labels were not used to prevent them from tearing.

Defense lawyers argued the defendant was a safety-conscious veteran and the crane collapse was caused by other people's engineering decisions and construction mistakes.

The defendant faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. The judge is expected to announce his decision in coming days.

As we reported on our New York Injury Lawyer Blog, more than 1,700 crane operators are licensed by the City of New York. Unsafe cranes pose a substantial threat of serious injury or death to construction workers, pedestrians and the residents and occupants of nearby buildings.

The U.S. Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries reports that an average of 42 people a year are killed in crane accidents.

Continue reading "Judge weighing manslaughter charge against man prosecuted for New York City crane accident" »

A criminal trial is under way this week involving a New York City crane accident that killed seven people after a 200-foot-tall crane rigging crashed onto a densely crowded block.

The New York Building Department licenses more than 1,700 crane operators. Construction cranes continue to pose a safety threat throughout the city. As our New York Injury Lawyer Blog reported in April, a crane accident sent a 250-foot-tall crane crashing into a 25-story building in Lower Manhattan that houses the city's crane inspectors.

The Associated Press reported that the 49-year-old crane rigger is facing manslaughter charges for the March 2008 disaster, which left a path of destruction through a neighborhood near the United Nations and led to tighter scrutiny of cranes throughout New York City. Prosecutors allege the rigger was reckless in securing the rig as it extended upward. His attorney maintains the defendant followed industry practices and other factors led to the deadly crane accident.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports that between 60 and 80 people a year are killed in crane accidents. This crane collapse was one of two that occurred in New York City during the spring of 2008. The second crash killed two people a month later. The accidents prompted a review of 23 cranes working in the city, which found more than one-third had uncertified operators.

The accident at East 51st Street sent a 12,000 pound steel support collar crashing to the ground and toppled the 250-foot-high tower crane. Seven people, including six crane workers, died in the accident. Two dozen others were seriously injured.

Prosecutors allege four safety straps were used, one of which was badly worn, instead of the eight straps required by manufacturer specifications.

Fallout from the pair of crane accidents resulted in the resignation of the city's top building official, criminal charges against a city inspector accused of lying about crane inspections, and a host of new crane-safety initiatives. New safety efforts included hiring additional inspectors, extending training requirements and inspection checklists and banning the use of nylon straps unless recommended by the manufacturer.

Continue reading "Man accused in deadly New York City crane accident goes on trial" »

The city suspended the occupational license of a crane operator this week, in response to a New York City crane accident that sent a 250-foot-high crane crashing into a 25-story building in Lower Manhattan over the weekend, the New York Times reported.

Officials contend that the operator failed to properly secure the crane before leaving the construction site for the day. The operator had held the city's top-level operator's license since 2002.

Investigators found the operator did not lower the boom as far as it could go, which contributed to the accident. Investigators are also looking into whether mechanical failure might have been a contributing factor and additional citations are possible.

The crane's boom slowly listed about 7 p.m. Saturday, before crashing into a building at 80 Maiden Lane. Five nearby buildings were evacuated.

The accident comes two years after a pair of crane accidents that killed nine people in March and May of 2008. Last week, the city's former top crane inspector admitted taking bribes to falsify crane licensing and inspections, the Times reported.

Ironically, the building struck by the crane houses the City Department of Investigation, which immediately joined in the investigation.

The city has tightened safety and training regulations for crane operators, which it attributes to the reduction in fatal New York City crane accidents. Three people were killed in city crane accidents last year, compared to 19 in 2008.

The city received a complaint on March 8 about an unsafe and unlicensed crane operating at the address of Saturday's accident. But an inspection conducted the next day found no crane at that location and no citations were issued, according to city records.

Continue reading "Weekend New York City crane accident sends crane crashing into crane inspectors' building" »

A New York City crane accident that killed two workers has led to manslaughter charges against the crane's owner and a former mechanic, according to the Associated Press.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office accuses the owner and mechanic of hiring a Chinese company to repair the crane by welding a critical component that failed, leading to the death of the workers in the New York City construction accident, which occurred in May 2008.

The weld failed after a month of use, sending pieces of the 200-foot-tall crane crashing into an apartment building and killing the 30-year-old crane operator and a 27-year-old co-worker. A third construction worker was seriously injured.

The crane accident on Manhattan's Upper East Side occurred just two months after another crane owned by the defendant collapsed in Manhattan. That accident killed seven people.

The accidents increased awareness of the dangers such enormous cranes pose to employees and bystanders as they work at dozens of locations throughout the city.

Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri called the charges "an important reminder" of the responsibilities construction companies have to ensure safety and said the agency has increased training requirements for crane operators and inspectors since the collapses.

The District Attorney's office accuses the crane's owner of hiring a little-known company over the Internet to conduct repairs for $20,000, after two other companies said the repairs would take at least seven months and cost $34,000.

