New safety laws mean increased liability issues.

On July 1, 2006, Local Law 26/04 required that all Class E high-rise office buildings (equal to or above 75 feet in height) are legally obligated to install Photoluminescent Exit Path Markings.

The required glow-in-the-dark markings are in addition to and not in place of existing requirements relating to exit signs and emergency lighting. However according to NYC Department of Buildings, they've mailed 1500+ reminders to owners who are presently not in compliance with the law and gave them a stern warning of pending violations. According to the DOB, buildings that have not filed the required report by July 1, 2006, will receive DOB violations which means that when a DOB inspector makes a site visit and witnesses that the work was not completed or improperly installed, the inspector will issue a violation with penalties ranging from $500 to $5,000 for the first violation.

Additionally, FDNY has joint jurisdiction to issue violations under the New York City Fire Prevention Code, and FDNY has its own penalty schedules.

The much more important issue owners need to realize is their liability exposure. A local law requirement designed to improve safety has been decreed; Disobeying this law opens property owners up to the potential for being held criminally negligent if a tragedy should occur as a result of non-compliance.

Building owners and managers, as well as the individual tenants occupying their buildings, have a legal duty to exercise reasonable care in providing a safe workplace. Building owners must understand that they will be considered negligent if they do not follow the local law requirements and take the required steps to eliminate or diminish known foreseeable risks that could cause harm.

Understand this; There is now a local law requiring installation of photoluminescent markings in accordance with LL26 of 2004. This law was passed by the NYC Council and approved by Mayor Bloomberg with a great deal of research as to the validity of how big an improvement the photoluminescent markings make to the safety of their buildings.

It is important to understand that the essence of the concept of liability is the negligent failure to plan for accidents. If there is a duty under a law; any breach of that duty in failure to exercise a standard of care of a reasonably prudent person in similar circumstances; and damages that are caused by such breach. Damages that result in physical injury or death can have devastating consequences, both financial and legal.

Putting aside issues of negligence, liability and the potential for resulting damages that could occur, another very important concern for owners to understand relates to Certificates of Occupancy.

In the instance when a building has not obeyed Local Law requirements and they are planning construction to create a new use, egress, or occupancy to an existing building, a new or amended Certificate of Occupancy is necessary. The Certificate will be only issued when all relevant violations are resolved. Additionally a property's mortgage and insurance coverage can be disrupted by a building's code violations.

LL26/04 has another very important new requirement, the creation of an Emergency Action Plan. An EAP sets the requirements for the orderly evacuation of occupants from any office building necessitated by explosion, biological, chemical or hazardous material incidents or releases, natural disasters or other emergencies. The final rule requires that owners of office buildings develop procedures for sheltering in place, in-building relocation, partial evacuation and full evacuation of their buildings, in response to various non-fire emergency scenarios.

Fortunately, there are specialized firms with backgrounds in developing emergency action plans to not only enable gaining compliance with the requirement, but to put a workable plan in place.

Any professionally prepared Emergency Action Plan should use professionally prepared practices and account for numerous possible emergency scenarios.

Building managers are responsible for training staff members in dealing with assorted emergencies, communicating effectively with tenants and advise them of their planned emergency response, whether an evacuation, partial evacuation, in-building relocation or shelter in place is called for.

As part of the new EAP requirement, office buildings are obligated to conduct assorted drills so tenants are aware of their obligations and responses to different types of emergencies, building safety systems and exit procedures in their buildings.

The 9/11 disaster led to mandatory new provisions under LL 26 which make dramatic changes to NYC Building codes that improve the safety of high-rise office buildings, increase safety for their occupants and assist emergency responders when an emergency occurs.

As a building owner or manager, it is your civic responsibility to provide a safe environment for your building's occupants and obey the local law, failure to do so could cost you much more than a fine.

BY EVAN LIPSTEIN, PRINCIPAL, HYLINE SAFETY PRODUCTS