Developers naturally choose general contractors who will do the job fast, so tenants can move in and start paying those nine-figure costs. The safety officer is paid by the contractor. His principle job is not preventing deaths. It's first of all, preventing safety procedures from costing money and delaying the project. And second, making sure that deaths are blamed on workers' negligence not on his employers.
Safety comes third.
Meanwhile, though, every year, a bad system is made worse by falling labor standards, weak unions, crooked safety inspectors, hostile media and indifferent public officials. Not the Mayor. He's concerned with compensating store owners who've lost business as a result of the crash. And the New York Post' is worried aboutthirsty kittens left in a sealed off building. New York Hard Hat News is an independent, pro-union newspaper written for construction workers in the New York metropolitan area.