BTEA tightening safety standards in wake of 31 building site deaths.

In an attempt to ensure both that responsible companies aren't blamed for worker accidents, and that safety remains paramount during the boom, construction forces set new standards November 21 at the annual Building Trades Employers Association safety meeting.

"What is very frustrating for us is that we follow the law. We invest $50 million every year in safety training. But there are a growing number of contractors out there who just don't care, and when you have an accident on a construction site a picture gets painted that we are also to blame," said Lou Coletti, director of BTEA.

The new standards--which include criteria such as the use of hard hats with ratchet suspension at all times and mandatory attendance at on-site safety meetings--were agreed upon by the 1,200 contractors who make up the Building Trade Employers Association and 56 affiliates of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. They provide reinforcement to help protect union members remain protected, while others slip under the radar of the New York City Department of Buildings enforcement, Coletti said.

"While it is not always the case, in many of the recent accidents, simply following the existing rules and regulations would have made an enormous difference--quite possibly even saving lives. We must continue to increase vigilance throughout the construction industry to insure safe sites and practices in and around all of New York City's 950,000 buildings and construction sites," said Patricia Lancaster, buildings commissioner, FAIA.

At the safety meeting, representatives tried to assess how extensive problems related to safety violations had gotten. Richard Mendelson, area director of the Occupational Safety and Health Association, presented a report revealing that construction deaths this year reached 31 across the boroughs. The report also found that that 86% of all New York City fatalities occur on sites employing non-union labor--a giant leap from 73% last year. In three quarters of these deaths, immigration status or language barriers were considered a related factor, the report stated.

More work is currently out there for non-union labor. The union labor pool is depleted faster for larger projects during the current boom, and developers tend to employ more non-union labor on smaller jobs, according to Coletti.

"We don't want to make this a union, non-union thing, but what tends to happen is that union companies have been around for a long time and would not risk the future of their company by doing anything illegal," Coletti said.

Likewise, the boom has increased companies ability to manipulate or disregard the rules blatantly, failing to apply for permits or taking shortcuts on the sites, Coletti sites. "There are many owners that are willing to turn a blind eye to that," Colletti said.

"There are just too many jobs being done illegally and jeapordizing worker safety and public safety. Yet we have to be realistic about what the Buildings Department can do with the resources that they have at hand," Coletti said.