Syracuse Injury Lawyer Blog

A new scaffold design was selected by the City of New York to protect laborers working at a height and appease store owners. According to Syracuse New York construction accident lawyers Bottar Leone, PLLC, a scaffold is a temporary structure built by construction workers to elevate contractors and protect the public from falling objects. In most cases, scaffolding consists of anchors, metal pipes and planks or platforms.

The new design is called "Urban Umbrella." Like the name suggests, the new design resembles an umbrella - only upside down. Opponents to the design complain that scaffolds are already dangerous and it is reckless, at a time when scaffolding fabrication and assembly should be standardized, to encourage form over function. That is, property owners and contractors should be working toward ensuring that support posts are properly bolted to support beams, and that support beams are properly secured to planks, rather than investing time and money into whether scaffolding is pleasing to the eye of building and store owners.

Scaffolding accidents happen every day. All too often because of negligence. Indeed, 25% of laborers injured in a scaffold accident reported that they had never been trained on how to work safely on or from a scaffold. To cut down on New York construction, industrial and workplace accidents, the legislature adopted very specific laws that afford injured laborers compensation for, e.g., falls from a height. These worker protection laws are known as "Labor Laws."

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The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission recently announced a recall by the manufacturer of Pull-A-Long Friends Toucan, Pull-A-Long Friends Alligator and Pull-A-Long Friends Sharky. According to Syracuse New York dangerous toy lawyers Bottar Leone, PLLC, the child toys may present a choking hazard if wooden parts break loose. The relevant lot codes are: 210720GB (Toucan), 210750GB (Alligator) and 210530GB (Sharky).

While kids toys are much safer than in years past, thousands of children are still injured every year while playing with a toy that did not perform as intended, such as when a part breaks off and is swallowed (causing choking), when a tail or attachment is too long and wraps around a child's neck (making it difficulty for a child to breathe), or when lead paint or other potentially toxic coatings chip and are inhaled or ingested by an infant (causing poisoning).

While we are not aware of any manufacturers that intentionally create and sell dangerous products, mistakes do happen. In the majority of cases, dangerous toys are the result of a bad design or poor quality control. Recent toy recalls can be found here.

Continue reading "Pull-A-Long Child Toy Recall Lawyers On Liability For Unsafe Products Sold To Syracuse Children Who May Choke" »