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Discussion on construction safety measures and injury prevention
2:53:06
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5 min
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Council Member Gale A. Brewer inquires about the Department of Buildings' efforts to prevent construction-related injuries and fatalities. Commissioner Jimmy Oddo provides an overview of current safety measures, statistics, and challenges faced by the department.
- The department has seen a decrease in fatalities, with 7 reported in 2023
- There are 134 positions allocated to construction safety
- The department has issued 380,000 Site Safety Training (SST) cards to workers
- Concerns were raised about the integrity of some SST card providers, with one provider under indictment for issuing fraudulent cards
Gale A. Brewer
2:53:06
One question I had when I was the borough president, I had a whole task for us on construction safety because I'm so concerned about people dying on the job.
2:53:16
So I think I know you mentioned it.
2:53:18
I just would like a little bit more clarification about what you're doing to prevent people dying or even getting injured on the job and how many people allocated to it is hard.
2:53:29
I know.
2:53:30
And I think I I know that most of the sites where people die are not union.
2:53:35
I know that shouldn't be the only criteria, but it is a fact.
2:53:38
So that's my question.
2:53:39
How many people, what do you think you can do to prevent it in the future?
Jimmy Oddo
2:53:43
Yeah.
2:53:43
So if if I can, madam, chair, we look at fatalities via calendar year.
2:53:51
And I know you referenced the OSHA 22 number.
2:53:54
We see the number of fatalities in calendar year 2023 at 7, which is a decrease off the high.
2:54:03
I know this, again, in watching some old I feel like a quarterback.
2:54:07
In watching some old film, I know you had a conversation you had a question and an answer with first deputy commissioner Kaz Villancik on this, and he talked about the OSHA numbers sort of in in encapsulating a broader than the 5 boroughs.
2:54:25
The fatalities we think we've seen improvement on.
2:54:29
Right?
2:54:29
We know that.
2:54:31
In part because of the SST program, in part because of local L1 49 and and reducing the number of jobs construction superintendents from 10 to 5 and eventually
Gale A. Brewer
2:54:41
And more site safety people.
Jimmy Oddo
2:54:43
Yeah.
2:54:45
What's troubling us today is the number of injuries is going up, which particularly troubling for a while it was the number of falls of ladders of 3 to 4 feet, which Beyond particularly troubling is that when we go out and inspect, we don't see a trip hazard.
2:55:10
It's now also shifted from from falls to trip hazards.
2:55:16
And if you look at the number of injuries we have historically, and you look at the sort of delta today and you identify the universe as we have of injuries where we've gone out and found no condition, that number is the delta.
2:55:37
Right?
2:55:37
So if I could say that maybe a little more precisely, The number of injuries that we think are curious is the reason why injuries are going up.
2:55:46
So we are looking into that because It seems a little bit more than coincidence.
2:55:53
To to answer your question specifically, Council member, we have a 134 positions allocated to construction safety.
2:56:05
We have 2 units that now report to the same assistant commissioner, I don't know, Commissioner Arias is here.
2:56:13
He's probably signing autographs in the back somewhere.
2:56:16
He's doing a he's doing a great job, and he will tell you he's doing a great He he has construction safety compliance that does inspections and safety enforcement.
2:56:29
That do inspections.
2:56:30
They will go out and do unannounced inspections.
2:56:33
I've actually gone on one with him and watched the team Go to the site, unannounced, pull the logbooks, go floor by floor, check SST cards.
2:56:45
I referenced the SSC cars because last week's press conference press conference that I participated in with DA Bragg and the DOI commission was really important.
2:56:56
We have now 380,000 SST cards out there.
2:57:03
That means that we have trained 100 of 1000 of workers and Hopefully, have made it more likely that they return home.
Gale A. Brewer
2:57:14
Okay.
Jimmy Oddo
2:57:15
So when one of your partners in that endeavor breaks that fidelity it's really problematic.
2:57:21
And so, yes, last week we announced Valor that has issued around 17,000 cards The DA announced an indictment.
2:57:32
We need to continue to be vigilant not only of the inspections, But of the audits of those providers where we go to into the field, and we go into the classroom.
2:57:49
The DOI commissioner has recommended that our role go beyond and include the instructors.
2:57:56
And that's gonna take legislation and also madam chair.
2:57:59
It's going to take a significant amount of resources because we're talking about building out an entire new unit.
2:58:06
So wow.
2:58:08
Yeah.
2:58:09
So we we and and the SST card, if I can say one last thing, accounts remember.
2:58:16
And scale is fine.
2:58:18
Yeah.
2:58:19
The SST card needs to have an integrity because we can do so many things with it.
2:58:25
And we can build off of it.
2:58:28
Deputy Commissioner Sirakis has an idea about specific types of training that we that we could then check on our SSD cards above and beyond fall training.
2:58:38
It's got to have a foundation that has integrity so we can build out of the safety requirements on it.
2:58:45
And it's troubling when you see 17,000 theoretically 17,000 workers who may not I don't know how many did, how many didn't receive the training that we all want them to have.