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Welcome to Building Trades Employers Association’s (BTEA) Safety Brief, containing important safety news and updates. This digital publication contains highlights from BTEA’s Construction Safety Committee meetings with New York City Department of Buildings and OSHA representatives.

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NOMINATE A 2022 SAFETY LEADER

BTEA New York is pleased to announce that we are accepting nominations for the 2022 SAFEBUILD Safety Awards Ceremony, happening in-person on April 27, 2022 from 4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. at Club 101.

          Nominate          
          Learn More          
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On February 16, 2022, BTEA’s Construction Safety Committee held its monthly safety meeting virtually. Below are important highlights from the agenda.


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January

Incident Report


In January, there were 26 total incidents, all resulting in hospitalizations.


Trends in Incidents


Ladder incidents remain the topmost common incidents on jobsites.

  • There is an increase of slips and falls due to the cold, icy weather.
  • Material falling off buildings, mostly falling onto cars, sidewalk sheds as well as ricocheting off the sidewalk sheds remains a top concern.
  • Findings show that the horizontal and vertical nettings are not as they should be and must be checked every day.

 

For DOB Enforcement Report Highlights for December 2021, click here.

COVID-19 Complaints, Stop Work Orders & Summons Report – January 2022

 

  • In January, the NYC DOB issued 244 stop work orders, including 166 partial stop work orders and 78 full stop work orders.

 

  • 686 stop work orders, issued by Construction Safety Compliance (CSC) and Construction Safety Enforcement (CSE), were rescinded with an appointment time of under two days. This is after all the information has been correctly submitted to DOB requesting a reinspection.

 

  • Under Local Law 196, the DOB issued a total of 26 violations for January. Two of those violations were for inadequate logs and 24 were for work not in compliance.

DOB Industry Notices

  • CONSTRUCTION SUPERINTENDENTS/SITE SAFETY CHANGES| DOB NOW: Local Law 149 of 2021 amends the New York City Building Code and revises the role and responsibility of the construction superintendent.
Read More
  • MAJOR BUILDING DEFINITION | DOB NOW: Local Law 147 changes the definition of “Major Building” as any building seven stories/75 feet tall and above instead of the previous ten stories/125 feet.
Read More

Occupational Safety and

Health Administration (OSHA)

March 2 is the deadline for reporting injury notices through OSHA’s electronic information system.

 

It’s important to remind workers to protect their workforce from the hazards of working out in the cold/snow to maintain safety.


OSHA Initiatives for 2022

 

  • This year's annual National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls will be held May 2-6, 2022. Visit the campaign webpage for updates. 
Learn More

In case you missed the January 27, 2022 CPWR Fall Prevention Campaign webinar, a recording of the webinar is available online here.

Stop Using Empowered Diagnostics COVID-19 Tests: FDA Safety Communication

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning people to stop using the Empowered Diagnostics CovClear COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test and ImmunoPass COVID-19 Neutralizing Antibody Rapid Test. These tests were distributed with labeling indicating they are authorized by the FDA, but neither test has been authorized, cleared, or approved by the FDA for distribution or use in the United States. The FDA is concerned about the potentially higher risk of false results when using these unauthorized tests.

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NYS Hero Act Extended Until March 17th

 

The New York Commissioner of Health once again extended the designation of COVID-19 as highly contagious, thereby requiring employers to keep their HERO Act safety plans activated through at least March 17, 2022.


The Model Airborne Infectious Disease Exposure Prevention Plan for the Construction Industry was revised to permit most employers to lift masking requirements under the HERO Act, effective Feb 10, 2022.

Read More

BTEA New York Report

BTEA New York has drafted a letter to the MTA, requesting that they remove the THC Metabolite from the MTA Construction and Development Company’s Drug Test Panel:

 

  • The MTA’s contract documents state that no one can work on any project who's under the influence of cannabis.
  • However, THC metabolites (used to detect cannabis consumption in drugs tests) remain detectable in users for several days or even weeks.
  • The MTA policy contradicts Section 201-D of the New York Labor Law, which says it is unlawful for an employer to refuse to employ or to discharge any individual from a worksite because of their use of cannabis outside of work hours.
  • Contractors who remove a worker from an MTA job site for this are liable to a potential lawsuit by the employee.
  • BTEA New York is asking for volunteers for a Task Force on Marijuana Policy Enforcement to assist with this issue.

BTEA New York is asking for volunteers to draft legislation to require the DOB to report safety statistics for union v.s. non-union workers.

 

  • To make job sites safer, we would like the DOB to clarify data on which violations, injuries and fatalities come from union workers.


This report was provided by BTEA New York CEO and President, Louis J. Coletti.



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Building Trades Employers Association of New York is the construction contractor's unified advocate for construction safety standards, professional development, government affairs, public relations and fostering communication between public officials, public and private owners, labor and the general public. Realizing that a construction industry is essential to the vibrant future of New York City its activities are dedicated to a building environment meeting the highest of environmental standards, integrity, cost efficiency, productivity and value that contributes to improving the quality of life in New York City. BTEA represents 26 Construction Manager, General Contractor, Subcontractor and Specialty Trade contractor associations with over 1,200 individual contractor members.

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