Construction Archive

12/29/10 - NYC Department of Building News

 

10/21/10 - NYC Department of Building News


8/26/10 - NYC Department of Building News

7/8/10 - NYC Department of Building News

12/30/09 - NY Department of Buildings News

11/20/09 - NY Department of Buildings News


11/20/09 - City Building Agency May Farm Out Tests (NY Times)

After deficiencies were exposed last year, the agency is looking to private firms to run construction license exams.

11/5/09 - NY Department of Buildings News


10/21/09 - NYC Department of Buildings News


10/20/09 - OSHA's new letter of interpretation requires that construction workers wear high-visibility warning garments

OSHA is issuing a new letter stating that all highway and road construction workers must wear high-visibility apparel regardless of whether the MUTCD requires them.

10/2/09 - NYC Department of Buildings News

10/1/09 - OSHA revises enforcement policies for fall protection during steel erection

OSHA revised the steel erection compliance directive for the agency's Steel Erection Standard to change two enforcement policies related to tripping hazards and installation of nets or floors during steel erection.

9/17/09 - NYC Department of Buildings News

9/16/09 - OSHA document describes silica control

The document recently published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration addresses the control of worker exposure to dust containing crystalline silica, known to cause the lung disease silicosis.

8/21/09 - NYC Department of Building News

7/23/09 - NYC Depatment of Building News

7/9/09 - NYC Department of Building News

6/25/09 - NYC Department of Building News

6/12/09 - NYC Department of Building News

6/12/09 - New York and Other Cities to Share Data on Tall Tower Cranes (NY Times)

The Department of Buildings will share information about tower cranes with Chicago and Philadelphia in an effort to track equipment failures, manufacturers’ recalls, accidents and industry trends, officials said on Thursday.

5/26/07 - NYC Department of Building News

5/11/09 - NYC Department of Building News

4/10/09 - NYC Department of Building News

4/8/09 - NYC Department of Buildings Construction Safety Week Schedule of Events

 

3/26/09 - NYC Department of Buildings News

3/18/09 - ASSE: Consensus Standards Should Be Referenced in Cranes and Derricks Rule (EHS Today)

The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) expressed a variety of concerns focused on the failure to reference widely accepted national voluntary consensus standards addressing crane safety in the proposed updated federal Cranes and Derricks in Construction Rule in testimony by ASSE professional member Matt Burkart at a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) public hearing.

3/13/09 - NYC Department of Buildings News


3/12/09 - Engineering Report on 51st Street Crane Collapse Blames the Rigging (NY Times)

The Buildings Department released a report on Wednesday confirming findings of an earlier criminal inquiry that last year’s fatal crane collapse on East 51st Street was caused by the improper use of polyester slings to raise a large crane component.

3/6/09 - New Standard Project to Protect Workers in Wind Generation Construction Operations (EHS Today)

The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) recently announced a new A10 Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) standard project to protect the safety and health of workers involved in construction and demolition operations for wind generation/turbine facilities.

3/3/09 - Eighth Circuit Overrules Review Commission in OSHA/Summit Multi-Employer Case (EHS Today)

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, ruled that in the case of Elaine Chao v. Summit Contractors, OSHA regulation 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1910.12(a) “is unambiguous in that it does not preclude OSHA from issuing citations to employers for violations when their own employees are not exposed to any hazards related to the violations.”

2/27/09 - NYC Department of Buildings News, 2/27/09


2/26/09 - Union Crane-Safety Teacher Admitted to Oversight Lapses (NY Times)

An official admitted that he helped unqualified people win union membership and licenses to operate cranes in New York City.

2/12/09 - NYC Department of Building News, 2/11/09

2/4/09 - City to Overhaul ‘High-Risk Construction’ Rules (NY Times Blog)

At the annual Build Safe New York conference, Mr. LiMandri announced a 41-point plan to overhaul how “high-risk construction” is regulated and carried out in New York City.

2/2/09 - NY Daily News Editorial: Turning OSHA's 10-hour construction safety training into a 2-hour joke puts lives at risk.

