Penalties to increase for Construction Violations
Penalties for construction violations are expected to rise by at least 4 times the current amount. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans for an increase in fines for construction sites that have some sort of violation. In the next 90 days, the city will sweep around 1,500 construction sites looking for safety violations.
This comes as a part of a new plan by the Mayor to be proactive when dealing with construction and accidents that may occur. “Hizzoner, working with Department of Buildings head Rick Chandler, said the city will quadruple fines for serious safety lapses and undertake “proactive” safety investigations at 1,500 construction sites, along with other measures, according to a news release. Fines for serious violations will rise to $10,000 from their current $2,400 level. Fines for sites without construction superintendents will rise to a maximum of $25,000 from $5,000. The new rules come amidst a significant rise in accidents in recent years, as construction in the city has accelerated. Construction has more than tripled since 2009, with 88 million square feet built in 2015.”
In the past few years, there have been an increase in crane collapses and construction accidents throughout the city. The plan to increase the fines for safety violations come after a crane collapsed in Tribeca which injured a few people and killing one man.
“In addition to the sweeps and fines, the city plans to hire 100 new inspectors, and mandate superintendents for all projects under 10 stories, strengthening the current rules that only require superintendents at new developments. Nearly three quarters of construction accidents occurred at such sites last year.”
Source: http://therealdeal.com/2016/02/15/de-blasio-to-quadruple-penalties-for-serious-construction-safety-violations/
