REBNY is committed to supporting greater construction safety in New York City by helping to ensure that workers are protected and properly trained.
We recognize that a safer construction industry means a stronger real estate industry, especially at a time of so much new residential and commercial development across the city.
We appreciate that Mayor de Blasio and the City Council are focusing on this important issue. However, we are deeply concerned that the mayor and the Council are taking a counterproductive approach that will not increase construction safety and will instead make the construction industry less accessible to minority- and women-owned businesses and kill opportunities to hire locally.
The Council is pursuing legislation known as Intro 1447, which would significantly change the city’s standards with regard to training requirements for construction workers.
The bill, in its current form, was crafted largely based on political rhetoric rather an analysis of data about where accidents were occurring and why. These new onerous and unnecessary requirements will result in the exclusion of non-union workers from employment opportunities.
Non-union workers represent the majority of the construction workforce, with over half of the population being immigrants and people of color, according to census data. Further, this bill will prevent many contractors and community-based organizations from maintaining local hiring initiatives on new construction projects.
REBNY’s commitment to this issue means that we will not simply continue to strongly oppose the current Intro. 1447 in its present form; we are also offering our own construction safety proposal for the Council’s consideration.
Our proposal is based on industry best practices from the most sophisticated construction firms in the world and would more effectively increase construction safety, while also ensuring a fair and level playing field for all workers and contractors, regardless of their background or affiliation.
Our proposal would increase the City’s minimum training requirement for construction workers using industry-recognized topics, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s OSHA-10, fall protection, support scaffold skills, confined space awareness and first aid. It would also empower a task force to consider additional training requirements for certain high-skill trades. The training requirements would be phased in over five years to ensure that all contractors can fully comply with the new mandate.
This proposal also directly tackles safety issues by requiring training that is designed to prevent gravity-related accidents that are the cause of more than 60 percent of construction accidents and more than 90 percent of fatalities.
Additionally, it would mandate drug and alcohol testing for all construction workers to ensure that no one on a worksite is put at risk by substance use or abuse — a safety measure that is strangely absent from the current proposal.
While the current 1447 does not consider how we can train over 180,000 construction workers, our proposal would create a broad-based task force, including members from the CUNY and SUNY system, to determine how to educate such a diverse workforce without leaving any group behind.
The composition of our taskforce would also include members from the MWBE community to ensure these populations are adequately represented in important discussions.
This task force would also investigate the demographics of the industry to more accurately and sustainably provide assistance to workers that struggle to complete the training.
And finally, our proposal would require an annual report on construction accidents and fatalities, as well as analysis of the causes of these incidents and recommendations to inform best practices moving forward.
REBNY is proud to put forth this proposal as an alternative to the current 1447 because we know that it is a more equitable framework that will benefit all New Yorkers instead of a select few.
I look forward to discussing this proposal with Mayor de Blasio and the City Council and strongly advocating for it to be considered and passed in the near future. If we work together and focus on the facts – not the rhetoric – around safety, we truly can save lives and make the construction industry better for workers, contractors and the general public.
In other REBNY News:
The NYC Department of Veterans’ Services is working with private sector partners to leverage and expand the resources needed to provide subsidized housing to veterans. To support this effort, we are partnering with the Department of Veterans’ Services for REBNY’s 9th Annual Summer Donation Drive. REBNY members are encouraged to participate by donating new or like new kitchen items including silverware, cooking utensils, pots and pans, plates, cups, cleaning essentials, and more. Donations may be dropped off at the REBNY mailroom (570 Lexington Avenue, Lower Level) through Friday, September 8th. For more information and drop off times, visit REBNY.com. To make a monetary donation, please contact Jeanne Oliver-Taylor at jtaylor@rebny.com.
Shifting markets lead to changing prices. The first of our two-part Residential Breakfast Club seminar series on pricing — featuring guest speakers Trish Martin and Laura Amin of Halstead Property with Jacky Teplitzky of Douglas Elliman Real Estate — will be held on Tuesday, August 15, from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. This free for members seminar, “Pricing to Win the Listing – How to Establish Value,” will focus on teaching agents how to gather information to successfully align it with the seller’s vision when it comes to pricing property. Register at rebny.com.
How do you get the seller on board with your marketing strategy? Join speakers Vickey Barron of The Corcoran Group and Julia Hoagland of Compass on Thursday, September 7, from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. for our second Residential Breakfast Club seminar, “Guiding the Seller to the Perfect Price,” which will focus on delivering your pricing pitch. Register at rebny.com.
The Residential Brokerage Division encourages REBNY members to review their re-sales, new development sales, and rental transactions—that have closed or will close between September 16, 2016 and September 15, 2017 — for submission to the 2017 REBNY Residential Deal of the Year Contest. Awards for the top sales and rental transactions — in addition to the NEW Residential Agent of the Year Award, The Henry Forster Award for Lifetime Achievement, The Eileen Spinola Award for Distinguished Service, and The Most Promising Rookie Salesperson of the Year Award — will be presented at the 29th Annual Residential Brokerage Division Deal of the Year Charity & Awards Gala to be held on Thursday, October 26 from 6:00-10:30 p.m. at Metropolitan West. The deadline for submissions is Friday, September 15th at 5:00 p.m. Visit rebny.com to download the contest rules and application form, and reserve your table/ticket(s). For event sponsorship opportunities, email Jeanne Oliver-Taylor at JTaylor@rebny.com.
