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A new law was passed by the New York City Council in 2017 that would make construction sites safer for those that work on them. Now though, the deadlines have been pushed back, leading some to worry that the dangers of construction sites are not being properly addressed.
The new law, first known as Intro 1447 and now named Local Law 196, stated that construction workers would be required to complete 30 hours of training by December 1, 2018. They would also be required to complete an additional ten hours of training by the fall of 2020. Those working in a supervisory capacity would be required to undergo even more hours of training.
The reason for the delay, says a representative of a contractors association, is that it is a much bigger task than some would think. There are thousands of construction workers in New York City. Providing the additional training to them is going to take much more time, not to mention overwhelm providers.
If the deadline had not been extended, it would have meant most of those construction workers would not be in compliance with the law. As such, the contractors of the sites would face steep fines, and their projects would likely be delayed as they waited for the workers to receive the necessary training.
“These companies have had one year to ensure they were complying with the new law,” says Joseph Miklos of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C. “There is simply no reason their construction workers could not have received the necessary training by now. Extending this deadline simply means that construction workers are going to be exposed to the risk of serious injury that so often happens on construction sites.”
The new deadline for the initial 30 hours of additional training has been pushed back to June 1, 2019. The final deadline for the additional ten hours of training remains the same. Workers will need to complete this training by September 1, 2020. The courses are to be administered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Workers that have completed OSHA 10 and OSHA 30 within the last five years are exempt from the new law.
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