Bloomberg Wakes Up and Smells the Carnage
In the wake of three construction accidents on Wednesday, Mayor Bloomberg met with officials from several city angencies to discuss worker safety. The result is a 28-member task force (including union reps, contractors and government officials) that is charged with delivering a set of recommendations to the mayor next month. Considering that 17 workers have…
In the wake of three construction accidents on Wednesday, Mayor Bloomberg met with officials from several city angencies to discuss worker safety. The result is a 28-member task force (including union reps, contractors and government officials) that is charged with delivering a set of recommendations to the mayor next month. Considering that 17 workers have already been killed at work sites around the city over the past year, Bloomberg’s move clearly comes embarrassingly late. Even if you throw money at the problem, you’ve got serious execution issues. Namely, an unhealthy mix of laziness, incompetence and lack of manpower (and, some would allege, corruption) at DOB. Louis Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers’ Association may have the right idea when it comes to disciplining contractors who don’t play by the rules. Fines are not enough, he said. They should be put out of business.
Recent Accidents Prompt Worker Safety Meeting [NY1]
Construction Worker Falling Deaths Rise [NY Sun]
City Forms Task Force to Improve Worker Safety [NY Times]
Photo by Angela Jimenez for The New York Times
Ice Man,
I don’t have a lot of time to continue this conversation but I will say that you have (as I thought) proven yourself to be wiser than some of your remarks. And that is why I wonder about some of the things you say. Someone who is obviously as smart as you should know better.
Till next time.
Gotta go.
Come now iceberg. Another complicated and patronizing argument. Do your really believe that “the people who risk their time and capital to fullfill peoples desires for housing and businesses, provide jobs for millions, feed and entertain them….” are doing it for the public good? Some are ethical but in the current climate, the bigger the profit the better even if corners are being cut and people’s lives put in jeopardy. Not only are workers being injured and killed but neighboring homes are being structurally compromised all over the boro causing unimaginable hardship. There are builders and developers who work with integrity but the fact that the current climate in NYC is totally stacked towards “those kind souls who fulfill the needs”, but more often the FANTASIES of the well off, fuels greed in the entire building industry. What is more, the fox runs the hen house so what do you expect. All this talk of commissions is just to avoid looking like hewhocan’tbenamed is a)asleep at the wheel or b)anti working class New York, c)doesn’t understand d)protecting cronies…
If there were real teeth to the penalties for construction abuse of all kinds I bet these accidents would be less frequent.
lostinbrooklyn you’ve got it completely right!
IceBreath
I don’t know were you came up with this Insurance Company theory but it is obvious that you either have no Idea what your talking about (which I find hard to believe) or your Bread is Buttered by one of the many Bureaucracies (Private or Public – It doesn’t really matter) that thrive on the lies they perpetrate.
Ex: After 911, in anticipation of a financial catastrophe, the Insurance industry was bailed out by our Gov’t (which means the tax payers) to the tune of something like 60 BILLION dollars. On top of that they were allowed to increase there rate’s by as much as 50% – Across the board. To date the amount actually paid out by the these Companies is a fraction of what was given to them. And they are still reaping the benefits of the rate increases.
Yea that’s the people who I want to trust.
On top of that – Most of these Scum don’t pay the proper insurance. Insurance is for people who have something to lose. These scum have nothing to worry about because everything they have is in a different LLC’c. None of them is connected in any way. So when the shit hits the fan they just move on – unscathed
Insurance companies? Not that I will ever understand how people expect to live in coastal areas plagued by huricanes… but didn’t the insurance companies just have a “record profits year” after raising policies? All a builder has to do is use a few extra nails and some cheap brackets to prevent a significant amount of property storm related wind damage. But they don’t. There is currently a new roofing nail on the market that would add about $20 to the cost of an entire new house. But builders cut costs all the time.
With out cheap expendable labor where would this country be? After the dust settles and the money laundered maybe out of the goodness of someones heart they will take pity on the poor slobs and build a museum, or a basketball arena for the children.
iceberg,
Now that’s thinking. Add a bushel of lawyers, a pinch of politicians and they all can laugh their way to the bank.
Perhaps annuities on buildings that only pay off if workers die?
Let me get this straight-
Underpaid, mostly poor and undocumented workers come here looking for the American Dream.
-They go to work risking their lives for some wealthy scum.
-The wealthy scum know what the laws are but instead of following them they USE them
-They don’t pay the proper taxes, or insurance
-They work these poor slobs to there deaths, Literally
-When the poor slobs die on the job the Rich scum inevitably say that the slob “just started” working for them. And that it is somehow the poor slobs fault.
-The Rich scum are levied some ridiculous fine. Which they gladly pay while they are allowed to continue to abuse the laws and the people who work for them.
-The Scum then sell there Billion dollar Luxury Condoms
-They pay no taxes (thank you 421a)
-They buy more property and destroy more Communities
-Oh Oh a small problem on the Horizon.
421a will expire.
-No problem we’ll just get the idiots to “Reform” 421a.
-The fools think they are reforming a bad law when what they are really doing is EXTENDING it for the rich scum to continue on there merry way.
By the way, Mr. Mayor, 400 million dollars was lost last year to this Welfare for the rich.
How many of those poor slobs were able to buy one of those Luxury Condoms? and How many of those poor families could have been housed and supported by 400 Million dollars.
I say put the scum in Jail.
Expire 421a.
Give the Money to the people who live work, pay taxes and build this City.
I just know after living in 2 other major cities in the US (Los Angeles and Seattle) before moving to NYC, I have never in those other cities heard of so many construction deaths as I’ve read and heard about in the 2 years I’ve lived in NYC. Based on that, I would guess the stats would make NYC pretty high on the list of dangerous construction sites. None of the other cities in the US have as much highrise construction – that right there raises the number of deaths.
it’s really easy to get on this bandwagon, but does anyone know what the statistics are in other parts of the country where there is less corruption, more enforcement, etc.?
construction is not and never will be an entirely accident free occupation, and while deaths and injuries clearly need to be minimized they can not be entirely avoided.
Having said that, DOB is a total joke, something does need to be done about it. But it may also be that some of these safety laws are so strict that they are almost meant to be broken. For example, why do you need a licensed electrician to replace a light fixture in your house – any idiot can do it. Same with most plumbing. I realize that there is some risk in it, but there is also a risk in just getting on a ladder in one’s house, but no one suggests you need a license for that.