Employees have a right to expect a reasonably safe workplace under New York law. The New York makes specific provisions for safety in the workplace. Employers which do not follow these laws are subject to regulatory penalties (such as suspension of a business license), fines, civil lawsuits and even criminal charges.Ìý

Hospital workers face a myriad of potential hazards while carrying out their daily duties, including:

• Workplace violence (typically from patients, who may suffer from dementia, have a history of violence, be under extreme stress or impaired under the influence of drugs/ alcohol);
• Back injuries, primarily due to patient lifting requirements;
• Illness due to working in close proximity to those with infectious diseases;
• Needle injuries.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (), hospitals have reduced worker injuries over the last several decades, but not as effectively as other industries.

The Zippia study identified and weighed several factors to identify the "most dangerous" states and industries. First, it examined OSHA's injury reports, and divided each state's total reports by the number of workers employed in that state. Next, fatality rates reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics were weighed as a separate factor in the analysis of dangerousness. Finally, data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety was broken down to determine the number of injuries in each state per mile driven.

Real Life Accidents in the Healthcare Industry

Injury statistics are more than just numbers. Real employees' lives can be devastated by the effects of workplace injuries. Consider the example of a Philadelphia nurse who damaged a disc in her back while assisting to move a patient. Ìýreports she required surgery to install a metal cage and four long, sharp screws in her back. "The career I had as a floor nurse is over," the injured nurse lamented. NPR also reports nurses and nursing assistants suffer back and musculoskeletal injuries at a rate approximately three times greater than construction laborers.

Violence in the workplace is another very real danger faced by healthcare professionals.

reports on a series of troubling violent incidents in hospitals, including: a Baltimore doctor who was shot and critically injured by a gunman; a man in Valley Stream, New York who broke a chair and used the legs to beat a nurse; a gunman who opened fire in a Laurinburg, North Carolina hospital after a bar fight; and a man who killed two hospital employees in a Columbus, Georgia hospital after being dissatisfied with his mother's care. CNN interviewed one emergency nurse who reported that she had been scratched, bitten, spat upon, and struck hard enough to break her jaw. The assailant later apologized, saying that he was "tired of waiting".

And here in New York City, a disgruntled former employee opened fire in a Bronx hospital before killing a female doctor and turning the gun on himself. According to , Dr. Henry Bello had recently resigned from the hospital shortly before he was set to be fired. He returned to the hospital and opened fire. He killed a female doctor before turning the gun on himself, and critically injured six others in the attack.

Hospital employees must exercise constant vigilance in the exercise of their work duties. Stay alert for unusual activity, and be prepared with a backup plan in the event of violence.

If you or a loved one has been injured on the job, contact a New York City workers' compensation attorney as soon as possible. You have legal rights which must be protected.

Study authors posit a causal relationship between companies that barely meet or just exceed their financial earnings forecasts, comparative to those that missed or exceeded that mark by a wider margin.

Researchers believe the reason for this connection is because managers focused intensely on production and the bottom line are less concerned with worker safety and well-being. They are more likely to require employees to work overtime or to accomplish more in less time. They are also less likely to invest in important safety precautions, such as proper training, necessary tools and equipment.

New York City Workplace Injuries

The reported that in New York in 2015, there were nearly 150,000 private industry injury and illness cases, with about 87,000 of those being more serious (i.e., involving days away from work, job transfer or restriction).

There was no single "super sector" of private industry where workplace injuries and illnesses were concentrated, but those in manufacturing, construction and transportation tended to have the highest rates.

Just looking at New York City, the Bureau of Labor Statistics () reports there were 74 fatal work injuries in 2015.

Incidents in New York City that were most likely to result in workplace fatalities were:

• Slips, trips and falls (24 deaths).
• Violence by other individuals or animals (23 deaths).

These two causes combined accounted for 64 percent of all workplace deaths. Contact with objects or equipment was the third-most-common cause of workplace death and injury in New York City, followed by exposure to harmful substances or environments.

Worker injuries and deaths were far more common in private sector injury than in government. Construction and transportation workers had the highest injury rates. Eighteen of the workers who died in 2015 on-the-job were contract workers, meaning they were employed by one firm but working at the behest of another. These cases may be more complicated in terms of New York City workers' compensation benefits, so it is important to contact an experienced attorney who can help protect your rights and best interests.

