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New York City Council
Oversight – The Administration's Approach to Construction Safety
Read summaries and jump into the video at the segment start.
Council staff calls the hearing to order, asks attendees to silence electronic devices, and instructs anyone wishing to testify to fill out an appearance card with the Sergeant at Arms before handing the floor to the Chair.
Council Member Pierina Ana Sanchez convenes the Committee on Housing and Buildings hearing on the administration's approach to construction safety and welcomes the public and the administration, acknowledging Council Members Maloney and Riley.
Sanchez notes New York City has more than 1 million buildings and 40,000 active construction sites, with the Department of Buildings as the chief enforcement agency responsible for keeping tenants, small businesses, and workers safe during construction and renovation.
Sanchez says the city has some of the most rigorous and current construction standards, dating to 2022, but argues those standards only protect the public when the enforcement agency is properly staffed, resourced, and able to ensure developers, contractors, and professionals follow the rules.
Sanchez cites the Mayor's Management Report showing a 45% decrease in serious or fatal construction injuries, from 557 to 308, but notes falls remain the leading cause and that deaths consistently hover around eight per year, with data trends zigzagging since 2022.
Sanchez describes the buckling of two load-bearing columns on the 21st floor of the former Pfizer headquarters in Midtown, questions whether corners were cut, and notes DOB's swift response and subsequent citywide enforcement blitz whose results she wants discussed.
Sanchez says the committee will receive an implementation update on Local Law 79 of 2024 creating proactive DOB enforcement, and points to a Brooklyn DA indictment of Redcoat Inc. for selling fraudulent site safety training cards to untrained workers.
Sanchez repeats her long-standing concerns about DOB staffing, noting the prior administration eliminated roughly a quarter of the budgeted workforce including inspection and safety positions, and that the enforcement division still saw a reduction of 16 positions including seven inspectorial titles.
Sanchez thanks her district team, including Deputy Chiefs of Staff Ben Ratner and Kim Castellanos, and the Housing and Buildings Committee staff including Senior Legislative Counsel Austin Malone, Billy Eck, Jose Conde, Derek Spencer, Mohamed Shadid, and others.
Council staff asks Commissioner Ahmed Tigani to raise his right hand and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; Tigani affirms and is instructed to begin his testimony.
Commissioner Ahmed Tigani introduces First Deputy Commissioner Igal Shamash and Deputy Commissioner Guillermo Patino, and describes approximately 1,700 DOB employees overseeing nearly 1.1 million buildings and 40,000 active construction sites, emphasizing the full cycle of inspectors, administrative staff, and attorneys.
Tigani lays out his testimony topics and details Chapter 33 of the Building Code, which sets core construction and demolition safety requirements including site safety plans, crane rules, controlled demolition, and requirements for licensed construction superintendents on new buildings, full demolitions, and large alterations.
Tigani explains that under Local Law 149 of 2021 DOB has restricted how many job sites a construction superintendent may oversee and will begin enforcing a strict one-job limit with mandatory on-site presence starting early next year.
Tigani says DOB uses service notices, construction advisories, building bulletins, the My Building newsletter, social media, quarterly industry meetings, and borough office meetings to keep the industry, building owners, and the public informed of regulatory changes and emerging safety issues.
Tigani announces DOB is convening the Mayor's Committee on Construction Safety, a housing plan recommendation, with invitations sent this week and a first meeting expected in November, to examine root causes of injuries, evaluate enforcement tools, and address accountability gaps and extreme weather safety.
Tigani describes the Affordable and Efficient Construction Reform (ACER) Task Force as part of the block-by-block housing plan, working with industry and agency partners to identify code and operational changes that speed construction and lower costs without compromising safety.
Tigani reports construction injuries fell from 692 in 2023 to 482 in 2024 and 320 in 2025, with 266 so far in 2026, while fatalities were seven in 2023, ten in 2025, and four so far in 2026, stressing that no injury or fatality is acceptable and that training correlates with the decline.
Tigani says worker falls are the leading cause of injuries and fatalities and are a focus of the SST curriculum, and notes Local Law 10 of 2026 added a mental health module addressing suicide prevention, substance misuse, and workplace stress, shifting the city beyond hard-hat hazards.
Tigani reports over 396,000 active SST cards, nearly 74,000 supervisor cards, and about 114,000 worker wallet cards, then describes DOB's coordination with DOI and the Brooklyn DA on the Red Code indictment, revoking its provider status and moving to invalidate 2,000 cards, with SBS offering free replacement training.
