Amid a surge of construction injuries, Mayor de Blasio on Friday announced that the city will more than quadruple penalties for safety lapses and conduct 1,500 sweeps at work sites.
Those caught skirting safety rules will face fines of $10,000, up from $2,400.
Repeat violators could get hit with penalties as high as $20,000 and revocations of licenses.
Under the new rules, construction sites under 10 stories will be required to have a superintendent on site. They had been exempt.
Violations will carry stiff fines starting at $25,000.
The city also plans to add 100 enforcement inspectors by the summer, and conduct 1,500 sweeps for safety hazards at construction sites over the next 90 days, officials said.
“No building is worth a person’s life. We have a responsibility to keep the men and women who are building New York City safe,” de Blasio said. “We are ramping up inspections and oversight to make sure that our workers have added protections. We do not accept any loss of life in this business as inevitable or acceptable.”
He made his remarks outside a town house on East Eighth Street in the East Village where hardhat Luis Alberto Pombaza died during construction work in December.
According to city records, Pombaza fell from the third to the first floor and died at Bellevue Hospital from injuries to the head and face.
“Had these rules been in effect, there would have been a construction superintendent at this site required to inspect all work areas at least once a day, every single day,” de Blasio said.
‘We do not accept any loss of life in this business as inevitable or acceptable’
- Bill de Blasio
“Had that rule been in effect, perhaps Luis Alberto would be with us today.”
Buildings Commissioner Rick Chandler insisted that more accidents are not an inevitable result of the city construction boom.
“Our investigations routinely reveal that accidents could have been prevented if contractors simply followed existing safety rules,” he said. “We’re determined to change the mind-set that safety violations are simply the cost of doing business.”
Construction-site injuries to workers and pedestrians jumped from 246 in 2014 to 471 in 2015, a 91 percent increase. The number of deaths also increased from eight to 11, records show.
According to the city, the number of building projects have increased by 329 percent since the economic downturn in 2009.
The sweeping changes come after a crane collapsed last week on Worth Street in Lower Manhattan, killing pedestrian David Wichs, 38, and injuring three others.