Posted on April 5, 2010 by Scott Grossman

Spike in Construction Zone Accidents on New Jersey Highways

There has been a spike in the number of highway construction work zone accidents on New Jersey highways, and it's causing great concern to New Jersey car accident lawyers and the Department of Transportation.

According to this report, there were 5,247 construction work zone accidents in New Jersey last year. That was an increase of 8% over the figures in 2008. Bergen County seems to have been hit particularly hard by this spike. It had a total of 631 work zone crashes, and these accounted for three of the 11 fatal accidents across the state. In 2008, Bergen County had 430 such work zone accidents.

Passaic County however, saw a drop however in such accident rates. There were 217 highway work zones accident here in 2009, compared to 959 in 2006. The biggest possible explanation for the drop could simply be that there isn't a lot of construction work going on Passaic County. It's obvious that a higher number of construction projects, results in more numbers of accidents, injuries and fatalities.

The spike in accidents across New Jersey has spurred the launch of two separate studies into the possible causes of these accidents, at what location do these occur and what kind of safety measures could be taken to prevent these. The Rutgers Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation and the New Jersey Institute of Technology are conducting the two studies.

There's a lot that motorists could do to prevent accidents on construction highway work zones. Avoid speeding and tailgating. Don't change lanes randomly in the middle of the work zone, and don’t slow down speeds to look at what’s going on. Be alert to warning signs and flaggers. New Jersey transportation officials must also look at the efficacy of warning systems and signs, and how these can be enhanced to minimize these accident rates.

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Posted on October 31, 2009 by Scott Grossman

OSHA List of Top 10 Violations for the Year Contains Several Construction Accident Hazards

The Department of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) earlier this week released a list of the top 10 most frequent workplace violations of 2009. OSHA presented the list at the annual Congress and expo of the National Safety council.   As a New Jersey construction accident lawyer, I was deeply concerned, but not too surprised, to see that the list contained several construction accident hazards.

 

Leading the list of violations is one that typically involves poor installation or lack of proper safety gear for workers. Scaffolding violations were the most frequent in the US in 2009, with a staggering 9,093 violations. These accidents are easily prevented, by providing workers fall protection systems, following proper procedures for scaffolding installation and training of workers.

Following scaffolding violations on the list are 6,771 fall protection violations.  These are again very easily preventable, through proper worker training and providing sufficient fall protection systems.

Hazard communication violations numbered 6,378. These violations are seen in the chemical industry, when manufacturers and importers often fail to meet OSHA standards for evaluating the risk of the chemicals they handle.

Respiratory protection violations numbered a total of 3,803 this year. These kinds of failures can expose workers to harmful debris, particles, vapors and gases increasing the chances of development of lung diseases and cancer.

Rounding off the list were 3,321lockout-tag out violations, 3,079 electrical wiring violations, 3,072 ladder violations, 2,993 powered industrial equipment violations, 2,556 electrical violations and 2,634 machine guarding violations.

The construction site is one of the most dangerous workplaces in the US. With the kind of violations the industry racks up every year, that isn't so much of a surprise.

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey construction accident lawyer representing injured victims of crane and forklift accidents, trench collapses, scaffolding accidents and other construction accidents around the state of New Jersey. 

 

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Posted on October 31, 2009 by Scott Grossman

Construction Worker Suffers Multiple Leg Injuries in Steamroller Accident in Edison

A tragic construction accident at a site on interstate 287 North in Edison has left a construction worker with critical injuries. According to NJ.com, the worker Nehal Master was measuring the road, when a steamroller ran over his legs. The accident occurred at 3:30am,  Master sustained multiple fractures in both legs, and was rushed to the hospital New Brunswick. As of yesterday,  he was still in a critical condition.

A construction site may be home to heavy machinery including forklifts, cranes, trucks and steamrollers. Accidents involving construction equipment are entirely preventable. Any time workers are sharing a construction site with this equipment, there is a danger of collisions and being run over.

 

There are several ways that employers can prevent accidents involving construction equipment and workers.

  • Pedestrian workers around the equipment must be trained properly, so they can prevent any collisions.
  • The operators of the equipment must also be trained properly to avoid accidents with pedestrian workers.
  • Very often, I notice that these accidents are caused because no one on the construction site bothered to let the worker know that construction equipment on the site was in movement. The worker was therefore unaware of approaching construction vehicles, resulting in serious collisions. Keeping channels of communication between equipment operators and pedestrian workers open, is also very important. Operators must be able to warn workers around of potential collisions.

Unfortunately, a collision between a worker and a truck, forklift, or steamroller rarely has a happy ending. These accidents often result in serious injuries that require long periods of hospitalization, and the need for physical rehabilitation and therapy.

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey construction accident lawyer representing injured victims of crane and forklift accidents, trench collapses, scaffolding accidents and other construction accidents around the state of New Jersey.  

 

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