NYC P.I. dispenses investigative advice, information, legal marketing tips, opinions, interesting stuff... Look for the Bulletin each Monday.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Why Proper Slip/Trip & Fall Intake Surveys can Make or Break You...
The above video gives us pause to reconsider a previous Beacon Bulletin and proper interviewing/surveying in order to waste less time with time wasters...
BNI Operatives - Street Smart, Web Savvy.
Stay Safe,
Jonathan Caspian -----------------------------
This week, we focus on the primary information required in the event of a slip/trip and fall situation involving your client.
1. CLIENT PEDIGREE (to include name, address, phone #, DOB, SSN,employment/scholastic and licensed driver info and emergency contacts)
2. WEATHER CONDITIONS (including for interior falls in that proper matting may not be present at the location of occurrence)
6. DESCRIPTION OF SURFACE (concrete, torn matting, tile...)
7. PRESENCE OF ANY WARNING SIGNS (e.g. wet floor cones), TAPE, HANDRAILS
8. DIRECTION OF TRAVEL OF PARTICIPANTS (northbound, descending steps...)
9. DESCRIPTION OF ACCIDENT (detailed)
10. ALCOHOL/DRUG INVOLVEMENT
11. WHERE WAS THE CLIENT GOING?
12. RATE OF WALK (normal gait, walking briskly... )
13. TYPE OF SHOES WORN
14. CONDITION OF SHOES (new, good, worn.. )
15. DOES THE CLIENT STILL HAVE THE SHOES?
16. OBSERVABLE INJURIES SUSTAINED (detailed)
17. MEDICAL ATTENTION RECEIVED AT SCENE
18. EMERGENCY/OFFICIAL VEHICLE AND PERSONNEL RESPONSE
19. STATEMENT(S) MADE AT SCENE
20. ADDITIONAL WITNESSES
21. DOES THE CLIENT KNOW OF ANY OTHER SIMILAR PRIOR INCIDENTS AT SAID LOCATION?
22. HAD THE CLIENT COMPLAINED TO MANAGEMENT OF EXISTING RELATED CONDITIONS?
23. DOES THE CLIENT KNOW OF ANYONE ELSE WHO MAY HAVE MADE SIMILAR PRIOR COMPLAINTS TO MANAGEMENT?
24. COPY OF CLIENT'S LEASE.
25. MANAGEMENT INFORMATION, IF KNOWN.
26. MUNICIPALITY INVOLVED?
With regard to the last checklist item, your investigator can then run an online real property check. City owned property information is immediately accessible. In many cases, private property information is also available online and may also yield homeowners insurance information.
BNI investigators: Street smart; Net savvy.
I look forward to any comments you may have or and questions I can answer for you.
Lina M. Maini Editor, The Beacon Bulletin CEO, Beacon Network Investigations, Inc.
In a follow-up to our previous identity theft articles, we found examples outside the scope of the most common, internet-based scams... in particular, the little-known "Medical Identity Theft", highlighted in the above video.
Traditional tactics, coupled with BNI's own I.D. theft simulation-exercise (reposted below), show how easily I.D. thieves can go well beyond the internet and the more common methodology associated to fraud.
The fastest growing crime in the world today is identity theft. This is a familiar statistic but very few people truly grasp their vulnerability to this crime. Victims of identity theft can lose job or business opportunities, be refused loans for education, housing, or cars, and even get arrested for crimes they didn't commit.
After initial trepidation and a general principles discourse with our staff, I decided to print a basically uncensored version of an identity theft exercise BNI conducted recently in a Midtown client's offices. It is my opinion that, at times, stark reality, rather than nuanced language, better conveys the urgency of potential injury that a crime may have on one.
The very real and live in-house demonstration illustrated the relative ease with which identity thieves can operate today. The objective was to obtain a credit card in the client-volunteered control "victim's" name within two weeks - without the victim's (even passive) participation or awareness. The audience present during this exercise followed its progress to its conclusion.
The general population's perception is that an identity thief's M.O. is to simply obtain a victim's information, apply and receive credit cards in the victim's name. Today's i.d. thieves are much more subtlety proactive. They understand that if the credit card offers come to them, that, in a sense, they have been pre-qualified and the process is exponentially easier and quicker than the conventional apply and wait approach.
The first step in our live exercise was to obtain a bill or invoice in the victim's name. We opted to go for new cell phone service.
The subject provided BNI operatives with no information. (Well, we knew his name.) While I obviously will not go into exact detail, we were able to easily obtain his driver's license and Social Security numbers (outlined in previous Bulletins). Heads-Up Tips: 1. The DMV only truncates the final digit of a driver's license number and a "1" is not used. 2. By law, information providers must truncate the last 4 SSN digits - on the primary subject. A background check report will generally yield the subject's relatives and their full SSNs. 3. Many information brokers are based out of country and are not subject (nor do they lend themselves) to US federal privacy and communications rules and regulations.
Armed with the victim's personal information, our next step was to locate a cell phone service provider online.