Related Articles: 2009-02-01, Corners cut and beers downed at Fed-run OSHA classes, This course is almost as easy as falling off a bar stool

1/30/09 - NYC Department of Buildings News, 1/30/09

1/29/09 - OSHA announces informal public hearing on proposed cranes and derricks standards in construction

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will hold an informal public hearing on the proposed cranes and derricks in construction standard published in the Oct. 9, 2008, edition of the Federal Register (73 FR 59713).

1/21/09 - NYC Department of Buildings News, 1/20/09

1/8/09 - New partnership to enhance worksite safety and health during construction of Shangri-La New York in Midtown Manhattan

A new site safety partnership among government, employers, labor and the building trades is designed to minimize hazardous conditions and enhance safety and health for 40 contractors and more than 350 employees working on the Shangri-La New York project in midtown Manhattan.

1/5/09 - Manslaughter Charges Expected in Crane Collapse (NY Times)

Manhattan prosecutors are expected to announce manslaughter charges on Monday against the rigger who was overseeing the raising of a tower crane on the East Side last year when it collapsed, killing seven, according to people briefed on the case

12/22/08 - City Escapes Charges in Deutsche Bank Fire, but Not Blame (NY Times)

district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, described an avalanche of failures by the city, contractors and other government agencies as he unveiled manslaughter and other charges against three construction supervisors and a subcontractor in the deaths.

12/10/08 - Prosecutors Narrow Focus in Fatal Fire at Bank Site (NY Times)

After recent negotiations and a complex investigation that lasted more than a year, prosecutors scrutinizing last year’s fatal fire at the Deutsche Bank building in Lower Manhattan have narrowed their focus to the possible criminal liability of handful of construction supervisors and the companies they worked for.

12/2/08 - OSHA extends comment period for proposed rule on cranes and derricks

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced today that it will extend the public comment period for 45 days on the agency’s Cranes and Derricks Proposed Rule.

12/1/08 - NYC Administrative Code ammendment requiring OSHA 10 Hour training as part of site safety plan

All workers must have successfully completed an OSHA 10 Hour course within the previous five calendar years. Legislation was signed into law by the Mayor on 9/3/08 and was to be effective 90 days later. We have been advised that the effective date has been delayed.

11/19/08 - Proposed Guidelines to Control Pollution from Construction Sites

EPA is seeking comments on its proposed guidelines to control the discharge of pollutants from construction sites.

10/19/08 - U.S. Labor Department's OSHA asks 151 VPP partners in New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico to 'Stand Down for Crane Safety'

The New York Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is asking the 151 worksites in its jurisdiction participating in OSHA's Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) to conduct voluntary inspections of any crane activity occurring at their worksites during this week.

10/10/08 - U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA launches national initiative on cranes and derricks to promote safe construction crane operations

To coincide with the proposed rule on Cranes and Derricks in Construction, published in today's Federal Register, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has initiated a National Crane Safety Initiative to address safety hazards during construction crane operation.

10/7/08 - U.S. Labor Department's OSHA New York City construction safety task force finds falls, electrical, scaffold and rigging violations as top cited hazards

Fall hazards were the most frequently cited violation found at New York City construction sites by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) during a two-week enhanced enforcement effort this past summer.

9/19/08 - City Issues Controversial New Rules Regulating Cranes at Construction Sites (NY Times)

The Buildings Department notified concrete contractors at high-rise buildings this week of what its top crane regulator called “new requirements” for erecting, dismantling and raising tower cranes — rules that construction industry officials called onerous ones that would hamper building activity in New York

9/17/08 - Nora Construction News - September 2008

9/16/08 - OSHA Issues Violations in Collapse of Crane (NY Times)

The rigging company that was raising a tower crane in Midtown when it collapsed in March, killing seven people, neglected to inspect the nylon slings it used to hoist a massive steel crane component aloft and was thus unaware that one was damaged, federal regulators said Monday.

8/22/08 - The New Steel Erection Rule: Highlights

A PowerPoint presentation

8/2/08 - Long Overdue Crane Safety (NY Times Editorial)

7/25/08 - OSHA Dispatches Extra Inspectors to NYC to Investigate Construction Safety (Occupational Hazards Magazine)

For two weeks beginning July 23, OSHA will bring a dozen additional inspectors into New York City to conduct proactive inspections of high-rise construction sites, cranes and other locations to combat the rise in the city’s construction fatalities. Twenty employees have died in construction-related accidents in New York City since January.

