New Legislation Would Keep NYC Honest About How Construction Site Deaths Are Counted
State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal has submitted legislation that would make the way the New York City Department of Buildings counts construction deaths more comprehensive.
The city’s count in 2015 didn’t include more than a third of the deaths that were in the federal government’s count in 2015, a year in which construction deaths in the city spiked.
Rosenthal told Crain’s the counting system has operated “almost like willful obfuscation.” Last year, the DOB counted 12 construction-related deaths.
But that count only includes incidents connected with code violations or ones that were deemed to pose a threat to public safety, not ones that involve issues of workplace safety, which the Occupational Safety and Health Administration oversees. [Crain’s]
