Safety

NYC Construction Safety: Law 196 Compliance with Kwant

April 3, 2023

6 min

NYC Construction Safety: Law 196 Compliance with Kwant

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Local Law 196 of 2017 was implemented in New York City on October 16, 2017.

The law requires specific construction workers and management to complete a minimum amount of safety training in order to work on construction sites in New York City.

The requirement for construction workers is to complete a total of 40 hours of safety training, consisting of 30 hours of Site Safety Training (SST) and 10 more hours of specialized training. Construction safety is a never ending battle and training will always be necessary.

Construction companies also need a Site Safety Plan (SSP). Many larger projects in New York require this information. Local Law 196 requires contractors and employers to keep records of their training completed by their employees.

This allows submitting documents to the Department of Buildings (DOB) easier.

How to get your Site Safety Training (SST) card

There are many paths to attaining an SST card. Depending on your job title, you will need to take specific courses. To give context, current workers require different training than new employees in NYC construction.

Current and new workers need 40 hours of Site Safety Training, and supervisors need a total of 62 hours of training to attain their supervisor card.

‍Visit here to start your SST journey.

The non-compliance penalty

If the NYC DOB discovers that workers at a construction site are untrained, they will provide a violation with civil penalties that can go very high, as high as $5,000 per untrained worker to the owner of the site, the permit holder and the employer of the untrained worker.

If the NYC DOB discovers that a permit holder has failed to maintain a log that demonstrates that all of the workers at a site are trained, they will issue a violation with a civil penalty of $2,500. The NYC DOB can conduct unannounced inspections at sites as well.

Using software to support local laws like LL196

Many construction employers utilize software to support specific data management initiatives that help with different local laws, compliances, and follow-ups.

Companies like Kwant support workforce onboarding, safety, and management for construction companies, allowing them to automate compliance-necessary information.

You can also use software services to host virtual safety training courses and automate certification or license management like SST cards. Knowing when your employees need to re-certify is crucial to keeping up with compliance.

Request a demo to see how you can support site safety training with Kwant.