According to a new report by the New York State Comptroller’s Office, 89% of the visited active construction sites across New York City had safety issues, highlighting the need for the improvement of the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) oversight of construction sites.

Between June 10, 2021 and August 31, 2021, officials from the New York State Comptroller visited 43 construction sites in all five boroughs of New York City. Eighteen of these sites were actively under construction at the time of the visits, and 16 of the 18 sites had a total of 77 safety issues. They included not having a site safety manager; missing or incomplete site safety logs and daily inspection records; and no documentation of workers completing required site safety training or attending mandatory safety meetings.

Additionally, the report found that DOB did not issue violations for those failing to rectify issues for 60% of cases where hazardous conditions were present for more than 30 days. The Comptroller’s Office also notes that DOB has fallen short in effectively identifying incidents and reporting injuries or fatalities at building construction sites. Between January 2018 and May 2021, three fatalities and six injuries were not reported by DOB. This is on top of the 2,003 building construction-related incidents that also occurred during this period, in which there were 36 fatalities and 2,066 injuries. 

To improve DOB oversight, the report suggests the creation of policies and procedures that issue DOB violations for hazardous conditions in a timely manner. It also recommends the use of DOB inspection, violation, accident, and public data to identify high-risk contracts and sites. Finally, the Comptroller’s Office advises DOB to develop procedures, including coordinating with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and other agencies, to better identify construction site incidents.