Buildings News - April 2019

Buildings news

April 2019

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DOB Launches Enforcement Sweep of Construction Sites Across NYC Ahead of
Construction Safety Week

Construction Safety Week is
May 6-10. Throughout the week, Department staff will visit construction
sites in all five boroughs to promote safety by distributing
multi-lingual site-safety materials and information on Local Law 196
compliance in an effort to reemphasize site-safety regulations, and the
fact that no building is worth a life.

In April, three construction workers in New York City lost their lives
in separate work-related accidents. In response to these incidents, the
Department has deployed 90 inspectors throughout New York City to
perform safety sweeps of construction sites, and educate workers about
the importance of construction site safety. These construction
inspectors, including those from the Department's newly created
Construction Safety Compliance and Construction Safety Enforcement
units, the Cranes and Derricks Unit, the Scaffold Safety Unit, and the
Special Operations Unit, will promote construction site safety to
protect both workers and the public. While performing these sweeps, DOB inspectors will issue enforcement actions
if they observe safety violations, and shut down sites if they find
serious safety lapses. This effort will hold accountable anyone in the
construction industry who cuts corners at the expense of safety.
During this sweep, DOB will be inspecting an estimated 5,000
construction sites. Work sites that are found to be unsafe for workers
could face penalties of up to $25,000 for construction safety
violations.

Read more in our press release.

Reminder: Local Law 196 Site Safety Training

Every worker who arrives on a work site deserves to come home at night,
and DOB is reminding construction workers, demolition workers, and
supervisors to obtain site-safety training, as required by

Local Law 196 of 2017, in a timely fashion. Construction and
demolition workers on most construction sites are currently required to
have a 10-hour OSHA safety-training certification. And when the next
phase of the law goes into effect, workers will be required to have 30
hours of site-safety training, and supervisors will be required to have
62 hours of training.

Not only does site-safety training save lives, it is the law. The Local
Law 196 safety training requirements can be met either with
actively-proctored online training, or in-person training from DOB- and
OSHA-approved course providers.

More information about the Local Law 196 site-safety training
requirements
can be found on our website, and

in the recent Service Notice.

Ninth Annual No-Penalty Deck and Retaining Wall
Program

The ninth annual Department of Buildings No-Penalty Deck and Retaining
Wall Inspection Program was launched on April 22nd. This 45-day citywide initiative allows New
Yorkers to call 311 and request a free, no-penalty visual inspection of
their decks, porches, and retaining walls, giving homeowners the
opportunity to ensure that these structures are maintained in accordance
with the NYC Construction Codes. Following the inspection, the
Department will notify homeowners of the inspector's findings and
whether or not the conditions observed pose an immediate safety hazard
or warrant repairs. If immediate safety hazards are found, the
Department will withhold the issuance of violations for a limited time,
giving homeowners the opportunity to make corrective repairs.

New Yorkers can start calling 311 today to schedule a free, no-penalty
inspection anytime between May 1 and June 15, 2019. Factors including
weather and shifting soil can cause decks, porches, and retaining walls
to weaken, deteriorate, or lean over time, and it is important that
homeowners are diligent in making sure these structures are safe and
code compliant in order to prevent potential accidents.

Read more in our press release.

DOB LAA and Plumbing Units Present at 2019 License Renewal Course

DOB's Plumbing and LAA units represented the Department at the SUNY
Empire State Plumbing Foundation of New York Construction Trades License
Training Corp. 2019 License Renewal Course for Master Plumbers and
Master Fire Suppression Contractors. Deputy Director of LAA Audits and
Quality Assurance Ikwumma Daniels and Assistant Chief Inspector for
Plumbing Elias Katsihtis gave presentations, and other members of DOB's plumbing and LAA units were on hand to provide
advice and answer student questions during the event's Q and A session.

