New York Law Blog

In a bit of news that could be considered “off the wall”, a resident of New York City going by the moniker of Jimmy Justice has taken it upon himself to catch New York City police officers and other city officials breaking the law while on the clock. His unusual vigilante methods? A video camera and popular video website YouTube. According to Mr. Justice, he’s been recording the illegal acts of city officials for roughly two years now, and likes to focus a lot of his time on catching NYPD in the act of traffic violations like parking near fire hydrants and in no-standing zones.

He said he started filming them because," New York City employs a system of predatory ticketing." "Traffic cops scour the streets looking for petty violations to write summonses. It is apparent that City Hall is not interested in public safety but rather using traffic law to raise revenue. I wanted to turn the tables on those who write the summonses, and I hoped to inspire some discretion in the manner that they ticket civilians."

Justice said he is not intimidated by law enforcement officials when he films them. "I know that I am allowed to take video in a public place, so I cannot be intimidated."

Mr. Justice claims that his tactics are actually working, and that city government officials are looking into some of the incidents that he has filmed. He says, "They have already investigated some of the officers who were caught abusing their authority in my videos. More importantly, the city has started to crack down on scofflaws who use their city issued parking placards improperly by parking illegally while running personal errands."

All of Jimmy Justice’s videos can be viewed on his

YouTube channel

.

New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently imposed new regulations on sous vide cooking, forcing many restaurants to scramble to update their cooking methods that comply with the new laws. The cooking method, which requires meats to be vacuum sealed and slow cooked at very low temperatures, worried city health officials that bacteria growth may be occurring if exact methods were not used and harm anyone who may be consuming the food. Now the Department of Health requires restaurants who participate in the sous vide method of cooking to file their preparation plans with the city in a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plan, but there are a few establishments that have yet to do so, and are now being shut down until they comply.

About a dozen restaurants have had plans approved, said Elliott Marcus, an associate commissioner who oversees food safety, and another dozen are in the application process. Some restaurants hire consultants to draw up plans, which must adhere to health department regulations on “reduced oxygen packaging” cooking. These include step-by-step specifications that regulate how the food is packaged, what equipment is used to cook it, what internal temperature the food must reach, and how it is chilled. The rules require cooks to use expensive water immersion units or combination convection ovens and industrial vacuum-packaging machines. They also call for detailed labeling, and they ban vacuum-sealing fish unless it is frozen.

A restaurant at the Carlton Hotel named Cafe at Country was closed last week in part because of their improper sous vide methods. The chef of the restaurant was warned in 2006 that he needed to file his sous vide plan for approval, but never followed through. Would this be considered negligence on the part of the restaurant should you become ill after consuming improperly prepared food? Jeff Lichtman, senior partner at Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman had this to say on the issue:

Unfortunately, inspectors have found several New York City restaurants are in violation of health and sanitation codes. Consumers are even more vulnerable in restaurants that use Sous Vide cooking techniques. Therefore, it is good news that city officials are keeping the pressure on restaurants to follow the strict procedures required for such techniques. New York consumers put their good faith in restaurants to follow proper health regulations, but if a restaurant is negligent New Yorkers have recourse in the court system.

With the outbreak of construction accident fatalities all across America, nine senators have lead the charge towards reform. The senators, which include Patty Murray of Washington, Harry Reid of Nevada, and Barack Obama of Illinois, sent a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao asking her to make initiatives to improve worker safety on construction sites. Also included in the requests was improved crane regulations which haven’t been revised since 1971. The steps taken by the senators is in part due to the perceived lack of action by the current administration to make changes to the regulations on the books.

The issues of fall protection and crane safety are two prime examples of the Bush administration Labor Department’s efforts to delay or repeal regulation.

For example, under previous administrations, OSHA required ironworkers and others working high off the ground to use safety harnesses to prevent a fall. It also required netting or decking no more than two stories below them to break a fall and to protect workers below. The Bush administration repealed the requirement requiring netting or decking, arguing it was redundant.

As for crane safety, the Bush administration has stalled a new regulation from taking effect. Four years ago a committee of labor, industry and government officials signed off on new regulations for cranes, which have become increasingly sophisticated and complex.

Crane safety is quite the pressing issue these days as there have been several fatalities just in the last week, including four in Houston when one of the biggest cranes in the world collapsed at an oil refinery. Any move made by the senators on behalf of construction workers around the country will go a long way towards helping the construction accident epidemic.