The Department of Buildings recently implemented Local Law 78 of 2017 creating new guidelines for the reporting of injuries on construction sites. The law expands requirements for injury reporting in an effort to increase transparency in construction safety. The Department updates incident lists every month.

Types of Injury

Local Law 78 expands reporting of injury subjects beyond construction workers to include any injured subject, including bystanders. Any construction injury requiring ambulance transport to an off-site medical facility is now required be reported. Injuries do not have to coincide with any violation, breach of Building Code requirements or even liability.

What to report

Local Law 78 requires owners and general contractors to provide a detailed description of the incident and injury, and identify the injured subjects as workers or bystanders. More controversially, Local Law 78 requires owners and general contractors to distinguish whether the injured workers and site where union or non-union. ADM 28-103.21 itemizes all the information required for injury reports. Local Law 78 requires owners or general contractors to report injuries to the department within three days.

Penalties

Local Law 78 also amended ADM 28-202.1 to increase civil penalties for DOB-ECB violations for the following:

• Hazardous: up to $25,000, $1000 for each day not corrected
• Major Violations: up to $10,000, $250 for each day not corrected
• Lesser Violations: up to $500

Local Law 78 increased penalties for unlicensed work to the following:

• Master plumbers: $2,500 first violation, $5,000 second violation
• Mater fire suppression: $2,500 first violation, $5,000 second violation

Penalties for failure to report injury is $2,500 in addition to any daily penalties.

Questions about injury reporting. Need consultation work, permit expediting or special inspections? Contact us.