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    The Building Inspection Process Needs an Overhaul for 2012

    On December 14, 2011, ad executive Suzanne Hart lost her life in a heartbreaking elevator accident in a Madison Avenue office building. It is currently the Department of Buildings’ responsibility to both approve and monitor building construction and maintenance. These dual roles are not always in the public’s best interest where safety is concerned.

    An independent office of inspections would aid in tougher enforcement of the City’s capability to inspect buildings. Many crane and elevator inspections have failed in recent years, with catastrophic results. A massive amount of backlogged violations exist, some of which are extremely serious.

    Privately hired companies are allowed to do inspections and then “self-certify,” meaning that the city takes their word for the results. It is the equivalent of a shepherd letting a wolf guard his sheep, and it needs to end.

    The number of people that needed to be rescued from NYC elevators has risen sharply. Obviously, something needs to change. The practice of self-certification was in effect when Transel Elevator Inc. performed work on the elevator hours before Ms. Hart’s death.

    The regulation of building safety needs an overhaul. The safety records of elevators are vague at best. DOB elevator inspection results are explained as either “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.” The problem is that an unsatisfactory rating could be anything from a broken light bulb to a mechanical failure. It’s imperative that residents are provided with more detailed information moving forward.

    Building safety and maintenance needs to be overseen by an independent office of inspections. People need to be able to obtain access to elevator inspection results that offer in depth information as to what the problem is.

    Despite a well-documented history of lax, and sometimes dangerous oversight problems, this issue remains unresolved. It does not seem as if there are any immediate plans to correct this problem. No system of inspections is ever going to prevent every accident, but the creation of an Independent Office of Inspections would be a start.

    Posted by Janey Scaturro

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