NYC DOB opens loophole in fire suppression install

A dangerous, recently created loophole by the NYC Dept. of Buildings (DOB) now allows unlicensed firms and workers to install critical fire suppression systems, high-pressure natural gas piping, medical and backflow lines in the city's hospitals, medical and eldercare facilities. Leaders of the Mechanical Contractors Association of N.Y., Inc. and Plumbing Foundation City of N.Y. say this endangers patients, the elderly and infirm occupying those N.Y. facilities. The NYC Building Code requires that all natural gas, heat, medical waste and sanitary piping work be performed only by city licensed plumbing firms for safety reasons. Fire sprinkler systems that protect the city's many high-rise and high-occupancy buildings could only be installed by licensed fire suppression contractors. Now according to a recent DOB interpretation, no longer would a license be required for those doing this critical work, if it is constructed and assembled off-site as modular units smaller than 20x40 ft. The abrupt policy change, made without public notice, is now raising questions about the NYC Building Dept.'s authority to unilaterally alter the city's Building Code without authorization of the city council. "For a government agency to favor lower safety protocols as standards for future medical and nursing care facilities that serve the elderly and infirm is egregious," said Tony Saporito, executive VP of the Mechanical Contractors Association of New York. "Would you want your family members recuperating or incapacitated in a hospital with piping and systems installed by an untrained, uninsured or unlicensed worker? Licensed fire suppression contractors and master plumbers are trained and qualified to ensure the city's high pressure gas, sprinkler, medical and waste piping are properly installed and welded, so that the public is protected from leaks that can lead to explosions and toxic contamination." According to the NYS Department of Health and NY City Health and Hospitals Corporation, there are some 50 hospitals in the city, over 42,000 current nursing home beds and hundreds of other medical and surgical centers scattered across the five boroughs. All of these are in the domain of the ruling that gives unlicensed workers a green light to perform these installations. It is a fact that many patients at these facilities are immobile and would face significant challenges in case of emergency evacuations. "Imagine having to evacuate hundreds of hospital or nursing home patients who are restricted to wheelchairs and hospital beds." Saporito asked, "How would you ever get the patients out in time if a faulty gas pipe leaks or a wrongly installed fire sprinkler fails?" The fatal 2007 Deutsche Bank Building fire resulted from an illegally deconstructed standpipe water supply line, causing the death of two FDNY firefighters. The approaching anniversary of the deadly 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (March 25) is a grim reminder of what can happen when government regulators are willing to turn a blind eye to important safety regulations. That disaster took 146 lives. New York City should not have two regulatory standards for construction—one that requires certain buildings to have this safety work performed by licensed firms and other buildings that can be constructed using unlicensed firms. "Everyone in New York should be concerned when critical medical and natural gas piping supply lines and sprinkler systems are installed by unlicensed workers rather than licensed plumbing and fire suppression contracting firms,"said Stewart O'Brien, executive director of the Plumbing Foundation of New York. "As New Yorkers, we must take exception when the safety provisions of the Building Code enacted by the City Council are simply ignored or circumvented by the bureaucratic fiat of an agency without even a public hearing. It is a very serious, worrying threat to public safety in New York City." O'Brien is the former first deputy commissioner and acting commissioner of the New York City DOB.