Façade Safety Statistics - Buildings

FISP Statistics

BACKGROUND

In New York City, owners of buildings greater than 6 stories--currently almost 16,000 structures--must submit a Façade Inspection Safety Program (FISP) compliance report every five-years. General information on façades as well as detailed instructions on façade compliance filings are available on the DOB Façades webpage.

Inspections are conducted by private qualified registered design professionals hired by the building owner and are not DOB employees. The Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector (QEWI) inspects the building façade and assigns the following categories:

Safe (OK): No problems and in good condition

Safe With a Repair and Maintenance Program (SWARMP or SW): Problems/defects expected to become a threat to public safety within the next 5 years

Unsafe: Problems/defects threaten public safety currently

Façades designated as SWARMP require repairs within one to five years to prevent progression to an unsafe condition. The following categories of inspection were discontinued after Cycle 4 and are no longer used:

Ongoing Maintenance (OM)

Precautionary (PR)

DOB categorizes a property as No Report Filed (NR) if no report was submitted.

FAÇADE INSPECTION RESULTS

The graph above shows the distribution of façade report classifications per 5-year cycle. It also reflects a net increase in the number of buildings required to file at each cycle. While most reports are filed as safe or SWARMP, the percentage of those filed as unsafe tends to remain in the single digits, as does the percentage of eligible buildings that fail to file a FISP report. The current cycle will always show a large percentage of No Report Filed (NR) classifications. Totals for this category will not be comparable to previous cycles until the closing of the filing period.

WHERE ARE THE SAFE AND UNSAFE FAÇADES IN NYC?

Most buildings greater than six stories in height are in Manhattan and therefore most of the façade filings are in Manhattan.

Cycle 9 Facade Filings by Borough

The following map provides the location and other information on the filing status of each eligible façade for the current and previous cycles.

FAÇADE VIOLATIONS

Violations are issued to owners who are not in compliance. Some of the violations issued by the FISP unit include:

Failure to File a Façade Technical Report

Failure to File an Amended Façade Technical Report

Failure to Maintain Building Walls

Failure to Protect the Public

Facade Violations by Borough (Past 3 Years)