Tigani describes how DOB receives complaints via 311, referrals from HPD, FDNY, and OEM, or industry notifications, dispatching inspectors and taking actions such as oath summonses, stop work orders, or vacate orders, including enhanced tools like criminal summonses, affirmative litigation, and disciplinary action against licensees.
Tigani describes a January 2026 uncontrolled wall collapse on Walton Avenue in the Bronx where a contractor ignored a full stop work order, demolished out of sequence, and illegally used an excavator; DOB suspended the contractor's registration and issued violations, and he asks the Council to help expand enforcement tools.
Tigani says Local Law 79 of 2024 shifted DOB to more proactive enforcement using predictive analytics, with proactive inspections rising from 28% in 2024 to 31% in 2025 and 33% in 2026, run by a 59-person team whose work increases downstream workload for attorneys and clerical staff.
Tigani outlines technology efforts including DOB Now enhancements, drone inspections, and the Buildings Tech Lab, noting 609 active inspectors with an 8% vacancy rate, and plans to engage Ptolemy for predictive analytics on violation-prone actors and GRIPS for a unified enforcement data dashboard.
Sanchez thanks Tigani and asks him to explain the difference between roughly 160,000 enforcement inspections and the 415,481 total inspections in FY2026 from the MMR; Shamash clarifies the total includes development inspections for job closeouts and plumbing and electrical sign-offs.
Sanchez asks how many of DOB's 1,700 employees conduct the 160,000 enforcement inspections; Tigani says 430 inspectors handle construction inspections within an overall inspection universe of 609, and notes development inspections also contribute to construction safety through sign-off checks.
Sanchez estimates roughly one to two inspections per inspector per day; Shamash corrects that the average varies between five and seven per day, accounting for vacation, court appearances for oath summonses, and training, and Tigani notes development versus construction inspections vary in duration.
Sanchez, representing a district of smaller buildings, asks how many inspections occur at small sites below the SST threshold versus larger sites; Tigani says he does not have those numbers but describes borough enforcement teams, real-time enforcement, and the Staying Vigilant program, while Shamash explains construction super requirements.
Sanchez asks about DOB's enforcement sweep after the former Pfizer headquarters partial collapse; Tigani says DOB inspected 180 construction sites associated with the work, issuing 71 ECB and OAT violations and 19 stop work orders, none reflecting imminent structural danger but prompting safer practices.
Sanchez asks how many office-to-residential conversions are under construction; Tigani reports 90 buildings permitted year-to-date in 2026 totaling about 11,207 dwelling units, nearly triple the prior year's 37 buildings and 4,814 units.
Sanchez asks whether DOB will add structural review requirements for conversions that add floors; Tigani says the investigation continues, DOB views the Pfizer issue as a construction site problem rather than a conversion problem, and outside engineers including Thornton Tomasetti will provide recommendations once the review concludes.
Sanchez asks how many violations and stop work orders resulted from the proactive inspection program; Tigani reports the Proactive Enforcement Initiative produced 19,847 inspections at 13,092 unique locations and 14,161 violations between January 2025 and 2026.
Shamash describes the fully proactive team that reviews drawings and inspects buildings adjacent to construction sites, finding a higher violation rate, and explains how findings feed the heightened enforcement team targeting owners and licensees, leading to criminal court and nuisance abatement cases with DOB attorneys and DA offices.
Council Member Susan Zhuang asks how DOB and DEP safety requirements are enforced, citing 2501 86th Street where a fraudulent asbestos report was filed and demolition proceeded; Tigani and Shamash say DEP identified false documents, issued a stop work order, and DOB followed suit until a new ACP-5 was issued.
Zhuang says the property is in a flood zone but the approved plan did not reflect it, allowing first-floor construction when the lowest residential floor should be elevated above the base flood elevation; Tigani says DOB is reviewing her recent letter with the plan team and floodplain manager and will respond this week.
Zhuang says a judge denied developer Sandu access to a community member's backyard, questioning how DOB can uphold the demolition permit; Tigani says DOB will look into the court case and that missing egress or pedestrian safety conditions would impede the project and require a new solution.
Zhuang asks why a developer with fraudulent reports and bribery history keeps obtaining permits after revocation; Tigani explains permits may be revoked for incorrect approvals or lapsed insurance and that as-of-right owners who come into compliance can have permits reinstated, and commits to investigate any issue she raises.
