The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), as part of its work to prevent construction site accidents, developed a program that it calls “Construction Focus Four Training.” This program is meant to teach site supervisors, superintendents, foremen and workers how to recognize and mitigate the four leading construction site hazards, which are sometime called the …
Worker Fatally Electrocuted at Johnstown Industrial Park
Posted by Powers & Santola, LLP | Construction & Workplace Accidents
The Gloversville Leader Herald reports that a construction worker died September 11 while doing work on an addition to the Fage USA yogurt company’s plant at the Johnstown Industrial Park, which is located between Albany and Syracuse. Johnstown Police Chief Mark Gifford told the Leader Herald that the worker was on a platform doing electrical …
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Four Arguments for Eliminating Medical Malpractice Caps
Posted by Powers & Santola, LLP | Medical Malpractice & Errors
A recent court decision in Florida and an upcoming ballot initiative in California are among the most recent skirmishes in the ongoing fight over tort reform in medical malpractice cases. In general, the movement known as “tort reform” encompasses proposals to make it more difficult for injured people to file a lawsuit or obtain a …
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False Cancer Diagnosis Another Form of Medical Error
Posted by Powers & Santola, LLP | Medical Malpractice & Errors
Though a misdiagnosis of cancer usually means a doctor has overlooked the fact that a patient has cancer, in some case it means a doctor has diagnosed cancer that does not exist. Patients victimized by such a false positive diagnosis may undergo painful treatment that was unnecessary. They may eventually be relieved to learn their …
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Worker’s Death Underscores Need to Drive Slow, Careful in Construction Zones
Posted by Powers & Santola, LLP | Car Accidents
The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has launched a powerful new campaign that is aimed at getting motorists to slow down and be cautious and alert when traveling through highway construction zones. As a press release from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office notes, construction zones in New York State can be dangerous for workers …
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“Driver inattention” is the primary contributing factor in auto accidents and near-crashes, according to SafeNY.ny.gov. When you look away from the road for even a few seconds, you immediately put yourself and everyone around you at risk of being seriously injured or killed in a crash. Are New York distracted driving laws doing enough to …
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Driving a GM Vehicle? Double-Check Your Recall Status
Posted by Powers & Santola, LLP | Product Liability
Auto manufacturers should make it easy to determine if there is a problem with the vehicle that you purchased and whether it is the subject of a safety recall. At first blush, it seems General Motors had been doing that while handling the massive number of recalls it has issued in 2014 due to faulty …
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What Are Personal Fall Arrest Systems?
Posted by Powers & Santola, LLP | Construction & Workplace Accidents
Falls from heights – roofs, ladders and scaffolds – cause more deaths than any other type of construction accident, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). On average, between 150 and 200 workers die from falls on the job each year, while 100,000 suffer injuries. One of the ways to prevent these deaths …
Will Robots Reduce Hospital Medication Errors?
Posted by Powers & Santola, LLP | Medical Malpractice & Errors
Hospital medication errors are a form of medical malpractice that happens every day in New York and across the country. Patients may receive the wrong dose or the wrong drug, or they may experience the harmful effects of drugs dangerously interacting with each other. To cut down on the human errors that can lead to …
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Should Laws Broaden the Definition of ‘Distracted Driving’?
Posted by Powers & Santola, LLP | Car Accidents
A New Jersey lawmaker made national headlines in November 2013 when he introduced a bill that would have significantly broadened the definition of “distracted driving” in that state in an effort to prevent those types of motor vehicle accidents. The bill would have prohibited drivers from engaging in “any activity unrelated to the actual operation …
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