Higher Risk of Injury With Higher Demands for Production

Authors of the recent study looked over more than 35,000 cases of reported work injuries from 2002 to 2011 from 870 companies. What they discovered was that those companies that just met or barely exceeded their earnings quotas, there was a workplace injury rate of 1 in 23 workers, compared to 1 in 27 workplace injuries within companies that did much better or worse in meeting this goal.

They also discovered in states where workplace injuries were more costly, managers were more diligent about ensuring workers were safe on-the-job, and were less likely to ramp up workloads or excess demands on employees.

If you have suffered an on-the-job injury in New York City, we can help you navigate the process of filing your claim, choosing a doctor and understanding the benefits to which you are entitled.

reported on one recent effort to make New York safer for workers. This effort centers around providing grants to nonprofits that are trying to make a difference in high-risk industries.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced after a Labor Day parade that the state of New York is providing $5 million in grants, which are earmarked to go to organizations focused on helping to improve safety conditions in certain low wage industries.

The nonprofits that will receive grant money not only provide services to companies in higher-risk fields where injuries are more likely, but also target workforce risks in industries that employ significant numbers of immigrant workers. Immigrants, and especially undocumented immigrants, often do exceptionally dangerous jobs and may not be familiar with the legal resources and recourse available to them if they get hurt on the job.

The industries the nonprofits will be working to improve include landscaping; the hospitality industry; agriculture; construction; and dry-cleaning. Cuomo believes the state grants are both necessary and cost effective, as workplace injuries within New York cost around $10 billion per year when taking into account medical care costs; loss of wages; and the payment of workers' compensation benefits.

Hopefully, the nonprofits will be successful at using grant money to make a difference and improve conditions. This may be especially important in the field of construction, as building booms within New York City and the NYC metro area, resulting in a significant increase in work injuries.

reported the Department of Buildings in New York City is also making a concerted effort to help improve workplace safety by cracking down on violators. The Department of Buildings has a powerful tool it is using to try to address worksite safety problems. That tool is the stop work order, which requires all work on a job-site to stop immediately until problems identified in an inspection are fixed and fines are paid.

In the first six months of 2016, 4,580 stop-work orders were issued. This is a 23 percent increase from the 3,729 stop work orders that were issued during the first six months of 2015.

Hopefully, between enforcement by the Department of Building and efforts from nonprofits, the risk of employee injuries in NY will have a meaningful impact.

Falls, burns, workers getting hit, and workers getting trapped do not just happen. These common causes of work injury occur because of safety lapses and because of failures on the part of employers. Employers should be aware of the "Fatal Four" and should make absolutely certain they are doing everything possible to reduce risks, particularly those most likely to be fatal. Unfortunately, this often does not happen. In fact, part of the reason why so many construction deaths occur due to these four common causes is because employers are not doing nearly enough to prevent hazards that lead to falls, crushed workers, or burned workers.

Just recently, for example, two New York contractors were caught violating safety rules aimed at protecting construction workers from falls or burns. reported on the violations, as well as the OSHA fines that resulted from the lapses.

Both of the contractors who were cited are based in Queens. However, the projects for which the contractors received the citations are located in Manhattan. The citations came from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which fined the companies $117,000.

One of the companies is a construction group that has already been cited for failing to follow safety rules. The construction group was found to have eight repeat and six serious violations, all related to fall hazards and electrical hazards. The fine proposed for the construction company totaled $93,170.

The other company is a steel erection contractor, which OSHA indicated faces 10 serious violations. OSHA has proposed a fine of $24,000 for the steel erection contractor for its failures in connection with electrical hazards and fall hazards.

The fines occurred just a week after a report from Politico revealed a substantial increase in safety violations in New York City. Construction has been booming within the city, and many contractors have begun cutting dangerous corners.Ìý In response to companies putting employees in danger on construction sites, the New York City Department of Buildings has been cracking down. It has issued an increased number of stop-work orders in light of the serious ongoing safety problems, which are only getting worse as demand for new construction continues to grow.

