Hicksville Injury Law Blog

Do you know how to safely use a ladder?

On behalf of Rosado, Apat & Dudley, LLP posted in Workplace Accidents on Thursday, December 6, 2018.

Imagine you use a ladder every day at work. You're probably comfortable with the ladder and you run up and down it without a thought for your safety. However, have you ever stopped to think just how extremely dangerous using a ladder is? If you lost your grip and fell from the ladder, or if the ladder lost its stability, you could fall, hit your head on something and die. You might not think this will ever happen to you, but it happens to countless workers throughout the United States every year.

Every worker needs to stay safe when using a ladder to prevent catastrophic injuries. Here's how you can prevent unfortunate ladder-related incidents from happening:

Does your ladder have slip-resistant pads and are these pads in good condition?
Review the ladder closely before each use. Check for any broken parts, and if you find anything that threatens the safety of the ladder -- no matter how small -- don't use the device. Repair or replace it before the next use.
If you'll be working in the vicinity of electricity, only use fiberglass ladders.
Inspect the surface you use as a base for your ladder. Only set up a ladder on a solid base that won't collapse or result in slippage. Angle the ladder according to guidance from the ladder manufacturer.
When using a ladder to ascend to a new level, ensure the ladder extends at least three feet beyond that level.
Follow the three-point rule by keeping at least one hand and two feet or one foot and two hands on the ladder at all times.

Lifesaving tips for pedestrians

On behalf of Rosado, Apat & Dudley, LLP posted in Personal Injury on Friday, November 23, 2018.

If you went for a walk 200 years ago, you wouldn't have to worry about getting hit by a car. Perhaps you'd be at risk of bumping up against another pedestrian or getting trampled by a horse, but even if that were to happen your chances of surviving would be infinitely higher than if you were involved in an auto accident. Unfortunately, the threat of being seriously hurt by an automobile is one of the many prices we pay to live in modern society.

Therefore, as a pedestrian, we need to stay alert when we're walking somewhere near automobiles. At our firm, where we've helped many pedestrians pursue lawsuits after serious injuries, we've found that the following tips could save your life:

400,000 cars affected globally in Subaru recall

On behalf of Rosado, Apat & Dudley, LLP posted in Personal Injury on Thursday, November 8, 2018.

Subaru Corp, the famed automaker based out of Tokyo, Japan, has announced the recall of hundreds of thousands of cars because of vehicle defects that could cause the engines of affected cars to stall while in motion. The recall will affect 400,000 cars globally.

Among the vehicles included in the recall are Impreza compact cars, Forester sport-utility cars, BRZ sports cars and Toyota Scion FR-Ss vehicles. All of these recalled vehicles were built between the years 2012 and 2013.

Safety habits to prevent electrocution at work

On behalf of Rosado, Apat & Dudley, LLP posted in Workplace Accidents on Friday, October 26, 2018.

Electrocution hazards commonly present themselves at New York construction sites. Whether it's an electrical cord passing through a mud puddle, or a worker on a ladder close to some power lines, these dangers can be deadly -- and an electrocution injury will strike and kill faster than anyone can react.

To reduce the likelihood that you'll be a victim of an electrocution injury, here are a few electrical safety tips to keep in mind:

How long will it take for my injuries to heal?

On behalf of Rosado, Apat & Dudley, LLP posted in Personal Injury on Wednesday, October 10, 2018.

Anyone who lives through a catastrophic vehicle collision is lucky. However, they might not always survive the incident without suffering a multitude of injuries. Of course, while being thankful for their lives, these individuals will always want to gather some idea about how long it will take for them to heal.

Here are some of the most common car accident injuries and how long it takes for them to heal for someone who is in good shape and doesn't have any chronic conditions:

1 dead, 5 injured in New York motorcycle accident

On behalf of Rosado, Apat & Dudley, LLP posted in Personal Injury on Friday, September 28, 2018.

A motorcyclist is dead and five people suffered injuries in a traffic accident that happened on a recent Saturday in Brooklyn, New York, The collision happened while a 47-year-old man was riding his Suzuki motorcycle and a 29-year-old woman was driving a Nissan passenger vehicle.

According to police, the woman in the Nissan was making a U-turn when she drove into the path of the motorcyclist a little before 4:20 p.m. The motorcyclist struck the car and suffered catastrophic injuries. Emergency responders rushed the biker to a nearby hospital to receive treatment for severe trauma. However, doctors were unable to save him and he later was pronounced dead at the medical facility.

Construction deaths double amidst New York building boom

On behalf of Rosado, Apat & Dudley, LLP posted in Workers' Compensation on Friday, September 14, 2018.

Fatal accidents at New York construction sites have increased two-fold and injuries have increased by 17 percent as the city experiences a building boom. According to New York City's Buildings Department, the first seven months of 2017 saw four people die in construction accidents, whereas the first seven months of 2018 have seen eight people die in construction accidents.

The most recent death due to a construction accident happened on July 16 after a man was electrocuted at a West Village building site. And four days prior to that, a man died when a piece of scaffold fell on him causing a fatal head injury.

Could a falling object striking my head result in whiplash?

On behalf of Rosado, Apat & Dudley, LLP posted in Workplace Accidents on Friday, August 31, 2018.

New York "hardhats," a.k.a, construction workers, get their name for a reason. It's because, if they're not wearing a hardhat on the job, they're probably violating safety regulations. A hardhat is perhaps one of the most important pieces of equipment that any construction worker can don. It might not save your life in all situations, but it can certainly save your life when a flying object is headed in your direction.

All that said, getting hit on the head is no small event, even when you're wearing a hardhat. Many workers suffer from whiplash injuries after a heavy object hits their hardhats, which forces their heads and necks to jerk and results in strained, torn and bruised muscles and ligaments in the neck area. In most cases of whiplash, the symptoms will resolve themselves in several weeks or months, but some workers complain of enduring and serious neck, back pain and headaches after developing whiplash.

How can I keep scaffolding safe at work?

On behalf of Rosado, Apat & Dudley, LLP posted in Workplace Accidents on Friday, August 17, 2018.

Any construction worker who spends a fair amount of time working on a scaffold needs to make safety their number one priority. This is easy enough to do when first starting out working on a scaffold. However, after a few years of working on one, it's easy to get lazy and complacent. To help keep scaffold safety fresh on your mind, take a minute to review the following scaffold safety tips:

Get safety trained: If you haven't been formally trained on how to safely use a scaffold, ask your boss for safety training now. Your training needs to be performed by a person who is qualified to teach you how to safely use a scaffold. This training should also provide general advice about electricity dangers, falling risks and preventing objects from falling on others. You also need to learn about the load capabilities of your scaffold.

Could my office chair be deadly?

On behalf of Rosado, Apat & Dudley, LLP posted in Workplace Injuries on Friday, August 3, 2018.

It's hard to imagine, but sitting could actually be deadly. Workers who spend a large part of their days sitting in a chair may not want to hear this statistic, but according to researchers, people who sit for over 11 hours a day have a 40 percent higher chance of death within the next three years. Surprisingly, most office workers easily sit for this amount of time each day.

Think about it: If you arrive at the office at 8 a.m. and work until your lunch break at 12 p.m., you just spent four hours sitting. Then you'll spend another four or five hours of sitting in the afternoon. Next, you'll go home, sit down to eat dinner and watch a couple hours of television. Easily, this is 11 hours of sitting per day for the average office worker.