Final Phase of New York City Training Requirements for Construction Workers Arrives on March 1, 2021.

On August 27, 2020, New York City's (NYC) Council amended the administrative code of the City of New York in relation to the definition of site safety training full compliance date.  This amendment 2059-2020 goes into effect immediately and extends the compliance date to March 1, 2021.  New York City Buildings posted the following notification.  

In 2017, New York City's (NYC) Council amended the administrative code of the City of New York and the NYC building code, in relation to construction site safety training.  This amendment is called Local Law 196 of 2017 (formerly known as Intro. 1447).  It amends the administrative code by adding section 22-509 Construction site safety training courses.  Requiring the Mayor to establish by March 1, 2018, a program to provide equal access to construction site safety training.  This law has several deadlines and was established to make sure that construction workers in New York City all had a minimum amount of training.  This law has been updated and delayed twice, so far (click here for the FAQ on the regulation).

Properly capped rebar

The first deadline has passed already, beginning March 1, 2018, each permit holder at a building site for which a construction superintendent, site safety manager, or site safety coordinator is required shall ensure that each construction or demolition worker employed or otherwise engaged at such site by the permit holder or performing subcontracted work for or on behalf of such permit holder shall have successfully completed:

• an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 10-hour class;
• an OSHA 30-hour class; or
• a 100-hour training program.

We are currently passed the second deadline of December 1, 2019.  Permit holders shall ensure each worker has an OSHA 30-hour card, SST card, a limited SST card or a temporary SST card and each worker who is serving as a site safety manager, site safety coordinator, concrete safety manager, construction superintendent or a competent person at such site shall have an SST supervisor card.

Recent OSHA 30-hour Construction Safety Course

If you are wondering what an SST card, a limited SST card, a temporary SST card, or an SST supervisor card is, well you are not the only one!  First, a Site Safety Training card (SST card) SST card, a limited SST card, a temporary SST card, or an SST supervisor card are cards that are issued by a New York City Department of Buildings Approved Training Provider (which at the time of my writing this, there are 102 training providers approved).

To get a limited SST card (which expires August 31, 2020) you must have taken one of the following training paths:

1. OSHA 10-hour class with 20-hours of additional training:
• OSHA 10-hour
• 8-hour Fall Prevention
• 8-hour Chapter 33 (Site Safety Manager Refresher) or 4-hour General Electives and 4-hour Specialized Electives
• 4-hour Supported Scaffold User and refresher
2. OSHA 30-hour class
3. 100-Hour Training Program Approved by the Building Department
4. Prior Experience
• 4-hour Fall Prevention
• 4-hour Supported Scaffold User

To get a temporary SST card (which expires after 6 months during which time training must be completed to receive a Limited SST card or SST card) you must have taken an OSHA 10-hour class.

To get an SST card (which expires after 5 years) you must have taken one of the following training paths, this card will be required by September 1, 2020 (unless the NYC Council pushes this deadline back):

1. OSHA 10-hour class with 30-hours of additional training:
• OSHA 10-hour class
• 8-hour Fall Prevention
• 8-hour Chapter 33 (Site Safety Manager Refresher)
• 4-hour Supported Scaffold User
• 4-hour General Electives
• 4-hour Specialized Electives
• 2-hour Drug and Alcohol Awareness
2. OSHA 30-hour Class with 10-hours of additional training:
• OSHA 30-hour class
• 8-hour Fall Prevention
• 2-Hour Drug and Alcohol Awareness
3. 100-hour Training Program Approved by the Building Department
4. Prior Experience
• 4-hour Fall Prevention
• 4-hour Supported Scaffold User

To get a Supervisor SST card (which expires after 5 years) you must have taken:

• OSHA 30-hour class
• 8-hour fall prevention
• 8-hour Chapter 33 (Site Safety Manager Refresher)
• 4-hour Supported Scaffold User
• 2-hour Site Safety Plan
• 2-hour Tool Box Talks
• 2-hour Pre-task Safety Meetings
• 2-hour General Electives
• 2-hour Specialized Electives
• 2-hour Drug and Alcohol Awareness

So that's how you get the various cards required under this local law.  The law doesn't end there.  The next compliance date is September 1, 2020.  By that date, all workers must have an SST card to work on most construction projects.

