New York construction has always been dangerous work — in 2024, city construction workers were more than six times as likely to die on the job as the average city worker. In 2026, the city is answering with its biggest package of new safety protocols in years, aimed at the three places accidents start: unsupervised sites, untrained workers, and buildings left to decay. One Superintendent, One Job The headline change is Local Law 149, effective January 1, 2026: a primary construction superintendent may now oversee only one active project at a time. The rule ends the old practice of one … Continued

New York City is building again. Construction spending is forecast to reach $79.8 billion in 2026, up $10 billion from last year, according to the New York Building Congress, with $242.9 billion expected over the three years through 2028. Housing is driving the boom, and the next five years look strong — if the policy winds hold. Housing Leads the Way Residential work is the engine: nearly $27 billion in 2026, and 64 percent higher over 2026–2028 than the previous three years. Permits are expected for roughly 31,500 new homes this year — up from 19,724 in 2025 — rising … Continued

Construction has always been an industry built on experience, hard hats, and tight deadlines — and, too often, tight margins. Artificial intelligence is now giving builders a powerful new tool: the ability to see problems before they happen, plan with far greater precision, and keep workers safer on every job site. Safer Job Sites AI-powered cameras and sensors can spot hazards in real time — a worker without a helmet, an overloaded scaffold, a vehicle entering a restricted zone — and alert supervisors instantly. Wearable devices track fatigue and heat stress, while predictive models flag the riskiest tasks before anyone … Continued

New York’s Scaffold Law is the strictest worker-protection rule in American construction — and, builders argue, the most expensive. Enacted in 1885 as Labor Law §240, it makes property owners and general contractors absolutely liable for gravity-related injuries on a job site: a fall from a scaffold or ladder, or a worker struck by a falling object. The worker’s own negligence is no defense, and no other state has anything like it. The Insurance Bill That absolute liability is what insurers price. A single serious-injury verdict under the law can exceed $5 million to $10 million in New York City, … Continued

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration sets the rules every American employer must follow to keep workers safe, and compliance starts with knowing what applies to you. Under the OSH Act’s General Duty Clause, every employer must provide a workplace free from recognized hazards, and on top of that sit detailed standards: 29 CFR 1910 for general industry and 29 CFR 1926 for construction. The rules cover nearly every private-sector employer. Build a Safety Program The foundation is a written safety and health program. Walk the workplace and assess hazards — falls, electrical risks, machinery, chemical exposures — then put … Continued

Every rule Washington writes carries a price tag, and for years that price kept climbing. By the end of the last administration, new federal rules had added roughly $1.8 trillion in costs — about $10,000 per household, with EPA rules alone accounting for more than $1.3 trillion. For a small business, compliance is not an abstraction: the owner spends weeks a year on paperwork, permits and reporting instead of serving customers. Deregulation is the effort to give that money and time back. The Ten-for-One RuleThe centerpiece is Executive Order 14192, signed in January 2025, which requires agencies to eliminate ten … Continued