An Outrageous Lack of Accountability: Taking Action to Improve Construction Safety
April 24, 2008
The horrifying death of a young construction worker at 400 East 67th Street comes at a time when problems with construction safety in New York have reached crisis proportions. The building site where the incident occurred had an astounding 38 open ECB violations, of which 36 were Class A – the most serious.
This building site should have been shut down long before the accident happened. No construction should have been allowed until all the serious violations were cured. The New York City Department of Buildings must answer for this appalling failure of oversight. I am outraged by the lack of accountability at this site and at construction sites citywide. The Department of Buildings needs more inspectors, but inspections alone are meaningless without vigorous enforcement. We should not have to wait for more tragedies to occur before this lesson is learned.
This accident, along with the recent crane collapse tragedy on 51st Street, has highlighted the urgent importance of ensuring better oversight of construction sites in New York City. I have joined with Borough President Scott Stringer to help implement Borough Construction Watch, which will work with community leaders around Manhattan to improve accountability from construction firms and city agencies, to help prevent such disasters from occurring again.
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- Via @MicahKellner + @MMViverito NYPD, never sensitive to Trans NYers, but if these allegations true its beyond the pale http://t.co/UGWWI9Tn
10 hours ago from ÜberSocial for BlackBerry
