Construction industry reps say the city’s new safety regs are totally harshing their mellow, according to articles in Crain’s and the Daily News. Consider: There were 1,403 stop-work orders on construction sites in April, compared to 785 in January. Unions, construction workers and developers won’t go on the record about the situation because they’re worried the DOB would exact retribution, but off the record, builders say that the SWOs are costing them a lot of money and that jobs are getting shut down for very minor infractions. Louis Coletti, president and chief executive of the Building Trades Employers’ Association, claims that the increase in SWOs is happening because [DOB] inspectors are all afraid of losing their jobs. Acting Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri says that the increase in SWOs has happened because the DOB is inspecting more construction sites nowadays.
Stop-work Orders Soar in Crackdown [Crain's]
Builders Rip Crackdown [Daily News]
Photo by Steve Hopson.