Regardless of a project’s size, ensuring the safety of its onsite contractors and construction personnel is essential. While maintaining vigilant oversight can be difficult in any municipality, it is a Herculean effort to maintain regulatory compliance in the nation’s most populous locale: New York City. In a recent report from New York University Law School’s CityLand blog, Department of Buildings Commissioner Melanie E. La Rocca acknowledged the magnitude of such efforts, saying, “DOB enforcement is of critical importance in promoting safety at construction sites; but the reality is that we cannot be in all places at all times. To protect the lives of the working men and women who are building in our city, we need our partners in the construction industry to step up and join us in pushing for enhanced, round-the-clock supervision and greater accountability.”
Commissioner La Rocca’s comments came following the DOB’s summative report that analyzed the results of “the Department’s citywide ‘Zero Tolerance’ construction safety enforcement campaign,” according to a DOB press release. The campaign comprised “sweeps at approximately 7,500 building construction work sites in all five boroughs” which “resulted in 1,499 Stop Work Orders.” For context, the site sweeps are just the latest push within the City’s larger worksite safety initiative. Back in April, the DOB revealed “five new construction safety bills and comprehensive updates to NYC’s Construction Codes.” Among these legislative items is a bill that would require DOB licensure for all general contractors working in the city. If this bill becomes law, it would “prohibit any person from performing general contractor work unless approved by DOB.”
Though the long-term effects on the city’s contractors and construction workers are difficult to predict, it is easy to see how the COVID-19 pandemic has upended these vital workers’ lives across the entire state. According a June 2021 report from the State of New York Comptroller’s Office, “in 2020, New York State had the fourth-largest construction sector in the nation, but also had the highest job losses,” measured at “44,400 [...] the State’s worst annual decline in more than 25 years.” While job losses at this level are devastating in any industry, the extent to which these losses were absorbed by the small businesses that characterize the industry should give all of us pause. The State Comptroller’s report notes that “most construction firms in New York City employ fewer than 20 people (91 percent in 2020).” If New York City is serious about its onsite workers’ safety, that is good news. At the same time, both the DOB and the State might also do well to consider how they can help those workers who experience abrupt work stoppages like those incurred throughout the pandemic.
