Making Safer Job Sites a Priority

The industry is pushing for mandatory safety training requirements for managers and workers in an effort to reduce the number of accidents on job sites.

By Natalie Keith

The Construction Industry Partnership is pushing for changes to the New York City building code that would require mandatory safety training requirements for project managers and workers on construction sites.

"As we move towards what could be the biggest building boom in recent years, this city cannot afford to have contractors that have little or no regard for safety," said Louis Coletti, president & CEO of the Building Trades Employers' Association.

A report by the partnership calls for establishing a task force of industry, government and law enforcement officials to develop enforcement strategies; adopt site safety manager requirements for projects that are five to 14 stories tall; expand insurance and tax verification filing requirements for contractors; encourage owners to conduct random drug and alcohol tests; and establish a unified construction accident tracking system.

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Efforts to improve safety at construction sites date back to November 2002 when Patricia Lancaster, New York City Department of Buildings commissioner, convened a summit on the issue. At the time, the department had just completed a comprehensive management information system to detail construction accidents.

The new system replaced an older and more fragmented system that did not provide adequate accident information. With the assistance of the new system, the partnership researched the nature and cause of recent construction accidents in an effort to develop public policy initiatives to address the issue.

Among report findings are conditions described as "A Tale of Two Cities" - one where the construction industry obtains proper permits and is subject to routine inspections, and another where the "underground" construction industry does work during night and weekend hours and permit requirements are ignored.

"We discovered two industries, one that played by the rules and took safety seriously and one that didn't," Coletti said.

Adding to the problem is the limited resources of the buildings department to enforce existing regulations. From 1990 to 2000, fees and fines paid to the buildings department exceeded the agency's total operating budget by $205 million, an average of $18.6 million per year.

From 1992 to 1999 the number of construction permits issued increased by 57 percent while the number of actual construction inspectors declined by 22 percent, the report found.

Among report findings were that of all worker fatalities that occurred in the construction industry from Oct. 1, 2001, to Sept. 26, 2003, 62 percent of the victims in New York City were Hispanic, and 70 percent of the 25 fatalities in construction from Oct. 1, 2001, to Sept. 3, 2002, occurred on nonunion sites.

The cost of construction fatalities and accidents in New York City in 2002 was estimated at $858 million. With a reasonable reduction in the frequency and severity of incidents, the cost could have been lowered by $266 million, the report states.

At a recent safety conference hosted by the Building Trades Employers' Association, Lancaster gave an update of construction accident data. From January through September 2003, there were 40 accidents, a 37 percent decrease from the 63 recorded during the same period in 2002. During 2002, there were 101 recorded accidents, of which 38 percent occurred in the last three months of the year.

"Without the final three months of data, it is too early to assess whether by year-end the decrease will be sustained," Lancaster said.

She added that of the 40 accidents through September 2003, 25 percent were scaffolding related, 30 percent were construction equipment related and 45 percent were structure-related. Eleven of the accidents resulted in injuries, with 17 total people injured.

Two people were killed in two accidents, Lancaster said.

The report showed that the main causes of accidents are shortfalls in the training, preparation and professionalism of construction management personnel and their trade labor forces, particularly at small companies. Language barriers were also blamed.

Many of the proposed changes would require building code changes that must be approved by the City Council.

Coletti said the changes would not add to construction costs.

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