Q&A
DOB inspections, technology improvements, and site safety card fraud
3:08:14
·
6 min
Commissioner Oddo discusses the quality of DOB inspections, the implementation of new technology to improve efficiency, and addresses concerns about fraudulent site safety training cards. Council Member Sanchez expresses concern about the number of sham SST cards discovered.
- DOB is using new technology to automate inspector routes, improving efficiency
- An indictment revealed 20,000 fraudulent site safety training cards out of 380,000 total cards
- The number of valid card 'taps' at construction sites has increased from 2 million to 15 million, indicating improved compliance
Pierina Ana Sanchez
3:08:14
Do you think it might have anything to do with the load that the inspectors have.
3:08:18
If you you because you mentioned in your testimony that service levels have not been impacted by the reductions in the inspectors that we have, which is a good thing.
3:08:28
But what about the quality of the inspections?
3:08:30
Could there be no relationship here?
Jimmy Oddo
3:08:31
Yeah.
3:08:32
It's interesting.
3:08:33
Our violations have ticked down.
3:08:37
Right?
3:08:37
That's a data point.
3:08:38
Not gonna hide that.
3:08:40
But the quality of our violations has gone up.
3:08:44
Meaning, the ones that were upheld, the ratio of of those that were upheld to those that were dismissed, has improved.
3:08:52
So we're writing better violations.
3:08:57
You know, to on the enforcement side, and I think you had this conversation previously, the the inspectors are asked, to hit 6 to 10, 6 to 8 sites a day.
3:09:12
Depends on the complexity of the sites.
3:09:15
We have a I'll call it a pilot program.
3:09:18
It's embryonic.
3:09:19
I probably shouldn't talk about it.
3:09:21
But DLB now gives us a lot of data.
3:09:25
And I I think we're only skimming the surface, and it's something I wanna talk about before I leave here.
3:09:31
It's probably the most important thing I wanna share with you.
3:09:33
I was gonna lead off with it right after my testimony, but I was afraid somebody might have thrown something at me from behind.
3:09:41
But the data point I was talking about before I made my joke.
3:09:52
DOB now data points.
3:09:53
Oh, I'm sorry.
3:09:54
Yes.
3:09:54
The DOB data points was that we are with 3 enforcement units.
3:10:02
I love middle aged, but boy, sometimes it reveals itself.
3:10:06
In 3 enforcement units, using the ability that DOB now gives us in conjunction with another piece of technology.
3:10:15
To instead of having a supervisor map out the root inspectors take.
3:10:23
Do it in an automated fashion.
3:10:26
Now again, this is very embryonic.
3:10:29
It was a limited universe but we saw improvements, we saw in efficiencies.
3:10:34
And, oh, by the way, it also frees up supervisors to do additional work.
3:10:39
This is my point about technology, has to be our answer to being a better agency in many different ways.
Pierina Ana Sanchez
3:10:49
Thank you.
3:10:50
That that is exciting, and I look forward to hearing more about it.
3:10:53
You are creating your own AI.
3:10:55
I don't know if it's AI, but yeah.
3:10:58
Okay.
3:10:58
One more clarifying question.
3:11:00
And so you mentioned that after the was it a rest?
3:11:05
The indictment last week of voter security.
3:11:09
You mentioned that the Department of Investigation said you shouldn't include instructors what did you mean by that?
3:11:14
Yeah.
Jimmy Oddo
3:11:15
So so the agency, the reviews that we do are on the course providers themselves.
3:11:21
I think they're a 100 and 55, and, like, 150 course providers.
3:11:28
Those providers hire instructors.
3:11:30
It was some of those instructors who turned out to be complicit in in what the DA DOI and our agency uncovered.
3:11:41
And commissioned Straubers' suggestions and they're valid or that we need to get our arms around the universe of instructors.
3:11:50
We publicly said at the press conference that we agree with that But the fact is that that comes with a price tag, and we already have some really important safety needs and asks that we're pursuing.
Pierina Ana Sanchez
3:12:08
Thank you.
3:12:09
It is troubling.
3:12:10
I mean, I commend the the agent and and the DA for reaching this indictment, but 20,000 sham SST cards out of the universe of 380,000 is is 5%.
3:12:20
So it's it's low, but it's it's not that low.
3:12:23
It's pretty significant.
Adolfo Carrión Jr.
3:12:25
No.
Jimmy Oddo
3:12:25
It's it's troubling.
3:12:27
And just just in in complete transparency, So we did an audit of valor in April of 2022 or in 2022 and then an audit again in 20 April 2023, and we didn't like what we saw.
3:12:46
Right after that is when our colleagues in law enforcement said, stand down and there was a bigger initiative underway.
3:12:55
So we suspended our process We reinstitute that process, and our rules are that Vala has an opportunity to sort of answer out.
3:13:05
But when they answer out, if it's not to our satisfaction, that's when we will make the decision possibly to invalidate those cards.
3:13:16
And that happens by a press of the button.
3:13:20
And if I can make one other point because as troubling as this is, there's a really important data point that shows how important the work that the council and the administration did on this.
3:13:33
And that is not so long ago, there were 2,000,000 taps, a total of 2,000,000 taps.
3:13:40
So a person with a valid card comes on-site and taps a phone that has software, and that software determines if that card is valid.
3:13:51
That person has gone through the training.
3:13:54
We've gone from a little more than a year ago to 2000000 to 15,000,000 tabs.
3:14:01
That means that people are using the cards, using valid cards, and doing it the right way.
3:14:07
There are some sites that have incorporated gates at the at the entrance so that you can't get into the construction site without a valid SST card.
3:14:18
That's So so there is hope, but we have to be really vigilant.
Pierina Ana Sanchez
3:14:25
Thank you.
3:14:25
Thank you so much commissioner.
3:14:26
I'm gonna turn it over to council member wrestler.