NYC Department of Small Businesses Services (SBS) is urging more than 17,000 active, construction workers to apply to SBS’s no-cost training program after their site safety training (SST) cards issued by Valor Consulting were deactivated following the revocation of the company’s status as a city-approved, safety training course provider. Those who apply will receive new replacement cards instead.

 

NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) has invalidated those cards issued by Valor following charges filed in Manhattan Criminal Court against the firm’s senior executives and employees for allegedly selling the SST cards to workers without providing any of the required safety training. As of April 2, around 17,000 such SST cards have been deactivated. Construction workers with these SST cards will no longer be allowed to work on the larger and more complex work sites in New York City until they are able to acquire a new SST card from a legitimate DOB-approved course provider.

 

“SBS and our Workforce1 Career Centers are ready to help those honest New Yorkers who have been directly impacted by Valor Consulting’s actions,” said SBS Commissioner Kevin D. Kim. “We want to get everyone back to work as soon as possible through our free trainings. I want to thank our partners at DOB for their help as we work together to get our skyline growing again and urge everyone whose SST card was invalidated to reach out to SBS as soon as possible.”

 

Meanwhile,  DOB Commissioner Jimmy Oddo said the actions of Valor Consulting put profits ahead of safety, by allowing thousands of workers on to larger construction sites in the city without the required life-saving safety training. “We could not in good conscience allow untrained workers on these complex work sites where they were posing a potential hazard to both themselves and the public,” he said, adding his thanks to his SBS colleagues for providing the SST training to workers free of charge. “I strongly urge any workers who recently had their SST cards invalidated to reach out to sign up for courses as soon as possible,” he added.

 

City officials said construction workers who completed training courses proctored by Valor should fill out the SBS Construction Site Safety Training Program interest form as soon as possible.

 

Norwood News has reported on a number of construction accidents in The Bronx, which have occurred for different reasons over the last few years, some fatal. In June 2023, three construction workers were burned in a work-place accident in Williamsbridge, and the same month, a worker fell 30 feet from a Wakefied construction site.

 

Another construction worker was injured at 998 Brush Avenue in Throggs Neck in June 2023, and two construction workers were injured at an Orchard Beach construction site collapse the following month in July 2023. In May 2021, one construction worker died in an elevator collapse at a building site in Port Morris in the South Bronx.

 

In Olinville, six people were injured in a construction site partial wall collapse in July 2023, and in September 2022, in Bedford Park, a construction site boom truck carrying poles broke and collapsed on an occupied car. Additionally, twelve fire units responded to a a fire at a Grand Concourse construction site in Bedford Park on Nov. 30, 2023.

 

In April 2023, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark announced that three building contractors were being charged in the first Bronx manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide case, following the death of Segundo Manuel Huerta Mayancela, 46, an Ecuadorian father and construction worker, during a construction accident at 94 East 208th Street in Norwood on Aug. 27, 2019.

 

Though not at a construction site, a Longwood woman died following an explosion at her home followed by a building collapse in January 2022, and of course, there was the bizarre partial building collapse that occurred in broad daylight in Morris Heights in December 2023, with miraculously no injuries.

 

City offcials said the SBS Workforce1 Training program is available now and prepares construction workers with the legally mandated 40 hours of safety training to work on any of the larger building construction projects that require a construction superintendent, a site safety coordinator, or a site safety manager to be on-site.

 

They said workers can meet the safety requirement by obtaining 30 hours of OSHA safety training, as well as 10 additional hours of more specialized SST training courses. They said New York City regulations allow construction workers to obtain a Temporary SST card from an approved provider after taking 10 hours of safety training, and these temporary cards allow individuals to work on SST work sites for six months, during which time workers must take the additional 30 hours of training courses to obtain a full SST card, which is then good for five years.

 

They said the Construction Site Safety Training Program is operated through SBS Workforce1 Career Centers in each of the five boroughs, and the program is offered in English, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Participating SBS Workforce1 Career Centers are located at the following locations:

• Bronx Workforce1 Career Center, 400 E. Fordham Road, 8th Floor, Bronx, NY 10458
• Brooklyn Workforce1 Career Center, 9 Bond Street, 5th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 10027
• Upper Manhattan Workforce1 Career Center, 215 W 125th Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10027
• Queens Workforce1 Career Center, 168-25 Jamaica Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11432
• Staten Island Workforce1 Career Center, 120 Stuyvesant Place, 3rd Floor, Staten Island, NY 10301

 

City officials said SBS has been authorized to provide these training courses since 2019. They said the program was developed to ensure equal access to site safety training in compliance with Local Law 196 (LL196), which mandates workers on job sites that require a Site Safety Plan to possess an SST card, demonstrating completion of 40 hours of safety training.

 

They said additional information about the city’s SST program and requirements for workers on the city’s larger and more complex construction sites can be found on DOB’s website. They added that affected SST cardholders and those interested in starting a career in construction trades can also call 311 or visit the SBS website for more information.

 

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