Strategic PartnershipsThe Department of Buildings (DOB) in New York City (NYC) will now be required to establish a proactive inspection program to identify hazardous building conditions. The NYC City Council passed a bill June 20, 2024, to protect residents and identify buildings prone to collapse.
The DOB has developed a risk-based structural inspection system to determine the likelihood of a building’s structural collapse. The system created a risk score based on several factors that allow the DOB to assess if a building is at-risk and endangering its inhabitants:
- Building information and characteristics such as age, occupancy type, ownership and construction material.
- Permit history.
- Violation history.
- Applicable compliance filings.
- Disciplinary history of registered design professionals, contractors or licensees.
- Relevant 311 complaints.
- Neighboring site characteristics and construction activity.
- Any other factors the commissioner determines.
Following the assessment, the DOB will inspect those with high-risk scores. In addition to the at-risk assessment, the agency will develop rules for when corrective action plans are necessary after each inspection. Registered design professionals will then create and submit a plan to the DOB outlining the violations, relevant documents and when repairs will be completed.
The DOB will perform a follow-up inspection after the action plan has been received. This allows the DOB to verify that the corrections have been completed and the building’s structure is no longer at-risk of failure.
The NYC City Council created the bill in response to a building collapse in winter 2023 that left several families displaced. The legislation will take full effect 180 days after it becomes official law.