Zhuang hands additional paperwork discovered by the community to the Commissioner and notes another letter sent October 16th, expressing community fear that city-connected developers can obtain any permit and endanger the flood-zone neighborhood; Tigani says DOB holds city projects to the highest standards.
Council Member Rita Joseph raises a troubled project on Bedford Avenue in her district and asks whether DOB has the staff, infrastructure, and response timeline to handle safety complaints as the city builds block by block; Tigani cites 609 inspectors, faster hiring with OMB, and response times from three hours for priority A to about four days for priority D.
Joseph describes developers building in the middle of the night on Clarkson Avenue and asks who responds at 10 p.m.; Tigani says the Emergency Response Team covers nights and weekends and that after-hours permit violations are tracked and can lead to violations and partial or full stop work orders.
Joseph says developers treat fines as a slap on the wrist and asks how many criminal summonses DOB has issued and tried; Tigani says DOB is exploring more aggressive use of criminal summonses and nuisance abatements with the Law Department, and Shamash reports 71 criminal court summonses issued this year versus 36 in 2025.
Sanchez asks what the Mayor's Committee on Construction Safety will cover and who is invited; Tigani says invitations are out to labor, workers, worker rights organizations, industry experts, and city officials, with topics including enforcement tools, PPE, accountability gaps, emerging technology, and protecting workers in heat waves.
Sanchez asks whether DOB has fall fatality numbers pre- and post-SST implementation; Shamash reports worker-fall injuries fell from 251 in 2024 to 163 in 2025 and 110 so far in 2026, crediting training and a culture shift, and notes that safety does not mean slowing or raising the cost of work.
Sanchez asks whether workers fall into unobstructed holes or fail to wear harnesses; Tigani describes a wide range including trip hazards, unorganized sites, improper handling of equipment at heights, and poorly installed temporary stair landings, noting DOB partners with industry groups on tie-off rescue demonstrations and repetition.
Shamash notes worker injuries dropped from 759 in 2018 to 266 so far in 2026; Tigani says over 18 million training hours and over 530,000 active cards resulted from the SST program, and that this platform allowed DOB to quickly add mental health and suicide prevention awareness, with Shamash adding nearly 40 million card taps.
Sanchez asks for disaggregation of injuries and fatalities at smaller sites versus major buildings of 75 feet or seven stories, acknowledging she did not provide the question in advance; Shamash agrees to follow up, and Sanchez suggests the committee may consider lowering the SST threshold given the program's success at large sites.
Sanchez asks about the titles, roles, and union status of workers who died in falls; Tigani explains that injuries are self-reported to the agency by owners or competent professionals, making exact roles difficult to determine, but that a variety of trades are affected and that hazards are common across roles.
Sanchez asks how the Affordable and Efficient Code Reform Task Force relates to DOB's regular code revision cycle; Tigani explains the model code program runs every three-plus years with 14 committees and 400 volunteers, and that ACER is a parallel process bringing policy and housing experts together on topics like elevators and alternate materials.
Council Member Carl Wilson asks what emerging technologies DOB is considering, especially to shorten the time scaffolding stays up; Tigani describes the innovation board, the T2D2 drone facade inspection pilot with Thornton Tomasetti, and a 2024 report now driving FISP reforms and greater drone and photo imagery use.
Wilson asks how long clearance to remove scaffolding takes after repairs are submitted and whether prior shed legislation is working; Shamash says owner-design-professional sign-off is immediate for buildings six stories and under, FISP amended reports take two weeks, and Tigani reports about 1,200 sheds removed since January and a shift from one-year to 90-day permits.
Sanchez seeks to confirm the shed reduction from about 8,000 to 6,800, a roughly 15% drop over ten months, and notes that DOB's updates still do not tell her constituents when specific sheds will come down, offering to follow up on in-district scaffolding and public safety issues.
Sanchez asks how much construction occurs after hours and how many variances are requested and granted; Tigani says he will follow up with the numbers, notes there are about five specific reasons someone can apply for an after-hours variance, and points to the public map of approved after-hours variances.
Zhuang asks what punishment applies when contractors work without an after-hours variance, citing videos of work before 5 a.m. and after 9 p.m. at 2501 86th Street and workers without helmets; Tigani says DOB needs an inspector to witness and attest to violations and offers to coordinate scheduled inspections with her office to capture repeated off-hours activity.
Wilson asks whether DOB can address property access disputes that keep scaffolding up through arbitration or legislation; Tigani says such disputes are largely governed by state law Section 881 in civil court, and that DOB has clarified netting alternatives and will finalize a netting rule later this year, with arbitration questions remaining at the state level.
Sanchez asks what types of incidents caused the eight FY2026 fatalities and how many occurred at sites requiring a site safety manager or construction superintendent; Shamash says five were falls, one was excavation soil work, one was burn inhalation, and one was struck-by, and that only two of the eight sites required a construction super.
Sanchez asks for clarification of the excavation and soil-related fatality; Shamash explains it typically occurs early in a project when digging for a basement or installing a foundation, related to support of excavation or underpinning work.
Sanchez says six of the eight FY2026 fatality sites did not require a construction super and asks how many had open DOB violations or prior stop work orders; Shamash identifies 174 Jefferson Street and 3728 Crescent Street as the two requiring a super and notes one fatality since July 1, 2026 at 1748 Tudor Road, while Tigani says none had prior stop work orders and violation data will follow.
Sanchez asks how many sites the citywide fall protection campaign inspected and how many violations and stop work orders resulted; Tigani says inspectors found hazardous conditions endangering workers at 50 locations, resulting in stop work orders, using the department's dedicated sweep team.
Sanchez asks how many sweeps the campaign conducted in total; Tigani says DOB spent the month of December going through all five boroughs to check code compliance and engage workers, and Shamash adds that DOB also handed out flyers and spoke with workers and general contractors as part inspection and part education.
Sanchez notes the "other" incident category accounted for 102 of 320 injuries and three of ten fatalities in 2025 and asks what it includes; Shamash says it covers burns, hazardous fumes, electrocutions, and struck-by incidents, among many others, and is a category DOB constantly examines.
Sanchez asks whether DOB plans to break the large "other" category into subcategories; Shamash says that as DOB shifts to DOB Now Inspections Plus in phased rollout through this year and next, the department will do exactly that.
Sanchez asks what criteria DOB uses to classify sites as union or non-union, who reports it, and whether DOB verifies; Tigani says reporting is self-identification without third-party verification under Local Law 78 of 2017, and that the former Pfizer headquarters was an open or mixed shop with both union and non-union trades.
Sanchez asks what enforcement followed the July 2026 stop work order at 222 Broadway after cracked beams were repaired without notice; Shamash says DOB issued numerous violations including failure to notify to the site safety manager, construction super, general contractor, and special inspection agency, plus a commissioner's order for monitoring, weekly reports, and peer review, and Tigani says the stop work order was later lifted.
Sanchez asks whether DOB returns to confirm corrective work after a stop work order; Tigani explains owners must submit means-and-methods analysis and a corrective action plan that DOB reviews before lifting the order, and Shamash adds the department does not blindly accept remediation plans and re-inspects immediately hazardous violations through its hazardous re-inspection program.
Sanchez asks how DOB enforces SST card requirements following the Red Code indictment; Tigani says compliance and risk assessment oversees 126 registered course providers, conducted 154 audits in FY2026 resulting in 17 denials, and Red Code was among those denied, with cases referred to DAs and DOI through audits and community tips.
Sanchez asks whether inspectors check each worker for an SST card on job sites; Tigani describes card taps and on-site worker conversations, and Shamash details how investigators audit course providers by sitting in on classes and checking attendance, and confirm card compliance with construction supers and spot checks using QR codes.
Sanchez asks what happens to the money Red Code took from workers who paid for fraudulent cards; Tigani says the Manhattan DA may pursue restitution while DOB and Small Business Services run a 90-day free remediation training program, noting many affected workers are Bengali speakers and DOB is doing outreach through Bengali media.
Sanchez asks whether SST courses are available in multiple languages and whether they are generally free; Tigani says many providers offer multiple languages and DOB seeks more, and that while some courses are paid, SBS has long provided free programs often in partnership with worker rights and immigrant-serving organizations.
Sanchez asks how and when DOB checks site safety logs and whether they are submitted; Tigani says site safety logs are checked at every inspection, whether routine, unannounced, or incident-related, and that 32,472 sites got a log review in FY2026, resulting in 260 oath summonses for missing, incomplete, or falsified logs.
Sanchez asks how DOB determines logs are falsified; Shamash says inspectors review not just the current day's log but the history to spot discrepancies, cross-check the average number of workers on site against the logs, and perform SST spot checks, noting construction safety inspections are thorough rather than quick.
Sanchez asks whether site safety logs are marble notebooks or electronic; Tigani cites a 2024 building bulletin allowing digital formats and says many sites have moved to digital, and Shamash explains digital records speed reviews and require on-site tablets for inspectors to check worker names and site safety plans.
Sanchez describes the 2018 injury at 578 Cozine Avenue where an oath hearing officer dismissed DOB summonses for lack of jurisdiction because DEP had authority, and asks how common such jurisdictional changes are; Shamash explains the DEP-DOB abatement workflow and joint worker safety plan review, and Tigani notes OSHA's ongoing federal oversight role.
Sanchez asks whether DOB meets monthly with OSHA and NYCOSH; Tigani says OSHA meetings are monthly but NYCOSH is not met with monthly though there is a line of communication, and Shamash describes monthly OSHA meetings covering incidents, joint investigations, and how OSHA relies on DOB's fatality investigative reports.
Sanchez asks how DOB oversees small sites below the site safety manager threshold; Tigani says trained competent individuals are still required, same rules and enforcement apply, and proactive enforcement builds a hotspot database, while Shamash notes construction super requirements extend to all new buildings and major alterations and the new one-job-site limit takes effect at year's end.
Sanchez asks who is licensed by DCWP; Tigani clarifies that contractors on one-to-three-family home improvements are licensed through DCWP's consumer worker protection division, adding another layer of licensing oversight at that level.
Sanchez asks how much work is done by unlicensed contractors, electricians, and plumbers and how often DOB finds such sites; Tigani notes DOB licenses about 28,000 licensees across roughly 31 license types, publishes special inspection investigation data online, and describes three registration buckets, with Shamash promising specific numbers later.
Sanchez thanks Commissioner Tigani, Deputy Commissioners Shamash and Patino, the assistant commissioner, and everyone in the audience for their preparation and the discussion, and announces a brief break before opening the hearing to public testimony.
Sanchez announces the committee will take a quick five-minute break before opening the floor to members of the public who wish to testify.
During the break, Zhuang asks which agency handles a district project where a contractor took $4 million, left the building half finished, and the owner is affected; Tigani says it is likely DCWP and offers to email Commissioner Levine on her behalf.
Sanchez opens the hearing to public testimony, reminding attendees to observe decorum, that the witness table is reserved for testifiers, that no video or photography is allowed from the table, that speakers get two minutes, and that written testimony can be submitted to the Sergeant at Arms or by email within 72 hours.
Samuel Ludo, Director of Member Relations for the Building Trades Employers Association representing 1,200 union contractors, praises Local Law 196 but flags operational problems with SST card checks, urging the Council to allow employers to verify cards by ID in advance and to define site-control due diligence; he also raises PVC pipe code discussions and a coming construction superintendent shortage.
Sanchez welcomes ideas on expanding the construction superintendent pipeline and, on the record, says she will not cut off public discussion of plastic pipes, asking people to stop calling her office to shut down a conversation she is not convening and that should proceed so the best policies emerge; Ludo clarifies his association did not organize those calls.
Alex Lee, a resident of 86th Street, testifies about developer Sandu Group's project at 2501 86th Street, describing safety violations, an asbestos inspection claiming the site was asbestos-free, demolition starting in March 2026 before asbestos was found, a stop work order, and a judge voiding a permit over safety, urging DOB and DEP to protect residents.
Rochelle Thompson, a 41-year rent-stabilized tenant in Harlem, urges the Council to protect seniors from predatory landlords, calling for guaranteed legal representation, automatic lease and income recertification renewals, and authority for HPD to enter buildings and fix tampered mixing valves; Sanchez cuts her off when she turns to a judge's ruling as off topic.
Remote testifier Kyle Ems asks Sanchez to look into Resolution 519, a $359 million Article 11 tax exemption he calls the largest ever for affordable housing preservation, questioning the cost and its spread across 20 miles and seven council districts; Sanchez says it is on the committee's radar and refers him to Land Use and Finance.
Sanchez asks anyone who registered but was not called to raise their hand on Zoom or speak with the Sergeant at Arms, sees no one further, thanks the administration and the public, and adjourns the hearing.