The New York City crane collapses of March 15, 2008, and May 30, 2008, and the collapse of a 20-foot crane section in Miami that fell 30 stories, killing two construction workers and injuring five, set off an alarm within the construction community and city dwellers. An in-depth report on U.S. crane fatalities made by The Center for Construction Research and Training in response to these incidents found the number of crane-related deaths among construction workers is significant, with an average of 22 workers killed annually. The report’s findings, released this past June, used Bureau of Labor Statistics’ worker fatality data from 1992 to 2006 on construction workers: the numbers and causes of death, the trades of workers involved, the size of employers, and types of cranes involved. (more…)

Advocates for children are upset that Alloy Media and Marketing has run ads for prescription drugs from its Channel One website. Channel One provides free news and original programming to about 10,000 middle and high schools. Channel One is, in the opinion of many, a controversial in-school news program that makes viewing ads a compulsory part of the school day for grades six through twelve. One of Channel One’s drug ads links to Acneheroes.com, a kid-targeted website created by the pharmaceutical company sanofi-aventis to promote BenzaClin, a prescription drug for acne. The website features actor Cody Linley, who introduces himself as one of the stars of Hannah Montana, (more…)

Two firefighters, Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph Graffagnino, 33, died in the fire that broke out from a discarded cigarette butt in the former Deutsche Bank building fire of August 18th, 2007 during the demolition of the building. After the death of a firefighter, the Fire Department always empanels a team to study any problems that might have contributed to the death. A 176-page report written by safety chiefs investigating the blaze was made public this past Thursday, August 21st. A grand jury investigating the blaze is expected to issue indictments next month.

Among the findings and recommendations made were the following: (more…)

A study conducted by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s own advocacy organization for transit riders, the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, found that nearly half of the subway stations examined (23 out of 50) need more attention, and that the worst stations had decrepit conditions, including water damage, exposed wires, rodents, foul odors, clogged track drains and general filth. The report, cleverly titled “Unwelcome Mats New York’s Subway Stations in Disrepair “, identified the five worst stations surveyed as the Beach 90th Street on the A and Rockaway Shuttle lines in Queens; the 149th Street-Grand Concourse station on the No. 4 line in the Bronx; the 138th Street-Grand Concourse station on the Nos. 4 and 5 lines in the Bronx; the Jay Street-Borough Hall station on the A, C and F lines in Brooklyn; and the 103rd Street station on the No. 6 line in Manhattan. (more…)

The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) provides the agency and other federal agencies with critically important incident and injury information. More than 34 million consumer product-related injuries were medically treated annually from 2004 through 2006. Of these injuries, it is estimated that more than 13 million sought treatment at U.S. emergency departments. Below are statistics from the 2007 NEISS Data Highlights showing Product Grouping/Estimated Number of Injuries: (more…)

Editor’s Note:  The following blog concerns a decision of the Appellate Division, Second Department, Petrone v. Fernandez, 53 A.D.3d 221, 862 N.Y.S.2d 522 (2009), which was reversed by the Court of Appeals. 12 N.Y.3d 546, — N.E.2d —-, 2009 WL 1585848, N.Y. Slip Op. 04694 (2009).

In last month’s decision by the in Petrone v. Fernandez, 2008 WL 2669298, a Queens mail carrier injured her finger while jumping feet-first into her vehicle to avoid a rampaging Rottweiler. Plaintiff Melanie Petrone was making her rounds on the morning of May 9, 2005, when she observed an unleashed dog on the defendants’ lawn within several feet of her. She decided to “flag” the house, meaning that mail would not be delivered so long as an unleashed dog was present. Ms. Petrone turned and began to walk back to her mail vehicle. She then noticed that the dog had begun chasing her and had entered the street behind her. Ms. Petrone, slowed by arthritis, began to run to her vehicle. To elude the dog, Petrone jumped feet-first through the open window of her vehicle, allegedly sustaining an injury to her finger. (more…)

A report of the Federal Trade Commission, Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation, finds that 44 major food and beverage marketers spent $1.6 billion to promote their products to children under 12 and adolescents ages 12 to 17 in the United States in 2006. The report finds that food advertising to youth is dominated by integrated advertising campaigns that combine traditional media, such as television, with previously unmeasured forms of marketing, such as packaging, in-store advertising, sweepstakes, and Internet. These campaigns often involve cross-promotion with a new movie or popular television program. (more…)

People go to hear live music for a good time, but it’s not unheard of for disaster in the form of personal injury or death to strike. For example, on February 20. 2003, fire erupted at a Great White concert fire killing 100 and injuring 180. The fire started when a spark from the band’s pyrotechnic gerbs display ignited the soundproofing foam insulation lining the walls of the concert club as Great White began their set. On march 25, 1990, an arsonist started a fire at an unlicensed social club in the Bronx, New York, called “Happy Land”, that killed 87 people, mostly ethnic Hondurans. Now you can add permanent eye damage from laser beams to the potential risks of concert-going.

Over 30 people, who attended an open air music festival near Moscow in early July, 2008, suffered eyesight damage that doctors fear could be permanent. (more…)

The tortuous history of New York Route 347 in Suffolk County and its troubles with the traffic impacts of low–density strip mall development has again come to the public fore due to some recent motor vehicle accidents. On July 30, 2008, a Lake Grove woman, Effatolsadat Ghozati, 66, was struck by car and killed while crossing westbound Route 347 near Hallock Road in Stony Brook, New York, on foot at around 10:25 P.M. On August 1, 2008, the front of a 2003 Ford van, going west on State Route 347, smashed into the side of a passenger bus that was heading east on 347 and was attempting to reach a driveway on the north side of the Smithtown bypass. 9 people, all occupants of the van, were injured, and a tenth passenger died after several days in the hospital. (more…)

A 14-year-old fell off the platform after the rotted wooden rubbing board at the edge of the platform gave way beneath him, launching him into the path of an incoming train. Fortunately, he pulled himself to safety just in time. A senior citizen was sitting in her vehicle when a piece of the rail from the elevated subway tracks plunged 30 feet and slammed into the roof of her car. The rail shattered her windshield, missing her head by centimeters. Another teen, 17 years old, had his shoe slip between the train and the platform. He successfully wrestled his foot out of the gap before he was dragged. (more…)