Introduction:
Recent changes in the local law NYC 196 concerned lots of companies in the construction industry. Site safety is something that you cannot compromise for any reasons. NYC 196 local law reinforces site safety at construction sites by mandating and monitoring the status of the OSHA certification and SST certification (NYC site safety certification) of workers. The city holds three parties responsible, the site owner, general contractor, and sub contractors with a total of $15,000 per worker if they fail to restrict access of those who are not properly certified.
The statement from NYC buildings commissioner Rich Chandler was as follows
“to send the message to everyone in the construction industry that safety comes first.
We’ve quadrupled fines for the most serious safety lapses, and we’ve hired more than
140 new enforcement inspectors.” This shows the determination of the city to regulate and enforce site safety.
The scope of Work:
Hudson Meridian is building a $180 million shopping center in Staten Island NY.
Overall it’s roughly 460,000 square feet at 2600 Hylan Blvd Staten Island NY.
The site owner Kimco Realty filed for the permit in 2017, and the project is currently in progress.
Due to the size of the project, and the number of workers at the site, it was quite a challenge to be compliant with NYC196. We had to come up with a better, smarter and automated solution for the project.
Challenges:
All the workers must have certification on the site at the time of work. The system needs to check the status of each certification. The system needs to confirm the validity by checking the expiration date as well. The system must allow access for people with proper certification, and restrict access of those who have issues with their certifications. The system needs to notify the office before the expiration dates of certifications are reached, so that workers can renew their certifications beforehand. Since the identity of a person working at the site is critical, the customer did not want to use RFID cards due to the known issues such as cloning, buddy cards, etc. A DSS biometric solution had to be implemented. A daily access log of workers, and headcount per sub-contractors needed to be provided to the customer on a daily basis.
Solution:
We have 4 turnstiles integrated with the DSS biometric system at the site to control the traffic. The DSS solution consists of integrating hardware with TJ software. At the moment authentication for a worker occurs, the software identifies the person, and checks the required certification’s validity. If the person is not properly certified, the system restricts access for that person. The system sends an email notification to the office at the same time. The system logs everything digitally and stores it in multiple locations for security purposes. Daily access logs, headcount by subcontractors, list of workers with certifications expiry imminent, blacklist access, ect., are available as automatic email notifications. Our platform provides all the information needed by the inspectors for the auditing purposes. We also added flexibility to the system with features like access monitoring in real-time, manual open from a button, manual open from software remotely, and many more. Optional features like in/out authentication to the turnstiles have been added to the solution We can tell how many hours each worker stayed at the site, how many people are on the site in case of emergency, automatic email notifications on lateness, early leavers, less than defined amount of hours worked at the site, etc.
Endorsement:
“The system works great. It has taken a huge load off our back in
The system is working as it should be, restricting people with expired OSHA. The automatic notification was a great added function, as well as the ability to search and sort through the workers as needed. I would highly recommend the solution from Digital Secure Solutions to any company with a construction project, small or large. The system has served us very well, and I am sure it would for other Builders and Property Owners.”
-Branimir Grbic ( Project Manager from Hudson Meridian)-
Conclusion:
We have created a solution that is smart, automated, and secure for your sites.
The solution is proven to be working to be compliant with NYC196.
Our solution will minimize the liability while maximizing the productivity for your sites.