Beginning in September, the Department of Buildings will expand our customer service meetings to include additional opportunities to work directly with us in moving projects forward.

The two meetings for customers to engage directly with the Department are:
1. Bi-weekly online Q&A sessions
2. Monthly borough specific industry meetings

For the schedule and to sign-up to attend, visit the Upcoming Events page.

Q&A Sessions
Bi-weekly online Q&A session for property owners, registered design professionals, filing representatives and other licensees/registrants to ask job specific questions about filings in DOB NOW and the Buildings Information System (BIS) or general questions about permits, construction codes, zoning regulations, sign offs, certificates of occupancy, place of assembly, equipment installations, violations and civil penalties, etc. Make sure to sign up for the appropriate session for the borough in which the property is located. These sessions replace Customer Service Night.

Industry Meetings
Monthly online, borough-specific industry session for registered design professionals to discuss policy and business process questions that are not job specific. It will also include a review of recent updates and policy decisions. Questions for the meeting are required to be submitted at least three days in advance. These sessions replace the meetings that were coordinated separately by each borough office.

Note: NYSSPE facilitates posting on this blog, but the views and accounts expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not the views or accounts of NYSSPE, its officers or directors whose views and accounts may or may not be similar or identical. NYSSPE, its officers and directors do not express any opinion regarding any product or service by virtue of reference to such product or service in this blog.

The NYC Department of Buildings is holding a hearing at 11am on September 15, to hear public comments about proposed changes to the façade examination regulations formerly known as Local Law 11/98.  For those unfamiliar with the façade examination regulations, the Department requires submission of a professional assessment report on the exterior walls of every building greater than 6 stories in height.  These reports must include the results of close range examinations at a maximum lateral distance of 60 feet on every frontage within a public right of way, and must be submitted every five years.

The proposed changes are intended to present clarifications from the Department position on three issues:

1. If a building is set back from streets and sidewalks (and therefore technically has no public rights of way), a minimum of one (1) drop scaffold drop or other means of close range access is still required.
2. The number of stories is calculated for buildings on a sloped site by considering partially below grade space an additional story, where more than half the height of that space as measured at any individual exterior wall is above the adjacent ground.
3. If a building misses a five-year deadline, the next report for that building can be filed at any time (without waiting for the designated filing period), providing all civil penalties are paid at the time of filing.

Sounds simple, but misinterpretation of these issues leads to fines and penalties totaling many thousands of dollars.

If you have an opinion on these matters, stand up and let your voice be heard.  The Department welcomes feedback, and our professional responsibility to clients and community requires our participation in this process.  Department’s rules are also available for viewing and downloading on the DOB website at Click Here

• Note: NYSSPE facilitates posting on this blog, but the views and accounts expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not the views or accounts of NYSSPE, its officers or directors whose views and accounts may or may not be similar or identical. NYSSPE, its officers and directors do not express any opinion regarding any product or service by virtue of reference to such product or service in this blog.

A new Façade Violations portal is launching in DOB NOW: Safety on Monday, July 12, 2021, for submitting civil penalty payments or requests to waive civil penalties for Cycles 6 and later that result from a Failure to File or Late Filing of TR6/FISP Reports, FISP Failure to Correct SWARMP Conditions, and FISP Failure to Correct Unsafe Conditions. The portal includes only civil penalties related to DOB violations payable to DOB and not OATH/ECB summonses paid to OATH. The last day to submit payments or waiver requests in person, by email, or mail is Thursday, July 8, 2021.

Before a payment or waiver can be submitted, Failure to File/Late Filing FISP violations require a filed and accepted initial TR6/FISP Report applicable for that filing’s Cycle. FISP Failure to Correct Unsafe Conditions violations require a filed and accepted amended TR6/FISP Report in response to the UNSAFE filing.  [Read more…]

For Immediate Release: June 28, 2021
Contact: dobcommunications@buildings.nyc.gov<mailto:dobcommunications@buildings.nyc.gov>, (212) 393-2126

DOB RELEASES FIRST OF ITS KIND MULTIYEAR CONSTRUCTION SAFETY ANALYSIS FOR NEW YORK CITY

Comprehensive Two-Year Report Coincides with Progress Update on Ongoing Citywide “Zero-Tolerance” Construction Site Safety Sweeps

New York, NY – The Department of Buildings (DOB) announced today the release of a new building construction safety report that provides deep insights on construction safety trends in the five boroughs over the 2019 and 2020 calendar years and examines Department initiatives that led to declines in building construction-related incidents and injuries during that time. The report provides a first-of-its-kind analysis of major building construction incidents in the past two years that led to fatal or near fatal outcomes, with details on contributing factors that precipitated these incidents. The report also highlights proactive and data-driven initiatives undertaken by the Department, while bringing awareness to the work of critical Department units, changes in construction safety regulations, and recent efforts to modernize the agency. The Department also released a progress update on ongoing enforcement inspections sweeps happening now at larger construction sites across the five boroughs, an initiative launched in response to recent construction fatalities that occurred earlier this year.

Read the 2019-2020 Construction Safety Report<https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww1.nyc.gov%2Fassets%2Fbuildings%2Fpdf%2FCSR_2019-20.pdf&data=04%7C01%7CPWehle%40buildings.nyc.gov%7Cd48b27af491944bff8a708d93a476c48%7C32f56fc75f814e22a95b15da66513bef%7C0%7C0%7C637604900826082236%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=kEQBvuldgH9neHdVYTzoHti4EceBFDHRt7s5hAF11%2F4%3D&reserved=0>

“Knowledge is power, and the analysis in this report can help the construction industry keep their workers safe from hazardous site conditions,” said Buildings Commissioner Melanie E. La Rocca. “We know that a data driven approach and strong enforcement protocols are necessary to keep all of our fellow New Yorkers safe. We simply cannot accept business as usual when workers and the public are put at unnecessary risk.”

The two-year report delves into Department data on enforcement actions, incidents, and inspections to provide a deeper look at the factors impacting construction safety in New York City. With an eye on preventing future incidents from occurring, the report puts forward a detailed analysis of the where, when, what, and how of construction-related fatalities and injuries taking place in the city.

In the 2019 calendar year, we saw:

*       595 construction-related injuries in New York City on building work sites, down over 21% from the 761 construction-related injuries in 2018;

*       Twelve building construction-related fatalities, the same amount of fatalities that we saw in 2018. [Read more…]