Once asbestos is applied to a surface, it eventually becomes hardened and if disturbed, the fibers can be released into the air. If you breath in the fibers, they can become trapped in the lungs and can cause scarring and inflammation. Many of these workers were exposed to asbestos fibers during construction or demolition but did not start having symptoms till 20 or 30 years later. Exposure to asbestos can increase the risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare type of lung cancer. While asbestos was eventually banned in all new products in 1989, as it has been classified as a carcinogen or cancer-causing agent, it still is found in many older buildings.

As a result of increased awareness of the dangers of asbestos exposure, safeguards were implemented that caused the number of incidences of asbestos conditions to decrease along with the more debilitating forms of the disease. Unfortunately, it appears that we may see an increase in the incidences of asbestos-related conditions including its most deadly - lung cancer and mesothelioma - as a result of the attack on the World Trade Center.

When the Twin Towers collapsed, a massive dust cloud covered the City. First responders, volunteers, and different trades descended on Ground Zero to first look for survivors and then engage in the clean-up effort. Many of these men and women, along with ordinary citizens, were exposed to toxins including lead, mold, jet fuel, cement, and asbestos.

As a result of this exposure, many have become sickened and even have developed leukemia, thyroid cancer, non Hodgkin lymphoma, myeloma, and prostate cancer. The Zadroga Act provides monetary compensation as well as funding for medical treatment to victims of the Attack with the anticipation that there will be new and future claims filed as a result of breathing in these toxins.

According to the WTC Program Administrator, the minimum latency for mesothelioma is 11 years. As we have just passed the 15^th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and our country, it is highly likely that we will see an increased recurrence of this deadly cancer. As there are deadlines to make a claim, those sickened should immediately file. You may also be eligible for Workers' Compensation benefits or retirement benefits if you were a member of a public retirement system. ÌýIt is clear that losing almost 3,000 people on that tragic day was not the only price our country paid, as the toll has continued to rise and shows no signs of letting up.

Catherine M. Stanton is a senior partner in the law firm of Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP. She focuses on the area of Workers' Compensation, having helped thousands of injured workers navigate a highly complex system and obtain all the benefits to which they were entitled. Ms. Stanton has been honored as a New York Super Lawyer, is the past president of the New York Workers' Compensation Bar Association, the immediate past president of the Workers' Injury Law and Advocacy Group, and is an officer in several organizations dedicated to injured workers and their families. She can be reached at 800.692.3717.

Employers should try to keep levels of toxic chemicals down to a minimum on worksites in order to stop employees from getting sick from exposure. Unfortunately, many employers don't choose to make the effort to keep chemical and toxin levels low. They are not being made to do so by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) either.Ìý When employees suffer because of the toxic exposure on worksites that they are being forced to endure at work, they should be entitled to receive workers compensation benefits for their illness.

OSHA has tried to regulate chemical exposure, but has been very ineffective. Back in 1971, OSHA set permissible exposure limits (PELs) for some chemicals which were considered dangerous. Then, in 1989, OSHA decided to expand its list of PELs. New chemicals had been discovered and put into use in the interim between 1971 and 1989, and new information had come to light about safe limits of exposure.

Unfortunately, in 1992, OSHA's expansion of PELs was struck down by the court in case called . In this case, the court ruled that OSHA couldn't just make a blanket rule setting PELs for a wide variety of substances which the agency had listed. Instead, OSHA would have to individually assess appropriate limits for each substance it wished to regulate.Ìý This meant some chemicals would not have PELs any more and others would have PELs reverting to the 1971 rules.

OSHA has since passed some rules regulating certain toxic substances, such as new regulations on Silica. There remain, however, many chemicals which are not properly regulated. OSHA has prepared many materials for employers who wish to take voluntary steps to try to protect employees from being exposed to toxins which could make them sick. However, without clear guidelines, many employers don't have much incentive to take the necessary steps to keep employees safe.

If an employee is sickened by toxic exposure, it is important to be able to prove the source of the illness was work-related. Too often, an illness like cancer develops due to exposure, but since there are many possible causes for cancer, it can be hard to pinpoint this fact. Also, since many people don't get sick for years after exposure, this can make it hard to make a workers' compensation claim. Showing you got sick because of your job is essential to being able to recover workers' compensation benefits for losses.

