Habitat 101: New York City Site-Safety Requirements on Capital Projects
This browser does not support the video element.
Aug. 20, 2013 — Following a spate of crane collapses and other construction accidents that resulted in numerous fatalities at New York City work sites, the Department of Buildings has since required that exterior construction work on buildings 15 stories or taller must have a site safety manager full-time. A less expensive site safety coordinator is required at buildings nine to 14 stories tall, and an even less expensive construction superintendent is required for nine stories or less.
These certified inspectors are required to maintain site safety and permit logs, and perform inspections of such things as safety netting, sidewalk bridges and scaffold maintenance. Every project must also have a site safety plan approved by the Department of Buildings before work permits will be issued. The plans usually cost from $3,000 to $5,000.
Co-op and condo boards may be able to save money by submitting an appeal to the DOB to have the inspector's onsite presence reduced from eight hours to as little as two per day. Inspectors earn roughly $60 per hour if they work full-time, up to $90 per hour if they work two hours a day.
Customarily, the engineer or property manager will recommend a company that can help a building comply with the site-safety regulations. The condo or co-op board will then hire the company. Ancillary costs — permits, fees, site safety plans and inspectors, scaffolding, sidewalk bridges — can now equal, and in some cases surpass, the cost of actual construction work. As a result, it's advisable to do as much work at one time as possible.
For more, see our Site Map or join our Archive >>