Top Causes of Elevator Accidents and Lawsuits
With adequate repair and maintenance, elevators provide a fairly safe means of transport. Accidents do occur however, claiming about 30 lives per year and injuring 17,000. Occasionally, an elevator may stop before reaching the proper level between floors. It may suddenly start, stop, or speed up. Doors may fail to open, or close too quickly. […]
Slip and Fall: Examples of Cases, Verdicts and Settlements
Slip and fall liability can be difficult to establish. (See: Slip and Fall Injury: Proving Your Case). Below is a sampling of slip and fall cases in which plaintiffs have been both successful and unsuccessful in proving their claims. Bear in mind that the facts and circumstances of your own case may be very different. […]
Uninsulated Heating Pipe: Are You and Your Family at Risk?
In only a matter of seconds, contact between bare skin and a very hot, uninsulated heating pipe can cause second, or even third, degree burns. Injuries can be severe and treatment prolonged, sometimes requiring hospitalization. New York City apartment dwellers, especially those in public housing, need to be aware of the dangers posed by scalding […]
Elevators and Escalators: Are They Safe?
Elevators in the U.S. make 18 billion passenger trips annually. Deaths due to elevator accidents average about 30 per year while the annual injury rate is estimated at 17,000. Though deaths and injuries are higher among workers who maintain and install elevators, passengers are generally safer on elevators than they might be if they were […]
Elevators and New York City Housing: A Dangerous Combination?
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) runs one of the largest and busiest elevator fleets in the area. Its 340 public housing complexes serving poor and moderate-income families contain 3,338 elevators in 2,618 buildings. At 3.1 million trips a day, these elevators make 1.2 billion trips each year. In light of such heavy traffic, […]
Airbnb: When a home becomes a hotel
The new frontier of the sharing economy brings many rewards and much confusion. By making their cars or their homes available for others to use, people benefit financially while offering convenient, lower cost services to their consumers. This enormously popular business model has gone positively global. Airbnb’s home sharing network now covers 190 countries and […]
Elevators: How Safe Are They?
In the U.S., elevator and escalator accidents kill about 30 people a year and seriously injure 17,000. The vast majority (90%) of these incidents involve elevators, which also account for well over half the injuries. There are an estimated 900,000 elevators in the U.S., each of which serves about 20,000 people annually. All U.S. elevators […]