7/17/08 - Bloomberg Offers Measures to Help Agencies Share Information on Building Sites (NY Times)

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced broad changes on Wednesday in how the city will regulate building sites and share information between agencies to improve the inspection process and avoid tragedies like last summer’s fire at the Deutsche Bank tower in Lower Manhattan

7/16/08 - Incompetence and Corruption Haunt Crane Work (NY Times)

The trial in federal court in 2006 was a union corruption case that in several days of testimony touched on a certain looseness in the way New York City had long handed out its licenses to operate cranes. One former official with the crane operators’ union told the court in Manhattan that he believed roughly a third of them could not operate a crane

5/29/08 - OSHA and Association of Water and Sewer Excavators join to reduce cave-in hazards in New York City

Reducing excavation and trenching hazards for employees who install and repair private water and sewer services in the five boroughs of New York City is the goal of a new alliance between the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Association of Water and Sewer Excavators (AWSE), a trade association representing water and sewer installers, plumbing suppliers and insurance companies in the New York City area.

5/21/08 - U.S. Labor Department’s OSHA construction safety course to be presented in White Plains, N.Y., on May 29 and 30 for New York construction industry

Beginning July 18, state law will require that all laborers, employees and mechanics working on New York state public works projects of $250,000 or more be certified as having successfully completed the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 10-hour construction safety and health course.

5/13/08 - U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA joins with New York City Department of Design and Construction to address construction hazards in all five boroughs

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) have formed an alliance to address construction hazards in the city's five boroughs.

4/26/08 - OSHA announces informal public hearing on proposed rule on Confined Spaces in Construction

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced in the April 21 Federal Register that it will hold an informal public hearing to receive testimony and documentary evidence on the proposed rule for Confined Spaces in Construction.

4/7/08 - OSHA supports National Work Zone Awareness Week

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will participate in the ninth annual National Work Zone Awareness Week, April 7-11 in Sacramento, Calif. The kickoff event will be held in the city on April 8.

2/25/08 - Fire Officials Tackle Challenges of High-Rise Blazes (NY Times)

Amid an expanding search across the nation for better ways to prevent or contain high-rise infernos, the Fire Department, federal fire experts and engineers from Polytechnic University in Brooklyn have taken over part of Governors Island, the 172-acre former Coast Guard installation off Lower Manhattan, for a week of pyrotechnics intended to test “alternative strategies and tactics for wind-driven events.”

2/20/08 -BUILDINGS COMMISSIONER PATRICIA LANCASTER LAUNCHES COMPREHENSIVE INITIATIVE TO IMPROVE SUPPORTED SCAFFOLD AND SIDEWALK SHED SAFETY

Buildings Commissioner Patricia J. Lancaster, FAIA, announced that beginning today the Buildings Department will undertake a 30-day citywide crackdown on unsafe supported scaffolds and sidewalk sheds - more than 1,500 of which will be inspected

2/4/08 - City Seeking Tougher Rules for High-Rise Construction (NY Times)

The city’s Buildings Department, moving to shore up safety on construction sites after a worker fell 42 stories to his death last month, proposed new regulations on Monday that would require general contractors and concrete operators to register with the city

1/25/08 - New York Times: Safety Nets in City’s Skies Protect Workers and Passers-by. But Not Always.

For developers, contractors and construction workers, an accident in SoHo has raised questions about whether the city’s requirement for safety netting goes far enough.

11/29/07 - Occupational Hazards Magazine: Most NYC Construction Deaths Occur on Non-Union Worksites

Of the 43 construction workers who died on the job in New York City in 2006, the majority worked on non-union sites, according to the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH).

11/28/07 - OSHA Issues Confined Spaces in Construction Proposed Rule

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today published in the r a proposed rule to enhance the protection provided to construction employees working in confined spaces.

9/27/2007 - Notice of Availability of the Regulatory Flexibility Act Review of the Occupational Safety Standard for Lead in Construction

Federal Register # 72:54826-54830. READ RELATED ARTICLE

9/12/07 - OSHA's role in protecting workers after the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center (WTC) on September 11, 2001

Statement of Patricia Clark, Regional Administrator, before House Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives