AP Photo With eye on safety, city shutting down construction jobs at record rate

Grappling with a growing number of serious accidents at construction sites amid a development boom citywide, the Department of Buildings is increasingly relying on an enforcement tool that halts work at projects deemed unsafe or improperly permitted.

The agency issued 4,580 stop-work orders during the first six months of 2016, compared to 3,738 during the same time last year, according to data maintained by the agency and provided to POLITICO New York. That marks a nearly 23 percent increase in a year.


The orders immediately halt work at jobs until fines are paid to the city and problems identified by inspectors are rectified.

In 2012, when new construction was far less frequent, the buildings agency gave out 2,701 stop-work orders during the first half of the year. The following year, the number dipped to 2,511 and during 2014, the first year of the de Blasio administration, inspectors handed out 3,172 stop-work orders from January through June, the data shows. The six-month total spiked to 3,738 in 2015, as development hit a frenzied pace in anticipation of the expiration of the 421-a property tax break.

The enforcement has far outpaced the increase in construction.

While the issuance of stop-work orders surged by nearly 70 percent from 2012 to 2016, new construction permits went up 25 percent, agency data shows.

During the first half of 2012, there were permits for 11.2 million square feet of new construction, compared to permits of 14.1 million square feet so far this year.

New activity surged to permits for more than 60 million square feet during the first half of 2015, with developers rushing to begin work and qualify for the lucrative 421-a tax break that expired in June of last year. (It was then extended for seven months but has since expired again.)

The agency says the heavy reliance on stop-work orders is an important way to ensure safety in a city where streets are cluttered with cranes and rebar. Critics in the industry say the application is arbitrary and inspectors have too much discretion.

"Safe development is the department's top priority," buildings commissioner Rick Chandler said in a prepared statement. "We will not think twice about shutting down unsafe construction sites that endanger the public. Stop work orders send a message to contractors that we won't tolerate reckless behavior."

Chandler said the city has hired an additional 100 inspectors, quadrupled penalties for the most common violations, done sweeps of contractors with spotty histories and begun requiring extra supervision on low-rise construction sites, where most accidents are occurring.

"Our message is simple: don't cut corners and stay safe, because no building is worth a person's life," he added.

Lou Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers' Association, said he has asked the department to no avail for a handbook outlining the specific criteria for issuing a stop-work order.

"We feel that many of these stop-work orders are issued on a very subjective basis, and based on individual inspector determinations, rather than policy that would give guidance to the contractors," he said in a recent interview.

"We were told that they have guidelines and we've asked for them and so far we haven't received them," he added.

A spokesman for the agency said the building code explains stop-work orders in some detail, but inspectors are given leeway to determine whether a site seems unsafe. They can also issue the orders if work is being done with an improper permit.

Colletti said he has also sought data showing the specific instances of the orders and the names of the inspectors who issued them.

"Those numbers in and of itself don't tell the real story," he added. "It's like the introduction to any book. They have to go deeper."

He is compiling his own research on stop-work orders and said two-thirds of them are given to sites not under the control of by BTEA members.

One order this year was issued on a roof installation project in Queens, after a worker fell to his death and another was injured on a job that did not have a permit.

Missing guard rails and exposed holes are among the most common violations that result in stop work orders, the agency spokesman said.