By the full compliance date, SST Cards & Supervisor SST cards will be required on most construction sites

Since SST Cards and Supervisor SST cards expire after 5 years, applicants must have completed training to renew the cards in the one-year period preceding renewal of the card (in other words if the card expires in September 2025, in the year from September 2024 to September 2025 you need to complete the training discussed below):

1. SST Card (8 Hours)
• 4-hour Fall Prevention
• 4-hour Supported Scaffold User
2. Supervisor SST card (16 hours)
• 8-hour Fall Prevention
• 4-hour Supported Scaffold User
• 2-hour Tool Box Talks
• 2-hour Pre-Task Safety Meetings

Local Law 196 of 2017 obviously, creates a minimum training requirement for workers on most construction projects, to visit the NYC Site Safety Training website click here.  Permit holders are required to maintain a daily log that identifies each worker and that includes, for each worker a copy of SST card, a limited SST card, a temporary SST card, or an SST supervisor card or proof of taking an OSHA 10-hour; OSHA 30-hour; or 100-hour training program.  Violations of this law will result in a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per untrained worker to be issued to the owner of the site, the permit holder, and the employer of the untrained worker (this could mean up to a $15,000 fine, based on contract language, to the employer of the untrained worker).  Failing to maintain the log will result in a civil penalty of $2,500.  The gradual phase-in, the list of General and Specialized Elective courses, and the recent release of what it will take to become an approved training provider all seem to imply that the later dates may be the actual dates of implementation.  As we see now.

Related Articles:

• Local Law 196 of 2017 Deadlines Extended.
• The Impact of New York City’s New Mandatory Construction Site Safety Training Requirements Under Local Law 196

Merry Holidays and a Happy New Year From Future Environment Designs Training Center. The Only Constant is Change!

We wish all of you who read our blog and attend our classes a Merry Holidays and a Happy New Year!  We hope your 2019 is better than your 2018 and may it be healthy, prosperous, and joyful!

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

2019 will bring some changes to Future Environment Designs Training Center (#FEDTC).  The first change is to continue to grow our online training by providing training tokens to our clients who attend our asbestos & mold courses.  This added value to our current courses continues to distinguish us from our competitors.  So we can add training courses our clients/students would be interested in, we are asking our attendees for suggestions for classes we can develop into online training courses.  In addition, we are strongly considering becoming a New York State Education facility (we hope to have the financing for this undertaking within 2-3 weeks of the New Year).  This would allow us to offer the New York City training courses and provide the Site Safety Training cards.  It would also require us to expand the number of training instructors we use.  This will be a major undertaking and as many of you who know me, will take tremendous courage on my part to overcome my fears related to trusting others with my business.   2019 is already starting on a good beginning with several courses almost fully booked in the first quarter.

Bergdorf Goodman Window

No sooner than the New Year of 2019 rings in, New York City will be going through several changes.  The asbestos amendments to Title 15 will go into effect January 6, 2019, and the Indoor Allergen Rule goes into effect on January 16, 2019.  In New York State before the New Year hits (December 31) the minimum wage will go up.  In addition, don't forget to save the date for the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York's  (PACNY) 23rd Annual Environmental Conference on February 27-28 & March 1, 2019, at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York.  We will be your host for the February 27th, the proficiency day, where we will be discussing asbestos inspections/survey among other things.  We hope to see you there!  Again, we wish you a Merry Holidays & a Happy New Year!

Related Stories:

• NYC DEP Asbestos Rule Amendment Goes Into Effect
• NYC HPD Proposes Rules to Implement Indoor Allergen Hazards
• December 2018 Safety Suzy Newsletter
• Long Island's Minimum Wage Workers Getting a Raise
• Register for the PACNY Conference
• NYC Adds Training Requirements for Construction Workers
• NYC Site Safety Training website

 

Local Law 196 of 2017 Deadlines Extended.

On November 8, 2018, New York City Department of Buildings tweeted about extending the deadlines for construction training under Local Law 196 of 2017.  Click here to see the tweet.  This pushes back the training requirements deadline from December 1, 2018, to June 1, 2019.  Currently, to work on most construction projects all that is required is an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 10-hour construction safety course card.  This requirement will continue to be required until June 1, 2019.

After June 1, 2019, construction workers will be required to have 30-hours of training either by taking an OSHA 30-hour construction safety course or by getting 20 additional training hours over the OSHA 10-hour construction safety course.  Those 20 additional training hours must consist of an 8-hour fall protection course, a 4-hour scaffold user course, and an 8-hour site safety manager refresher course.

The next deadline has also been extended to September 1, 2020.  That deadline will require individuals taking the OSHA 10-hour construction safety course to take 30 additional hours of training or those individuals taking the OSHA 30-hour construction safety course to take 10 additional training hours.  For more information click here for the NYC Buildings Department November 2018 Service Update explaining these changes and requirements.

Related Articles:

• New York City Adds Training Requirements for Construction Workers
• The Impact of New York City’s New Mandatory Construction Site Safety Training Requirements Under Local Law 196