Construction Site Accident Results in Worker’s Injury

New York Trial Lawyer, David Perecman, Says State’s Labor Laws Must Protect Worker’s Health and Safety in the Workplace

New York, NY (PRWEB) December 26, 2008 — Jaos Pires, a New York City construction site worker, suffered critical injuries in an accident (http://www.perecman.com/?pageId=378&rowId=17295) last week and narrowly escaped death when a 100-year-old retaining wall underneath 11 Times Square collapsed and buried him to the waist in concrete, crushing his legs.

When asked what happened by a local newspaper reporter at the scene of the accident, one of Pires’ fellow workers said, “It all happened so quickly, there was no time for him to get out of the excavation pit.” The worker asked that his name not be used in the story. Another worker told the reporter, “It was like an avalanche. The wall just came crashing down on us.” He spoke to the reporter on condition of anonymity. “There was really no time to react,” said worker number three, who also insisted on remaining nameless.

“It’s no wonder these three workers didn’t want to go public with their comments,” said David Perecman, a busy New York construction accident lawyer (http://www.perecman.com/?pageId=378&rowId=17295) and a chair of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association Labor Law Committee.

“Can you imagine what might happen to these men if the boss found out they spoke to a reporter? First amendment rights, or no first amendment rights, in real life if a worker dares to say anything to the media that his or her employer doesn’t like, it could be bye-bye job.”

Pires’ employer, Roadway Contracting, a Brooklyn-based company, was working for Plaza Construction, the general contractor for the project, when the construction site accident and injury occurred.

According to the Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/12/11/2008-12-11_contruction_worker_narrowly_avoids_death.html), The New York City Buildings Department has issued 28 violations at the 11 Times Square site, most of them to Plaza Construction for such serious Class 1 infractions as “failure to safeguard all persons and property” and “failure to maintain all areas used by the public free from conditions of hazard.”

Perecman charges that despite the laundry list of complaints against the contractor, and similar well-publicized problems with other contractors in New York, neo-conservative and anti-worker organizations and business groups, like Unshackle Upstate, continue to lobby Albany relentlessly in an effort to undermine laws that protect workers’ health and safety in the workplace (http://www.perecman.com/?pageId=378&rowId=17172).

“When Governor Pataki was in office and ran the administration in the state,” Perecman explained, “many conservative judges were appointed some of whose decisions tended to weaken New York State Labor Laws (http://www.perecman.com/?pageId=378&rowId=17295), the so-called, Safe Place to Work Laws.”

“In my own experience as far as New York State goes,” he added, “when more conservative-minded judges are appointed to the bench, as was the case during the Pataki years, it resulted in some decisions that weakened worker safety laws. Often these well-meaning judges who shape and make the law, make it harder for workers to prove their cases and get the justice we trial lawyers think they deserve.”

Perecman said that some of the bills that have been introduced in Albany to amend Labor Law 240 would actually allow juries to shift some, if not all, of the burden of providing workplace health and safety from the contractor to the worker.

An earlier decision about New York state labor laws made by an appellate court in March 2007 went so far as to say that if an employee did not have access to safe equipment at the workplace, and went ahead and used what was provided by the owner, or the contractor, or by his employer, the worker bore the responsibility for his injury because he should have waited until the proper equipment was delivered from another location.

“Again, in situations like these,” Perecman said, “if a worker says he wants to wait for proper equipment to arrive, it is certainly possible, if not likely, he would not gain favor in his employer’s eyes, and may simply be asked not to return to work on that site the next day.”

Some republican and pro-business opponents of sections 240 and 241 of The New York State Labor Law (http://www.perecman.com/?pageId=378&rowId=17295) argue that these statutes establish an absolute liability standard on any contractor or property owner for a construction site accident or injury, regardless of fault, and that the law deprives owners and contractors of their right to defend themselves against such claims.

“This is an erroneous interpretation of the statute,” Perecman explained. “Regardless of what the so-called pro-business lobby would have you believe, juries in New York State are free to consider whether an employee’s own negligence also caused the accident, and to throw the case out if the sole cause of the injury is the worker’s behavior.”

“I think the best watchdogs for workers in this state,” he added, “are the lawyers who take on their cases, find out who caused the accident and hold them responsible.”

###

Contact Information

Jay Berkowitz


The Perecman Firm

http://www.perecman.com


561-620-9121

[Via http://www.prweb.com]

• В.Путин.Заключительное слово.29.03.05.Part 2

Gov’s lawyer asks panel to subpoena Obama staff

CHICAGO – In a move intended to force public testimony from President-elect Barack Obama’s inner circle, a lawyer for Gov. Rod Blagojevich has asked the legislative panel considering impeachment of the governor to subpoena more than a dozen witnesses, including Obama’s incoming chief of staff.