As in any sporting event, the majority of athletes competing in the Olympic Games will not win any medals. However, that does not negate the fact that they can proudly call themselves Olympic athletes. The phrase "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" comes to mind as the dreams of many athletes are dashed. While it can be disappointing for the athletes who do not come home with a medal, some athletes will leave with more than shattered Olympic dreams. In weight lifting, an Armenian athlete dislocated his elbow during competition, and two cyclists crashed during a race, both sustaining serious injuries. Most horrific was the incident where a French gymnast broke his leg during the men's vault qualification. It is unknown whether these athletes will recover from their injuries sufficiently enough to ever compete again.

Not all of us are fortunate or talented enough to compete in Olympic sporting events. For the majority of us, our personal best entails having a job or career, raising a family, or going to school. For those of us in the workforce, we assume that we will leave for work and return home safely. Sadly for some, this is not the case. According to the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), in 2014 a total of 203 New Yorkers died on the job - most of them in the construction field - and the vast majority of fatal accidents occurred on non-union sites with immigrant workers.

As an attorney who has represented injured workers for more than 25 years, I have seen too many of these cases. Education, training, and workplace safety measures go a long way in preventing many of these fatalities. Unions provide excellent programs to ensure worker safety, but sadly there are many workers who don't have union protection. It is therefore imperative for us to know how to prevent worksite injuries in the first place and if you find yourself injured on the job, there are things you must know.

First, seek medical treatment immediately, and be sure to tell the doctor or hospital that you were injured on the job as you are not responsible to pay for your medical treatment. Your employer has a workers' compensation carrier that is responsible for any and all treatment; you should never pay out of your own pocket. The name of the insurance carrier must be clearly identified in a public area such as a kitchen or locker room. Next, be sure to notify your employer within 30 days of your injury. They may request that you fill out an accident report. Ask for a copy.Ìý Lastly, you must notify the New York State Workers' Compensation Board within two years of your accident. Employers are represented by their insurance carriers and if you sustain a serious injury, you should consider having knowledgeable representation as well.

Most of us don't consider work an Olympic event. Some of us - like me - are lucky enough to love what we do and be surrounded by great partners and co-workers. Some of us work as a means to an end, but all of us want to be able to support ourselves and our families, educate our children, and enjoy a nice vacation. Being healthy and injury free, financially secure, and surrounded by friends and family beats a gold medal any day.Ìý

Catherine M. Stanton is a senior partner in the law firm of Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP. She focuses on the area of Workers' Compensation, having helped thousands of injured workers navigate a highly complex system and obtain all the benefits to which they were entitled. Ms. Stanton has been honored as a New York Super Lawyer, is the past president of the New York Workers' Compensation Bar Association, the immediate past president of the Workers' Injury Law and Advocacy Group, and is an officer in several organizations dedicated to injured workers and their families. She can be reached at 800.692.3717.

Recently, however, one construction boss was actually charged with a crime in connection with the death of an employee. Though it remains to be seen if he will be convicted of any offenses or sentenced to jail time for his part in causing the loss of life, at least he will have to answer in court for his decisions which allegedly led to the employee's death.

Construction Boss To Face Charges in Workers DeathÌý

TheÌý reported on the unusual case in which an employer is actually facing prosecution for his alleged role in a workplace fatality. The employer who is being charged is a 66-year-old construction company owner. He has been charged with the crime of manslaughter, among other charges. The case arose in connection with the death of a construction worker who was killed on a site in Coney Island.

The man who died was working on the sixth floor of a commercial building when he fell off the edge of the structure. The victim was a 50-year-old undocumented immigrant working to send money to his wife and children back home in Mexico. His death could likely have been prevented if proper safety precautions had been followed.

Building codes require that those who are working at high elevations wear harnesses. The codes also state that elevated worksites must have a protective fence. The construction site where the man was pouring concrete had neither.

The owner of the construction company he worked for had been cited in the past, including receiving four notices for violations that occurred between September of 2011 and August of 2014. He had been ordered to provide handrail and guardrail systems to protect workers from falls.ÌýÌý Although he did install some guardrails, they were three feet from the building's edge so workers who had to pour concrete were forced to step over them and stand on the edge of buildings without a harness in order to do their jobs.

