New Building Laws NYC Construction Accidents

The NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) has recently updated the city’s building and construction safety regulations. These comprehensive updates include thousands of minor changes and more than 600 major amendments to help improve the city’s safety. These major updates went into effect in January 2022.

These updates come as the DOB cracked down on construction site safety around the city last year. The DOB conducted safety sweeps that lasted three months after the city saw seven construction accident deaths in the first five months of 2021. The operation involved assessing approximately 7,500 construction sites and investigators issuing 1,499 stop work orders and 3,600 violations.

Here are some of the newly introduced safety requirements and code revisions that are intended to work in tandem to increase the protection and safety of construction workers and the public:

• Local Law 50 of 2022 – About penalties for not certifying the correction of immediately dangerous conditions and not re-inspecting immediately dangerous conditions at construction sites.
• Local Law 163 of 2021 – Pertains to artwork displays on provisional protective structures at construction sites.
• Local Law 154 of 2021 – About the usage of substances with particular emission profiles.
• Local Law 149 of 2021 – Amends the responsibilities and roles of construction superintendents.
• Local Law 148 of 2021 – Changes the regulations for preventing the improper installation and overloading of cold-formed steel. These have resulted in property damage, injuries, and deaths in the past.
• Local Law 147 of 2021 – Revises the definition of major buildings as any building that’s seven stories or 75 feet and above rather than 10 stories or 125 feet.
• Local Law 146 of 2021 – Bans the use of stand-off brackets and amends the final inspections for provisional construction equipment permits.
• Local Law 140 of 2021 – Pertains to changes to the DOB’s harassment pilot program.
• Local Law 138 of 2021 – Includes changes that clarify which buildings do not require inspections for building gas piping systems and specific instances when owners can request a deadline extension for completing the inspection of a gas piping system.
• Local Law 137 of 2021 – Revises the extension of deadlines required for correcting and inspecting building gas piping systems in select community districts.
• Local Law 74 of 2021 – Includes amendments to fences used in stalled construction sites. Mainly, stalled construction sites must be properly secured with chain link fences after the removal of any materials and equipment.

Reach Out to an NYC Construction Accident Lawyer Now

Have you been injured in a construction accident in NYC, or has a loved one lost their life in one? Contact the Lipsig, Shapey, Moverman, Freund & Wisell, PLLC law office to learn more about your options. Our NYC construction accident lawyers will investigate your accident, figure out what caused it, prove fault for the accident, and determine who you can hold liable for your injuries to ensure that you receive the compensation you are entitled to.

You can set up a free case review with our NYC construction accident lawyer by calling 212-285-3300 or reaching us online.