—

Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET Launches All-New Web Site and Shortens URL to CookieDiet.com

CookieDiet.com, the New Version of the Official Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET Web Site, Features Weight Loss Calculators, Recipes, Customer Rewards Program, Worldwide Shipping, and Discount Pricing

McLean, VA (PRWEB) December 26, 2008 — Dr. Siegal’s Direct Nutritionals, LLC, the exclusive worldwide distributor of the 34 year old Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET® brand weight loss system and hunger-busting diet cookies and diet shake mixes, today announced that it has launched a completely redesigned version of its web site with many new features and the shorter domain name CookieDiet.com (http://www.CookieDiet.com). Since its launch in May 2007 the official Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET® web site address had been CookieDietOnline.com. The 60,000-plus users of the previous web site can log into the new one using their existing user name and password.

“While imitators have sprung up offering knockoff products, the world knows that Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet is the original, the real McCoy. CookieDiet.com is therefore the ideal choice of names for the exclusive online source of the genuine Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet products which have helped more than 500,000 people since 1975,” said Matthew Siegal, President and CEO of Dr. Siegal’s Direct Nutritionals, LLC.

Among the features debuting on CookieDiet.com is a Resources section that includes Dr. Siegal’s® Weight Loss Calculators, a new proprietary software suite personally designed by Dr. Sanford Siegal. The calculators remove the uncertainty inherent in most diets by helping the user set and reach a realistic goal weight by a specific date. Dr. Siegal’s Weight Loss Calculators are intended to be helpful to any dieter regardless of the particular diet they follow.

“So many of my patients come to me with a specific goal in mind and it usually has to do with looking good for an upcoming event like a wedding, cruise, or reunion,” said Dr. Siegal. “So I developed weight loss calculators that use my proprietary algorithms to estimate–based on the dieter’s own calorie burn rate–how many calories she would have to consume each day in order to reach her desired weight by the date of her big occasion.”

Dr. Siegal added that his calculators contain safeguards to ensure that they don’t return unrealistic or unhealthy results.

“The last thing an overweight person needs is another diet failure. If your goal is unrealistic my calculators will tell you so,” added Dr. Siegal.

Other features of the Resources section include a step-by-step overview of a 1,000 daily calorie version the Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET® Weight Loss Program; recipes for dinners that are compatible with the program; and general nutritional guidelines.

CookieDiet.com also offers an enhanced version of the company’s online customer rewards program which gives discounts to customers who refer new ones. A major enhancement now rewards the referring friend with a $10 discount code every time a referred friend places an order on CookieDiet.com. For example, if a customer refers ten friends who each order once a month, that customer will receive discounts of $100 per month.

Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET® was developed more than 30 years ago by renowned physician, author and weight loss expert Sanford Siegal, D.O., M.D., known to generations as the Cookie Doctor™, to control his patients’ hunger and help them stick to the low calorie diet he favors. It features cookies, shake mixes, and soup that contain his proprietary amino acid mixture that results from the blending of various protein food substances.

Dr. Siegal conceived the idea of a cookie-based diet in the early 1970’s while researching his book on natural food substances that control hunger without drugs. In 1975, after several years of experimentation, he perfected his secret protein formula and baked it into a cookie. Acceptance by his patients was immediate and soon Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET® was the exclusive approach to weight loss at Siegal Medical Group (http://www.drsiegal.com), Dr. Siegal’s South Florida medical practice. Dr. Siegal personally mixes every batch of his secret protein blend with his own hands in his private bakery in Miami. More than 200 other doctors have used the products in their own practices.

For the general public Dr. Siegal advocates a diet of about 1,000 calories per day provided that the dieter is monitored by his or her doctor. On 1,000 calories a day, he says, the typical adult loses ten pounds or more per month. Based on his own experience with more than a half million patients he insists that medically-supervised low calorie diets are safe and that results are better.

“I’m convinced that those who diet under medical supervision have better success rates,” said Dr. Siegal. “Those who go on weight loss diets without doctor supervision cheat themselves.”

Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET® hunger-controlling foods and nutritional supplements are available online at www.CookieDiet.com; by phone 24/7 at 877-377-4342 toll-free; and from select doctors, drug stores and retailers. They’re also available at company-owned kiosks in Paradise Valley Mall and Chandler Fashion Center in Phoenix, AZ; Town Center Mall in Boca Raton, FL; Dadeland Mall in Miami, FL; The Galleria Mall in Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Tysons Corner Center near Washington, DC; and Cherry Hill Mall in the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill, NJ. A Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET® store will open in Beverly Hills on January 15, 2009.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Media Relations

Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET®

CookieDiet.com (http://www.CookieDiet.com)

1-877-377-4342

# # #

Contact Information

Media Relations


Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET (CookieDiet.com)

http://www.CookieDiet.com


877-377-4342

[Via http://www.prweb.com]

• Prophylactic Antibiotics, Air Quality Control And Barrier Isolation Combined Reduce Mortality In High-Risk Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy