Sanchez asks for fall fatality data before and after SST program
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.
And just a...
Sort of a side thread, you started talking a bit about falls, which are the leading cause of construction-related injuries and fatalities.
And, you know, sort of, you know, the fact that construction-related fatalities hover around the same number year after year.
It's 8, 9, 10, 8, 9, 10.
And as you said, even one is too many.
So in addition, my first question is, does DOB, do you have the numbers for the number of fall deaths, construction falls?
I'm sorry, construction fatalities in general prior to the SST program implementation and post, and then specifically with respect to falls, has there been a difference?
Has there been, you know, have fewer of these fatalities happened after the implementation of SSTs where you say that there is content about preventing falls?
The SSD program obviously took a little while to implement, designing courses, registering the course providers.
But specifically with regards to your question related to worker falls for calendar year 2024,
Very specifically, we had 251 construction-related incidents related to injuries, specifically related to worker falls.
And then in 2025, that number decreased.
To 163 and then this year calendar year again to date we are at 110
so that is yielding results and as the commissioner said in his testimony
It's not just the specific training, and the commissioner mentioned a word just now, culture.
And that's something that all the outreach, all the training, all the work that we've done with our proactive inspections, we talk about all the time.
And construction safety is exactly that.
It's changing the culture.
on the job sites.
And the commissioner mentioned that as part of the task force that we're looking to put together.
When we meet with owners, when we meet with construction general contractors, that's exactly what we talk about is changing the culture on site and making safety the priority for those job sites.
And safety doesn't mean you're slowing down work.
Safety doesn't mean
that it's more expensive.
Safety just means that you're being thoughtful with the work on the construction site.
If you think about the different partnerships that are in this, so very recently it was
the Scaffold and Access Industry Association, which is the national association for the New York City Special Riggers Association, and Long Island City, the demonstration project of different tie-off rescue scenarios,
basically more efficient ways to execute on those actions.
And one of the things hearing from them is,
repetition.
In addition to the conversation, but in the off times when you're not doing your work, doing the time to repeat these actions and make it muscle memory.
And so if you take that mindset and you look at it across
across the board, making sure that identifying spotting barriers near open holes, like everyone looking for themselves, looking at their partner's responsibilities, checking out for them,
That's the kind of network that yields better results at the end of the day.