Guilty Plea Announced in 2015 Unsafe Façade Incident

On April 26th, the
Department announced that Esplanade Venture Partnership has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor
counts for criminal violations of the City's Administrative Code, for
failure to maintain the building façade (exterior wall) of 305 West End
Avenue, Manhattan. In 2015, pieces of the façade fell from the building
to the sidewalk below which resulted in the death of a two-year-old girl
and injury to her grandmother. DOB initially filed criminal charges
against Esplanade in Manhattan Criminal Court in 2016, for failing to
maintain their building, even after they were repeatedly warned of the
failing condition of the building's façade. As part of the guilty plea,
Esplanade was issued the highest fine allowed by law for the two
charges, i.e., $25,000 for each charge for a total of $50,000. In
addition, the managing agent of Espanlade Venture Partnership, Alexander
Scharf, who was also charged, has agreed to pay $5,000 in restitution to
the City.

See our press release for details.

Construction Worker Memorial

On Thursday, April 25th, DOB's Acting Commissioner Tom
Fariello and Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement Tim Hogan attended the
Construction Workers Memorial Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, memorializing construction workers killed or injured on worksites in New
York City.

Major
Disciplinary Cases

$100,000 in total penalties issued to
Western Specialty Contractors for several violations related to
inadequate site-safety measures and operation of a hoisting machine
without a permit at a construction site located at 149 East 125th
Street, Manhattan. In this incident, a mini crane being used to
install a glass curtain wall without proper tiebacks fell from the
four floor and injured a worker.

$12,500 in penalties issued to Harlorn
LLC, the owner of 849 Soundview Avenue, Bronx for failure to
maintain an exterior wall due to the partial collapse of the
building's parapet, which injured a member of the public.

$4,000 in penalties issued to Kreisel
Co. Inc., the owner of 111 East 85th Street, Manhattan for a zoning
violation due to a Privately Owned Public Space (POPS) that was
found to be improperly maintained per the discretionary zoning
agreement. The public plaza at the location was missing required
plantings or signage. In addition, metal spikes had been improperly
installed on areas meant for seating.

Following an investigation by the
Department, it was found that Professional Engineer and Qualified
Exterior Wall Inspector Charles Marino had filed a number of false
façade reports at six locations. The engineer agreed to a voluntary
three-year surrender of all filing privileges and a permanent
surrender of his privilege to file façade reports.

Registered Construction Superintendent
Marie Grasso was disciplined for using pre-signed construction logs
at a worksite, and for exhibiting a pattern of failing to maintain
proper logs as required by the Building Code. She agreed to pay a
$7,500 fine and two years of probation, effective March 22, 2019.

DOB publishes monthly bulletins detailing
the agency's efforts to sanction and deter bad actors in the
construction industry. You can find this information posted on the

Enforcement Action Bulletin page of our website.

Additional Disciplinary Actions & Voluntary Surrenders

Industry Code of Conduct for Construction Professionals

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Service Updates

Instructions to Remedy a Notice of Violation for Failure to File an
Elevator Inspection and Test Report are Available

Local Law 158 of 2017: Restriction on Professionally Certified Filings

Local Law 158 of 2017: Doubling of Civil Penalties for Multiple Work
Without a Permit Violations

2014 Construction Code Updates

Update pages are printable
inserts to keep your hard copy Construction Codes up to date.

All

update pages for the 2014 NYC Construction Codes.

Local Laws

Local Law 62 of 2019 (Int.
No. 862) A Local Law in to amend the administrative code of the city
of New York, in relation to allowing the Department of Buildings to
issue stop work orders along with notices to revoke work permits.

Local Law 59 of 2019 (Int.
No. 353-B) A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the City
of New York, in relation to the provision of e-mail notifications for
construction project status updates.

Hearings +
Rules

All Department Rules

Buildings
Bulletins

All Buildings Bulletins

Website
Updates

NYC Construction Codes Amendment Index

Resolving Violations/Summonses: OATH/ECB

Overview of DOB NOW Presentation

Licensing

Department Approved Course Providers

Department Approved SST Course Equivalent List

Registration Renewal: Class 1 Filing Representative

Did You Know?

DOB is partnering with NYC DEP
to provide New Yorkers with information about the ins and outs of
stormwater construction permits. NYC DEP will be hosting webinars every
Wednesday at 11am through June 5th.

Click here to register.

Thomas Fariello, R.A. Acting Commissioner

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