Blog

August 8, 2014

In the dog days of summer, many hours will be spent with friends and family around your backyard pool. While much of pool safety may seem obvious – supervise children, enforce a no running rule, be proficient in CPR – children can be in danger even after they leave the pool. In fact, children can drown hours after they have finished swimming. Secondary drowning, or dry drowning, happens when a swimmer inhales water, whether in a near-drowning incident or in a less scary situation, like when jumping into the pool or exiting a water slide. The swimmer may appear…

June 20, 2014

Preventing a crash with a truck is the responsibility of both truck drivers and operators of other vehicles. Most of us get a little nervous when we are driving next to a truck going 65 miles per hour on the highway, and rightly so. Being on the wrong side of a truck crash could mean severe personal injuries, extreme damage to property and a potential untimely death. It’s all about defensive driving. Many vehicle operators get stubborn with their driving habits and fail to adjust to the limited maneuverability, performance capabilities and braking of a truck.

June 13, 2014

The summer is officially less than two weeks away and yet there have already been at least nine children who have died after being left alone in a hot car. If you follow the trends set in recent years past, that number is surely to rise, according to the National Safety Council. Since 1998, according to research by San Francisco State University’s Department of Geosciences, there have been an estimated 615 heatstroke deaths suffered by children left in hot cars. That’s an average of 38 deaths per year, with more than half of the children dying under age two.

April 29, 2014

As the weather warms up around the country, construction projects will begin to pop up all over, and with that comes an increased threat of injuries. Working on a construction site is one of the most dangerous occupations in the country, with thousands of injuries every year, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The fatal injury rate for the construction industry is higher than the national average and it’s because of the inherent nature of the business. Construction workers are in danger of falls, trench and scaffolding collapses, electrocution, repetitive motion injuries and caught…

March 18, 2014

In response to a brutal attack of a correctional officer by an inmate at New Jersey State Prison, state lawmakers have introduced a bill which would give corrections officers full salary during their recovery period. A corrections officer named Eligia Then was assaulted on Feb. 6 by an inmate. She suffered bruises to her neck from being choked, while also sustaining bruises on her right eye, her nose, cuts on her eyebrows and cheeks, as well as head injuries. Currently, New Jersey officers must use sick leave and personal days in the five days after sustaining an…

February 14, 2014

New Jersey lawmakers have taken a step in cracking down on distracted drivers. The main focus is on commuter vans and buses, otherwise known as jitneys. Angelie’s Law was passed in late January, mandating a litany of new requirements and rules for the jitney companies to follow. The law was introduced in honor of North Bergen’s Angelie Paredes, an eight month old girl who was killed in August, when the driver of a commuter van lost control and hit a street light. The light fell on Angelie’s stroller, killing her. The driver was allegedly using a cell phone, and…

January 9, 2014

Four-year-old Jadiel Velesquez was awarded $165 million in a personal injury suit against the Division of Youth and Family Services. The jury verdict, delivered on Dec. 13, represents the largest personal injury award in New Jersey’s history, and the nation’s largest against a child protective agency. A jury found that, due to the abusive behavior of the boy’s father, Joshua Velesquez, when Jadiel was an infant, the boy is now blind and in need of 24-hour supervision and care for the rest of his life. Joshua Velesquez is serving six years in jail for aggravated assault. Jadiel’s mother…