Commissioner Tagani on construction safety statistics and tenant protection

As we work to make development faster, more sustainable and efficient, safety remains DOB's top priority.

The department is proud to help lead the Mayor's Committee on Construction Safety alongside the Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning and the Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice.

The committee will examine the causes of construction-related injuries and fatalities and recommend changes to local laws, agency resources, enforcement practices, and contractor standards to help prevent future accidents.

DOB's shift to a proactive enforcement model is also helping keep New Yorkers safe.

Between fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2025, construction-related injuries fell by 42%, from 625 to 363.

This process would not have been possible without the tireless work of more than 100 employees in our construction safety division.

However, more work remains.

Every injury that happens, we should seek to try to prevent.

From January through the end of August 2026, there were 232 construction-related injuries and four fatalities.

No injury or fatality at a jab site is acceptable, and DOB remains focused on prevention.

Indeed, DOB-approved course providers have issued approximately 465,000 active site safety training cards, which includes supervisory site training

of different types, which equals around 18 million hours of training.

DOB will continue to enforce requirements and work directly with the construction industry to improve safety.

DOB is also dedicated to protecting tenants across the five boroughs.

In addition to our complaint-based and proactive enforcement work, in 2025, our Office of the Tenant Advocate received 1,579 public inquiries,

conducted 487 inspections, and made 829 referrals to other sister and state agencies.

Additionally, DOB was grateful to participate in the mayor's rental ripoff hearings to hear directly from tenants about the issues they are facing in their homes.

We are working to address the issues we heard during those hearings, including those regarding prolonged or persistent elevator outages, and look forward to working with the council to implement the proposals that require legislative action.

Finally, we are collaborating closely with our partners in HPD, MOPD, and the law department through Fix the City to focus on bad actors who have not come into commission.

compliance with our enforcement actions and look forward to working on that with you all as well.

In closing, the Department of Buildings is committed to doing everything within our authority to help address New York City's housing needs while maintaining the highest safety, the highest standard of safety, sustainability, and accountability.

From modernizing our process and technology to strengthening coordination with our sister agencies to improving outreach, DOB is focused on building a system that works.

We are fortunate to have incredible partners in Commissioner Levy and Executive Director Weaver at HPD and MLPT, respectively.

We appreciate the Council's partnership and look forward to continuing to work together.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Okay.