The majority of identity theft criminals are very astute observers of human nature. They realize that a popular consumer offer will drive site and caller traffic and potentially overwhelm sales staff. While as state, next step would have been to locate a current offer on cell service provider sites, even that became unnecessary as, upon sign-on, we were greeted by a pop-up ad for cell service and a free phone!
We called the advertising cell service provider.
The sales agent was friendly but as anticipated, quite busy, clipping through the application process.
We provided the subject’s name, driver's license and Social Security numbers and home address home but directed a different billing address. All information provided was verified, cross-referenced and given the green light by the agent. She only questioned our female investigator re: her gender as the Social Security number related to a male. Advised that it was for a relative with a language barrier issue, the sales agent stated she needed to speak with the "customer" just to get a "yes" from him. She advised that that was the sole requirement. The agent directed our investigator, still under guise of course, to initiate a three-way call (a standard cell phone feature today) and all that would literally be necessary was the word "yes" from the "customer". Our investigator placed the sales agent on hold, called her partner across the room and connected the calls.
Agent: "Mr. X, do you authorize ABC Co. to provide you with a free Razr phone with a two-year commitment to our service?"
"New Customer": "Yes".
A cell phone number was issued within the hour; the Razr phone received and put into use the next day and the following week, credit card offers began pouring in - to the billing address. In most instances, a successful transaction was merely a matter of remitting a 60-second online acceptance form.
So the bottom line is, everyone and anyone can become an identity theft victim. Current federal regulation requires the three major consumer agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to provide only one free annual credit report per person, upon consumer request. Perhaps providing real time instant online access to one's credit report is a concept whose time has arrived.
In the meantime, we need to maintain personal vigilance of our credit standing. BNI provides the below contact information regarding identity theft prevention, maintenance and resolution:
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374- 0241
(Albeit through the device of humor, the above video truly projects the seriousness with which we all view of construction site injuries.)
From the horrible spate of construction site accidents in New York City in the past year, it would seem that building higher may be better but it is definitely more dangerous. According to New York City Buildings Department records: the accident rate at high-rise sites – buildings 15 stories or higher - has more than doubled. 2007 closed out with 52 serious injuries (up from a total of 32 in 2006) and 5 deaths of construction workers – compared to one fatality in 2006. This upward trend of construction site accidents continues statewide but for the sake of brevity, we will use NYC stats.)
The cross- and sideways finger-pointing by the politicians, buildings inspectors and general contractors aside, one clear fact rises from all of these tragedies: the jobs are being rushed. With everyone from Louis J. Coletti (president of the Building Trades Employers Association) to various BID representatives to such construction company heavies as Bovis, weighing in, the excuses offered for expedited construction are many and varied:
- Developers often offer attractive incentives for rush service - Employers and neighbors are construction noise weary - The rising cost of materials and labor - A shortage of crane operators forcing the hiring of those operators not fully licensed
An example of this rabid push for expedited construction by developers, at the risk of life and limb, is what is commonly known in the New York construction scene as the “two-day cycle” in which contractors routinely pour a concrete floor every two days at a site, as opposed to the standard four or five day cycle elsewhere. Concrete-related accidents account for the vast majority of construction site incidents.
Under the current New York State Labor Law, the owner and general contractor are strictly responsible for injury to a worker on the job site and that from an elevation risk (e.g. - a scaffold collapse, a faulty ladder, materials falling and striking the worker). Also, the injury must arise from ongoing construction, remodeling or demolition - as opposed to maintenance - work. An interesting proposal being floated about (and surely one that will generate curious if not surprising opposition) is to have both the general contractor and the concrete company maintain insurance for work at a construction site. (Currently, in NYS, only the GC is required to post such insurance bond.)
Investigators are now focusing not only on the deaths and the safety precautions issues in high-rise construction site accidents but also the hiring processes employed by the GCs. Several officials (and the Manhattan DA’s office) have questioned why certain GCs repeatedly employ the same subcontractors, especially those with inferior hiring practices and horrendous safety records. As professional investigators in the field, we have to make thorough use of our ability to detect these hiring and subcontracting trends. (Generally, state, city and local filing repositories are good places to dig but also keep an eye on user generated original content sites such as workinglife.org and gangbox.wordpress.com.)
Let’s hope 2008 is a much better year for safety and life for the construction industry but now is the time to proactively demand better oversight and more stringent safety protocols at all New York State job sites.
The ubiquitous cell phone now allows for a new Google feature (available in Windows and Mac platforms) that bodes the obsolescence of a current "must-have" device - the GPS unit - at least in its ordinary sense of getting us from x to y in our daily lives. (GPS will still be the location determination standard in law enforcement, military and other complex-needs organizations). But, in yet another example of the growing capabilities of our mobile lifeline, our cell phone can now tell us where we are or how to get to where we need (and sometimes, want) to go.
Unlike GPS (global positioning system), which relies on Earth orbiting-satellites to transmit microwave signals to determine location, speed, direction and time, Google's "My Location" function operates by triangulating these factors using your cell phone's tower transmissions.
With My Location, you can:
view real time traffic
obtain detailed directions (whether you are walking or driving...)
integrate local information (businesses and contacts in the area) and
