Strategic plan for construction safety, enhanced enforcement on job sites

Buildings commissioner Patricia Lancaster, FAIA, recently delivered a progress report on implementation of the department's 2006-2009 Strategic Plan, outlining goals and objectives to improve construction site safety by building upon the foundation of reform established over the last six years. Under this plan, the department will take a multipronged approach that includes operational, legislative and educational solutions to ensure safe construction practices are followed at every construction site. This approach will ensure contractors, architects and engineers are held accountable for unsafe work. Joined by mayor Michael Bloomberg, deputy mayor Edward Skyler, Dept. of Investigation commissioner Rose Gill Hearn, and chief of the Fire Department Salvatore Cassano, commissioner Lancaster delivered the report at the department's agencywide meeting at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. As part of phase II, the additional enforcement resources will be allocated to cracking down on illegal after-hours construction, unsafe interior demolitions, and low-rise site safety, building upon the new enforcement and operational tactics implemented during Phase I. The 21 staff lines will be divided into three enforcement teams and one research group: The After-Hours Inspection Team, the Interior Demolitions Team, the Low-Rise Site Safety Team, and the Professional Certification Qualifications Group. Over the next two years, the department will improve safety on construction sites by conducting intensive inspection sweeps; tracking architects, engineers and contractors to identify repeat offenders; utilizing stop work orders; and making the construction and inspection process more transparent. The department will: deploy new staff to crack down on unsafe construction; ensure adjacent properties are protected during excavation; make it costly to disobey stop work orders: target unsafe scaffolds and sheds; enhance scaffold worker training; outline an aggressive legislative agenda to add enforcement tools; and increase safety with handheld computers for inspectors. The department will increase its oversight of builders, architects, engineers and contractors by ensuring those who disobey building and zoning regulations are held accountable.The department will: put industry on notice of safe construction standards; set new standards for architects and engineers who professionally certify and stop repeat offenders from filing applications. The department will enhance its transparency and efficiency by providing online access to critical information such as permit applications and architectural plans, automatic error-checking of construction permit applications prepared electronically, and identification of safety trends through a new compstat-like system. These enhancements will enable the department to aggressively tackle safety problems on construction sites. The department will: enable a paperless permit application process by 2009; make architectural plans available online via BISWeb; and enhance reporting system to focus on safety trends.