New Construction Plan
The Buildings Department in New York City has been undertaking quite an overhaul after two major construction accidents involving crane collapses. Now the new buildings commissioner, Robert LiMandri, has begun to lay out his plan for sweeping reforms.
On Tuesday, at the annual Build Safe New York conference, Mr. LiMandri announced a 41-point plan to overhaul how “high-rise construction” is regulated and carried out in New York City. The changes result from a $4 million High-Risk Construction Oversight review of crane, hoist, excavation and concrete operations, begun last year, which involved 30 engineering experts from CTL Engineering and Construction Technology Consultants.
The review included visits to nearly 600 job sites; 12 outreach meetings with more than 95 organizations; and Buildings Department safety conferences with crane manufacturers and building officials from cities around the world.
“This groundbreaking study is the type of critical evaluation that is necessary to ensure a new standard of safety is implemented across the city, one that the public demands and deserves,” Mr. LiMandri said in a statement. “The city’s economy depends on construction, and New Yorkers are depending on us to make that construction safe. After an exhaustive review of high-risk construction, we identified 41 specific ways that will help prevent accidents and raise accountability across the board.”