The construction boss pleaded not guilty to multiple charges in connection with the death. The case will go before the court and could result in a conviction if the jury determines his actions were responsible for the worker's death.

According to the OSHA report, there were 10,388 severe workplace injury cases over the course of 2015. Of these cases, there were 2,664 incidents in which workers experienced an amputation. Within the state of New York, workers whose limbs are amputated are entitled to receive a certain amount of workers' compensation benefits.Ìý The cost of medical expenditures for treating the amputation and other workplace injuries should also be covered by a workers' compensation insurer.

Amputations Cause Harm to New York WorkersÌý

Workers in certain industries were more likely than others to experience amputations. In particular, manufacturing workers suffered 57 percent of all injuries resulting in amputation. Manufacturing workers were, in general, at the greatest risk of getting hurt while performing work tasks. Employees who work in the manufacturing field accounted for 26 percent of all workers who were hospitalized over the course of 2015.

When an amputation occurs, especially for a manufacturing worker, the loss of a limb can often mean that earning power is reduced substantially or it can mean that a worker is no longer able to do his job. Workers' comp should provide for the injured worker and compensate him for his damages. The extent of the compensation for losses is based upon the extent of lost use whenever an injury occurs to a body part, including when the injury involves amputation.

According to , the "determination of residual impairment and functional loss depends on the level of amputation."Ìý There are standard guidelines in place to assess loss of use when an amputation happens. For example, when you experience an amputation at the elbow or above it, this is considered to equate to 100 percent loss of use of that arm. If you lose a finger at the proximal phalange, this equates to 100 percent loss of use of the hand.Ìý If your amputation occurs at the wrist, this is not only considered to be 100 percent loss of use of the hand but also to be 80 percent loss of use of the arm.

The extent of loss of use determines the number of weeks of benefits for the worker. For example, a worker would be entitled to 312 weeks of compensation for a 100 percent loss of use of the arm but to only 244 weeks for loss of use of the hand.Ìý An attorney can help workers to understand the extent of the losses they are entitled to.

The answer to this question would have important implications for work safety. If it was determined putting on safety gear wasn't something workers could be paid for, this could encourage cutting corners. The risk of workplace accidents and resulting workers' compensation claims could thus be increased. On the other hand, if putting on safety gear is considered an essential part of the job-- and one workers get paid for doing-- not only is the incentive to cut corners removed but the importance of donning safety gear is underscored.

Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of the workers in a case against Tyson Food's pork processing plant. The workers were awarded $2.9 million in overtime pay for the time they spent putting on safety gear, which reports was "integral and indispensable to their hazardous work."

Putting on Workplace Safety Gear is a Task Employees Should Be Paid For

The Tyson employees who brought the initial case worked in a plant where killing, cutting, and re-trimming took place. The specific safety equipment which each worker wore was based on the duties performed in the plant. Some of the employees were paid for putting their gear on and taking it off, but many were not. Further, the amount of time the workers actually spent taking the gear off and on was not recorded.

The employees argued they should have been paid for their time and they brought a wage-and-hour claim. They sought $2.9 million in overtime pay for the uncompensated time they had spent putting on safety gear. They also sought to have their wage and hour claim certified as a class action. A district court ruled in their favor, indicating a class action was an appropriate method of resolving the case even though not all of the workers wore the exact same safety equipment.

The court ruled the employees were entitled to overtime pay. Because no records were kept regarding the amount of time the workers spent putting on safety gear, the employees asked an industrial relation's expert to conduct calculations to determine how much time on average they spent dressing in appropriate gear. After videotaping the workers putting on and removing their safety equipment, the expert determine the cut and re-trim department workers spend 18 minutes per day on average to put on safety gear and those in the kill department spent 21.25 minutes. Tyson argued the calculations were improper, but the district court and Eighth Circuit disagreed.

The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, and in a 6-3 decision, the court upheld the ruling awarding the workers $2.9 million. The decision was an important one because it affirms putting on safety equipment is an important and essential part of the job for which workers deserve payment.