One year ago, on October 16, 2017, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stood at the podium advertising the slogan ‘SAFER NYC’ to announce the unanimous passage (42–0) of Local Law 196. The law, requiring increased site safety training for the City’s construction workers, amended the Administrative Code of the City of New York and the NYC Building Code.
The mayor praised the landmark bill to the crowd of legislators and construction workers surrounding him, saying: “For the hard-hats in one of our city’s most dangerous jobs, this bill will help get them home to their families at night and keep the general public safe around construction sites.”
NYCSRA Annual Technical Event with NYC DOB
Patrick Wehle, Assistant Commissioner, External Affairs (photo), and William Hinckley, Executive Director of Licensing and Exams, presented to over one hundred industry professionals at the NYC Special Riggers Association's Annual Technical Event with DOB on October 10 on: Local Law 196: Construction Safety Act; Local Law 159: Safe Construction Bill of Rights; Local Law 154: Updates to Tenant Protection Plans; Special Riggers License Renewal Process; followed by a Q&A session.
Local Law 196 applies to NYC construction workers at job sites that demand a site safety plan – those requiring a construction superintendent, site safety coordinator or site safety manager –and to NYC supervisors, including site safety managers, site safety coordinators, concrete safety managers, construction superintendents, and competent persons.
The law is focused on preventing job site accidents as the NYC construction boom continues and the number of construction workers rises.
SKYlines first reported on the legislation in its Fall 2017 issue, outlining key points in detail. The subsequent Winter 2018 issue included further information, and noted key dates to mark on the calendar. In our last issue, Spring/Summer 2018, SKYlines incorporated updates together with a report on the DOB’s Build Safe/Live Safe Conference.
Key Dates and Required Hours Of Training:
Phase 1, which concluded on March 1, 2018, required all construction workers to show that they completed at least an OSHA-10 class to continue working. All workers could also take an OSHA-30 or a DOB-approved 100-hour training program. Persons new to the construction workforce had to complete 10 hours of training before they could begin working, followed by the completion of 40 hours within six months to continue working.
The upcoming deadline for Phase 2 is December 1, 2018, by which workers must have completed 30 hours of approved training. Acceptable means of meeting the requirement include completing an OSHA-10 with 20 additional DOB-approved training hours; or an OSHA-30; or a DOB-approved 100-hour training program.
Additionally, supervisors need to be trained for 62 hours (NB: early literature reports 60 required hours). By December 1, the DOB will determine if the capacity to provide the training for workers and supervisors was sufficient, and may decide to extend the deadline until June 1, 2019, if necessary.
The final phase – Phase 3 – has a proposed deadline of May 1, 2019. In addition to the above requirements, workers will need to have their Site Safety Training card, indicating an accumulated total of 40 hours by taking 10-25 additional DOB-approved training hours or a DOB-approved 100-hour training program. Phase 3’s deadline may be extended to September 1, 2020 if the DOB determines it’s necessary.
The goal, when fully phased in, is for workers at job sites that require a Site Safety Plan to have received a minimum of 40 hours of training and for supervisors to have a minimum of 62 hours of training.
Those who are excluded from the ruling and do NOT require the training are: delivery persons; flag persons; professional engineers; registered architects; special inspectors; DOB licensees who are not safety professionals as noted previously; workers at job sites that involve minor alterations; and workers constructing new 1-, 2- or 3-family homes.
Types of Site Safety Training (SST) Cards:
The NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) determines compliance through inspections of training cards that need to be produced for DOB inspectors at site safety jobs. Failure to produce proper cards can result in penalties by the site owner, permit holder and employer of the worker of up to $5,000 per worker. An additional penalty of $2,500 is possible if the permit holder neglects to upkeep the workers’ logs. Required cards, detailed in a bulletin issued by the DOB in May 2018, are:
Temporary SST Card – 10 hours- Expires after six months by which time training must be completed to receive a Limited SST Card or SST Card.
Limited SST Card - 30 hours - Requires either an OSHA-10 and 20 additional hours; or an OSHA-30; or a 100-hour DOB approved training program. Prior training experience may be included. Expires by April 30, 2019 (or no later than August 31, 2020 if the DOB extends the deadline).
SST Card – 40 hours - Workers have completed an OSHA-10 class and 30 hours of additional training; or an OSHA-30 class with 10 hours of additional training; or a
DOB-approved 100-hour training program. Prior training experience may also be included. This will be effective May 1, 2019, or September 1, 2020 (depending on if the deadline is extended as noted above), and expires after five years. This is renewable upon applicants showing that they have completed eight training hours in the one-year period preceding submission of a renewal application.
Supervisor SST Card – 62 hours – Expires after five years and is renewable upon applicants showing that they have completed 16 training hours specified by the DOB in the one-year period preceding submission of a renewal application.
Topics and Electives Covered:
Some of the key topics covered in the training are: fall prevention (NB: the majority of injuries and fatalities are caused by workers falling); supported scaffold user and refresher; and drug and alcohol awareness.
Approved topics for general and specialized electives include, but are not limited to: handling heavy materials and proper lifting techniques; fire protection and prevention; conducting pre-task meetings and ‘Tool Box’ talks; first aid and CPR; hoisting and rigging; and electrocution prevention. Specialized electives include: cranes, dericks, hoists, elevators and conveyors; scaffolds-suspended; concrete and masonry construction; steel erection; asbestos/lead awareness; and occupant protection (work in occupied buildings).
For a complete list of DOB-approved courses and electives, visit here.
Course Requirements and Course Provider Requirements:
In July 2018, the DOB issued a bulletin pertaining to Local Law 196 course and course provider requirements.
Below are some key points for training taken in-person or online after October 16, 2017 – (online training received prior to the date the law went into effect continues to be accepted):
In-person training: the provider must confirm the individual’s identity and ensure that the training is actively observed.
Actively proctored online training: ‘Actively proctored’ means that the provider must identify the individual prior to providing access to the training. Additionally, the individual being trained must attest that he/she is the person receiving the online access and that he/she will complete the training without assistance. The online program must have secure access and monitored participation during the course of training to ensure the person is present throughout the training’s duration.
The cards must contain:
Security features designed to deter forgery and counterfeiting – the cards cannot be reproduced using common technologies open to all.
A unique ID number
A photograph of the person – can be color or black & white
A printed name of the card holder with a signature
The date of course completion
The expiration date
The name and address of the course provider issuing the card
A description of the type of training and number of credit hours completed
The course provider is required to:
Maintain a record of all cards – temporary, limited, site safety, or supervisor site safety training cards – for a minimum of seven years.
Maintain a secure online verification system containing an up-to-date list of the names of the cardholders, ID numbers, issuances, and expiration dates. This verification must be available to the City, the DOB and contractors.
Report the number of all cards issued each quarter as of July 1, 2018 and then on October 1, January 1, April 1, July 1, and each year thereafter.
The DOB website includes a list of approximately 60 DOB-approved course providers. It notes too that there are OSHA trainers who conduct 10 and 30-hour Outreach Training classes in construction, general industry, maritime, or disaster site work.
For general questions about the training requirements, contact LocalLaw196@buildings.nyc.gov.
For questions about becoming a Department approved course provider or
about the course requirements, contact TrainingProviders@buildings.nyc.gov.
Source (Photo 1): Ali Garber