The Department of Buildings is taking construction safety on the road this week in an annual effort to keep New York and New Yorkers safe.
Construction Safety Week serves to reinforce DOB efforts during an unprecedented construction boom, with record numbers of permits issued and workers employed in the building trades,.
“Every construction worker who leaves for the job site in the morning deserves to get home safe at night. That’s why safety has to be the highest priority at every one of the city’s 45,000 active construction sites,” said Buildings Commissioner Rick Chandler.
“Construction Safety Week allows us the opportunity to amplify the work we do each and every day, and reinforce the importance of employing the best safety practices to protect workers and the public. There are inherent risks in construction work, but the majority of accidents are completely preventable – which is why we must continue to work together to build a culture of safety across the industry.”
For Construction Safety Week, DOB staff are fanning out across the five boroughs to raise awareness about new construction safety regulations signed into law by Mayor de Blasio in 2017.
These measures include increased penalties for construction-related violations and new construction-safety training requirements under Local Law 196 of 2017, which now currently requires construction workers at most sites to receive at least 10 hours of OSHA-approved construction site safety training.
DOB has been moving quickly to implement the new rules, which when fully phased in will require workers at job sites that require a Site Safety Plan to receive a minimum of 40 hours of training, and educate workers and contractors about the requirements.
DOB will also be continuing its Experience is Not Enough campaign by distributing multi-lingual educational materials (available in English, Spanish, and Chinese) that offer workers simple steps they can take to stay safe on job sites, emphasizing the importance of safe construction practices.
The Department will also be hosting the 2018 Build Safe | Live Safe Conference — a daylong event attended by more than 350 construction professionals and government regulators.
Industry members at the conference will attend a series of seminars on subjects related to accident trends, new regulations, and updates to DOB policies, as well as best practices for improving safety.
