Frustrated NYC Contractors Complain Over Cost of Construction Safety Crackdown

By Aaron Poehler

Published on May 13, 2008

Louis Coletti of the Building Trades Employers' Association claimed that while safety is the industry's top priority, building inspectors are shutting down projects unnecessarily over minor violations, including paperwork technicalities, in fear of losing their jobs. Former New York City Department of Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster resigned last month under a cloud of controversy following a number of public embarrassments for the Department, including a deadly March 15 crane collapse which killed seven.

As a result, stop-work orders on construction sites rose from 785 issued in January to over 1,400 in April. Acting Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri denied that construction work sites were being intentionally slowed, emphasized that safety would not be compromised, and reiterated that adherence to NYC construction laws is crucial to the city's future development.

To date, 14 people have died in eight separate NYC construction accidents in 2008, more than during the entirety of last year.