With deadline near, few ready for Local Law 26.

With only a month left to go before the July 1 deadline, it appears many city property owners could be caught unprepared for the implementation part of Local Law 26, which requires the installation of photoluminescent exit markings on all stairwells and exit doors in all office buildings taller than 75 feet.

According to Ilyse Fink, spokeswoman for the New York City's Department of Buildings, of the estimated 1,500 buildings in the city that must come into compliance with this new code, only 85 so far have filed the affidavits necessary to indicate they have done so.

"We're hoping that a lot of building owners have had the work done and are just waiting until the last minute to turn in the forms," Fink said.

"However, we want to take every opportunity to remind building owners that July 1 is still the deadline and they still need to comply." According to Anthony Lifrieri, president of the Building Owners and Managers Association of New York (BOMA), the hold-up has to do with a mixture of confusion and complacency on the part of some owners.

"Right now, maybe only half [of building owners] are in compliance or have contracted to do the work," Lifrieri said. "I think people got a little complacent expecting that they'll extend the deadline, which they won't, and got confused because there are so many different products out there and so many people trying to sell them on each one."

The law requires photoluminescence in stairwells to assist building occupants in identifying means of egress during low visibility situations. The material requires no power source, but simply glows. Building owners have a host of options when it comes to outfitting their buildings with photoluminescence. Various vendors provide tape, aluminum bar and paint options. All are allowable under the law.

One of the initial problems with Local Law 26, according to David Gibson of NYGlow, was that it was written so broadly that it's opened the market to a flood of competition.

"There's a myriad of people supplying product," said Gibson, whose company sells photoluminescent paint. "And there are a lot of questions about the code. People aren't always sure what products will or will not get them into compliance."

Gibson and others have credited the city for its attempts to educate owners on the law change. Most say large portfolio owners have gotten the message loud and clear.

Evan Lipstein of the HyLine Safety Company, a provider of photoluminescent markers, said, "It might be the smaller building owners in the end who didn't get the message for one reason or another."

Carl Sexton, director of marketing for Ohio-based Johnsonite, warns that waiting to the last minute could put a strain on every part of the supply and labor chain.

"You have to measure out each individual exit way. This is a labor intensive project," Sexton said. "[Photoluminescence] is a small industry and if there's an incredible last-minute push, it's going to be incredibly busy."