The defendants each face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Continue reading "New York City crane accident leads to criminal charges " »

Fewer people were killed but more people were injured in New York City construction accidents in 2009, the Daily News reported.

The New York City construction accident attorneys and the New York crane accident lawyers at Queller, Fisher, Washor, Fuchs & Kool fight for the rights of people who have been seriously injured or killed at or near construction sites.

There were three fatal New York City construction accidents last year, compared to 19 in 2008. Experts pin the drastic decline on the end of the decade-long construction boom in the city as the economy soured. In 2007, 12 people were killed in New York City construction accidents; 18 died in 2006.

However, the number of construction accidents jumped nearly 50 percent, to 224 in 2009, compared to 151 in 2008.

The Buildings Department attributed the drop in fatalities to better enforcement and the higher accident rates to better reporting by contractors.

While fewer reported fatalities is good news, the drastic increase in New York City construction accidents and injuries is cause for concern. Contractors, builders, property owners and others responsible for the safety of a job site have an obligation to prevent accidents and injuries.

Two of the deaths reported in 2009 involved workers falling, one in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. Neither victim had been provided with a required safety harness, the Daily News reported.

The third death was caused by the collapse of a concrete wall in Staten Island.

The city revised its construction codes last year for the first time in four decades and launched a series of safety initiatives aimed at cracking down on unsafe conditions.

Continue reading "More New York City construction accidents reported in 2009; fatal construction accidents declined" »

A federal judge has appointment a former prosecutor to investigate allegations of corruption in the union that represents most heavy equipment and crane operators in New York City.

The New York Times reported that supporters of the appointment hope to eliminate what they say has been decades of corruption and abuse of the system.

The New York City crane accident lawyers and construction accident attorneys at Queller, Fisher, Washor, Fuchs & Kool continue to follow developments in the troubled New York City crane industry, which has been involved in several high-profile fatal accidents in recent years.

The Times reported that much remains uncertain for the 1,600-member union, which traditionally has wielded substantial power because of the ability of its tower crane operators to shut down high-rise construction projects.

In addition to the racketeering cases, two tower crane accidents last year left nine people dead and brought greater scrutiny to crane operations and licensing. Since then, there have been allegations that union officials helped unqualified operators obtain crane licenses.

Those accidents, which claimed the lives of New York City construction workers, civilians and tourists, also resulted in criminal charges, including the arrest of a building inspector accused of lying about conducting safety inspections.

Crane operators are required to be licensed separately through the city and receive one of three types of crane licenses depending on what type of crane they are permitted to operate.The New York City Building Department licenses more than 1,700 crane operators.

Data from the U.S. Census of Fatal Occupational Injury identified 632 deaths involving cranes from 1992 and 2006 - an average of 42 deaths per year. The majority of the deaths were caused by truck cranes, followed by overhead or gantry cranes, tower cranes and floating or barge cranes.

Continue reading "Prosecutor appointed in ongoing probe of New York City crane industry" »

A New York City crane accident on 97th Street and Columbus Avenue last week caved in a sidewalk shed over a pedestrian walkway, startling pedestrians and drawing a large crowd of firefighters, building inspectors, police officers, pedestrians and residents.

The New York crane accident lawyers at Queller, Fisher, Washor, Fuchs & Kool continue to monitor instances of crane accidents in New York City after several high-profile crane failures have led to the serious injury and death of innocent bystanders and exposed lax inspection standards and other safety violations.

The mobile crane on the northeast corner of 97th Street at 775 Columbus was being demobilized for the day when it hit the sidewalk shed, collapsing part of it onto the walkway below, according to a New York City Department of Buildings spokesperson Ryan Fitzgibbon. No injuries were immediately reported, but the street was temporarily closed off immediately after the accident, according to a report in the Columbia Inspector.

The newspaper reported the site of the crane accident is a 13-story building under construction by Columbus Square developers, the Chetrit Group and Stellar Management.

Cause of the accident remains under investigatation.

Fitzgibbon reported that the Department of Buildings, which inspects and regulates cranes in New York City, issued violations to two companies, U.S Crane and Rigging LLC and PWV Acquisitions LLC, along with a violation to the crane operator.

Fines, which could be in the range of $25,000, will be determined in court at the completion of the investigation.

"If I lived there, I'd be scared," said Sam Kim, pointing to the 20-story residential building that sits in the crane's shadow. "They made a really big deal, but it is dangerous."

The New York City Building Department licenses more than 1,700 crane operators. Several high-profile crane accidents, including a May 2008 incident that killed two people after a crane slammed into the penthouse of a nearby building, has increased the focus on crane safety.

Common causes of fatal crane accidents include power line injuries, dropped loads, collapsing booms, overturned cranes and rigging failures.

If you or someone you love has been seriously injured or killed by a crane, the New York City crane accident attorneys at Queller, Fisher, Washor, Fuchs & Kool offer free appointments to discuss your rights. Call (212) 406-1700.