Worker Safety Training: New Sign Requirements and Upcoming Deadlines
Keep your workers posted before they miss their deadline.
Contractors! Do any of your current project sites require site safety training? If so, the DOB has requested, as of October 15, 2019, that you must post clear worker safety information signs in easy-to-spot places.
This includes posting at each exit point on a fenced or unfenced construction site, making sure the sign covers all languages used by workers on the site, and including information about training deadlines and hours.
On Worker Training Deadlines
This last point is particularly important, since Local Law 196 of 2017 specifies all workers at training-required sites must have at least 30 hours of training by December 1, 2019 if they wish to continue working there. Workers must be kept informed of these deadlines in order to complete their training on time and receive their OSHA 30 card, Limited Site Safety (SST) Card or Full Site Safety Training (SST) Card.
(Please note: Supervisors, such as site safety managers, site safety coordinators, concrete safety managers, construction superintendents or competent persons, will need to complete 62 hours of training by the same deadline.)
If training isn’t done, it’s not just the applicants who suffer. The employer and owner of the site are also held responsible for penalties, including a violation of up to $5,000 per untrained worker and unannounced inspections from the DOB at any sites where an untrained worker has previously been discovered.
As of September 2019, the DOB reported their Construction Safety Compliance (CSC) Unit had issued 2,202 violations and 229 Stop Work Orders since September 2018 to the sites where workers did not have required training.
Signage Requirements
The DOB bulletin further outlines that signs must:
- “Be 44 inches wide and 30 inches high;
- Have letters at least 1 inch (25 mm) high;
- Have white letters on a blue background; and
- Be made of a durable and weatherproof material such as vinyl, plastic, or aluminum that is flame retardant.”
To check if your site requires safety training, please see the DOB’s Site Safety Construction Map and enter your site’s address.
If you need a template for the safety training sign, please see the Site Safety Training page on the DOB website, available in multiple languages to suit your workers’ needs.
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