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Investigations on into Death of New York Construction Worker
Posted by: William Gentile
October 20, 2010

Officials are still probing the death of a constructionworker who died in a horrific crushing accident on the Williamsburg Bridge lastweek.  The worker, 50-year-old JerryBurgess was standing on a mechanical lift. He had been preparing the bridge just before a paint job, when theplatform suddenly became stuck.  The man andhis partner began working to reactivate the platform.  According to officials, the platform suddenlymoved, and the worker was trapped between the steel supports of the bridge andthe lift. 

He sustained crushing injuries, and was rushed to thehospital.  He succumbed to his injuries,a little while later.  Burgess was anemployee of a contractor, who had been hired by the NY Department ofTransportation for paint and repair work on the bridge.

There is no information yet on what caused thisaccident.  Details are still hazy, andonly a complete investigation will point clearly to what happened here.  For now, it seems like there was a mechanicalmalfunctioning at some point in the process, which caused the worker to becometrapped between the metal lift and the bridge supports.

Crushing injuries in the construction workplace aresustained when a person's body or part of the body are caught between twoobjects that exert great pressure on the body. Amputations are often seen in such accidents.  In other cases, the damage to the nerves,blood vessels, muscles and tissue can lead to a condition called CompartmentSyndrome.  In this condition, there maybe bleeding, bruising, lacerations, smashed limbs, fractures, and nerve injury.  In many cases, surgery may be required totreat the injury.

The NewYork construction accident lawyers at Godosky and Gentile represent workersinjured in construction site accidents in New York City and around the state ofNew York.

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