New York Personal Injury News & NYC Legal Current Events

Construction Worker Accidents: Man Buried Alive

Posted on Aug 15, 2011

At a construction job on Hillcrest Lane in Chapel Hill, New York - a ten-foot trench around a water-pipe collapsed and buried a construction worker alive who was working in the hole. Two co-workers and a resident of Hillcrest Lane who was outside when the construction worker accident occurred rushed in to help.

It took the men about five minutes to find the buried construction worker under more than a foot and a half of dirt and boulders, and another ten minutes to dig him out. His face was covered in blood and his teeth had been knocked out, but the worker was alert and conscious.

It was only Nick Garofalo's second day on the job with S and A Construction, one of the co-workers of the buried construction worker. Peekskill Police Lieutenant, Eric Johansen, responded to the scene. He said the buried worker was conscious but appeared to have internal injuries. He walked to the ambulance and was transported to the Hudson Valley Hospital Center immediately.

The other employee involved in the construction worker accident was taken to the hospital for heat related injuries, but his name has not been released as family has not yet been notified.

The Occupational Safety and Hazard Agency arrived to investigate the incident, but Lieutenant Johansen said it appeared upon initial glance that the construction workers were not using proper shoring devices to prevent this type of construction worker accidents from happening.

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Lever & Stolzenberg, LLP is located in White Plains, New York and serves clients throughout the state, including New York City's five boroughs (The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island) as well as Westchester County, Rockland County and Long Island. 

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