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José Luis Melendez, Klever Ramiro Jara, Anthony Duncan, Jiango Shen. These are just a few of the 29 people who died on construction sites in New York City last year.
Construction fatalities and accidents do not discriminate between union and non-union jobs. But when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports that 86 percent of the construction deaths in New York City occur on non-union job sites, industry and public officials need to know why.
On one hand, there are the unionized contractors who follow the rules and invest more than $50 million of their own money in public and worker safety programs. But on the other hand, there are non-union contractors who blatantly disregard city laws, hire unskilled day-laborers, abuse immigrant workers and ignore public and worker safety.
In many ways New York City is a victim of its own success. Construction activity is booming, the city is creating new jobs and has a bright future. But how safe do you feel walking around your neighborhood?
Recently, the mayor's Scaffold Worker Task Force reported its findings and recommendations for reducing fatalities on scaffolding.
Some of the commission's findings were shocking. In 67 percent of the scaffolding accidents and fatalities, a professionally licensed and legally required supervisor was not on site. In addition, 50 percent of the workers did not possess the training certificate required by law to work on a scaffold. This borders on criminal.
Among the recommendations of the task force were several innovative and necessary initiatives.
First, increasing financial penalties to contractors who fail to comply with city laws and rules including issuing stop work orders which will shut jobs down immediately. The best way to get a contractor's attention is to hit them in their pocketbook and hit them hard.
Second, the establishment of a Special Enforcement Unit which will aggressively check work sites without waiting for citizen complaints. Being proactive with strong enforcement sanctions will put contractors on the defensive and increase their risk for failing to comply with the law.
Third, the need for safety training and establishing accountability standards.
While these recommendations are an excellent start, it is now time to address safety across the entire industry.
Why now? In many ways New York City is a victim of its own success. Construction activity is booming, the city is creating new jobs and has a bright future. But how safe do you feel walking around your neighborhood? How many buildings are being built without city permits? How do you know those workers have received the training they need to protect you as well as themselves?
It is unrealistic to believe that the city's Buildings Department and OSHA will have the resources necessary to inspect every job site. In fact, under the Bloomberg administration, more financial resources and inspection personnel have been added for public safety purposes than collectively in the last 25 years.
There are, however, cost-effective ways to make the industry safer.
Uniform standards should be established that all contractors (unionized and non-unionized) should be required to meet before they are issued building permits.
The Site Safety Law, which is designed to protect public safety, is limited to projects 14 stories or higher, despite the fact that most accidents and fatalities occur on projects below that threshold. This should be updated to reflect that reality.
Construction safety in New York is in fact a tale of two cities. Enacting all of these measures will not make the industry 100 percent safe. After all, construction is an inherently dangerous industry. But they will undoubtedly help to close the growing gap between our two cities.
Louis Coletti is president of the Building Trades Employers' Association, the city's largest contractor association, representing 25 contractor associations and 1,200 construction company members. He was also a member of the mayor's Scaffold Worker Task Force.