Process Safety Within New York City Department Of Buildings Questioned By Comptroller’s Audit

Although most of our postings relate to company safety practices, the concept of process safety is equally critical for government agencies tasked with ensuring safety.  New York City’s Comptroller reported on Friday that a recent audit of the New York City Department of Buildings (“DOB”) revealed that the agency has dramatically failed to implement the recommendations to improve safety made in a July 2008 commissioned study.  Specifically, only 8 of the 65 recommendations have been fully implemented, even though 49 of them were intended to be implemented by 2010.  According to the Comptroller, “the audit identified serious weaknesses in DOB’s internal controls and oversight of the implementation process for the [study’s] recommendations, including DOB’s lack of a single point of responsibility.”  The Comptroller’s report concludes, “the failed attempt thus far to address what have been identified as high risk deficiencies in the DOB’s regulations and oversight may continue to expose the public and construction site workers to accidents and injuries … This raises the question as to whether some of the $5.81 million in public monies that was expended [for the study] may have been wasted.”