Press Release - Buildings

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For Immediate Release
October 15, 2019
Contact: dobcommunications@buildings.nyc.gov,
(212) 393-2126

NEW SAFETY TRAINING SIGNS REQUIRED ON NYC CONSTRUCTION SITES

Multilingual Signs on Thousands of NYC’s Largest Construction Sites to Raise Awareness About Upcoming Safety Training Deadline for Workers & Supervisors

NEW YORK, NY – Today, Buildings Commissioner Melanie E. La Rocca announced that multilingual notices about safety-training requirements must be posted at the exits of New York City’s larger construction sites. This new mandate, which goes into effect today, requires the signs to be posted in every language that is used by workers to communicate at each specific construction site, and is part of the agency’s ongoing campaign to raise awareness about the upcoming deadlines for workers and supervisors to obtain site safety training as required under Local Law 196 of 2017. This morning, Commissioner La Rocca unveiled one of these new multilingual signs in Coney Island, Brooklyn, at the construction site for a new 11-story hospital building at NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island. Starting on December 1st, workers at large, complex construction sites will be required to have at least 30 hours of site-safety training, and supervisors must have at least 62 hours of training. On September 1, 2020, workers will be required to have 40 hours of training.

“Keeping workers and the public safe is our agency’s highest priority. Having signs at the exits of construction sites is fitting: at the end of every day, workers will be reminded to get the training they need to come home safely to their families. What’s more, because the people who are building New York City’s future come from around the world, we have created a template for these new signs that can be downloaded in 14 languages,” said Commissioner La Rocca.

“BTEA Contractors are fully engaged in training our workers so that New York City has the best, safest, construction workforce possible,” said Building Trades Employers Association President and CEO Louis J. Coletti. “We appreciate the collaborative efforts of the Buildings Department, under the leadership of Commissioner La Rocca, throughout the implementation of Local Law 196. This training is going to be an invaluable tool moving forward toward making construction work as safe as it can be, and, making sure that all of our workers go home each night.”

“The new safety training signs required on New York City's construction sites, particularly making them available in multiple languages, is important to reach immigrant workers and ensure all employers take the steps necessary to get all of their workers trained," said Ligia Guallpa, Executive Director of Worker's Justice Project (WJP).

“Placing multilingual signage on worksites of the training deadlines under Local Law 196 is essential to ensuring that workers are reminded of the training that they need and that employers are doing everything they can to get their workforce in compliance,” said Charlene Obernauer, Executive Director of NYCOSH.

“As we continue the transformation of our hospital and look forward to the future and our state-of-the-art, 11-story tower, we are always cognizant of safety—of our patients, staff, community members and our construction workers,” said Mei Kong, RN, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island. “Just like our employees who undergo rigorous instruction, training and credentialing, our construction partners comply with all regulations because safety is our utmost priority as we move closer to the project’s completion in 2023.”

Additional information about the new requirement can be found in a recent Service Notice released by the Department, as well as a template the agency created for the new signage. As noted above, this template can be downloaded in the 14 languages that are most commonly spoken on construction sites in New York City. The exact locations of the more than 8,600 permitted construction jobs where training, and thus the new signs, are required can be found on DOB's interactive map. Specifically, Local Law 196 mandates training for workers at job sites that require a Construction Superintendent, Site Safety Coordinator, or Site Safety Manager.

To meet the upcoming training requirements, workers and supervisors can obtain safety training from any DOB-approved course provider, which can be sorted by location and available language using our interactive course provider map, or by taking or OSHA-30 classes from an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) certified training provider. In an effort to make this training more accessible, applications are also now open for the Construction Site Safety Reimbursement Program, a one-time grant through the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS) for small construction firms, with 1-15 employees, to offset the cost of site safety training.

This is the latest phase of the Department’s ongoing initiative to inform workers, contractors, developers, and property owners of Local Law 196. Previous outreach and education efforts have included a “week of action” with five-borough direct outreach to workers and a subway and print ad campaign, numerous information sessions for stakeholders in the construction industry, direct worker outreach at work sites by DOB construction inspectors, a food truck tour of construction sites citywide this summer, a detailed webpage dedicated to information on LL196 site safety training, a television broadcast PSA campaign, and direct mailings to all safety professionals and Local Law 196 permit holders. Outreach and education efforts will continue through September 1, 2020.

For more information about construction site safety, please visit our website.

(Buildings Commissioner La Rocca, along with representatives from NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island, the Building Trades Employers Association, and Turner Construction Company, unveiling new multilingual construction worker safety training signs in Coney Island, Brooklyn.)