Some sidewalk sheds pose a hazard

From New York World:

Sidewalk sheds have become a fixture of New York City’s landscape, with the number of permits more than doubling since 1998 to nearly 10,000.

The sheds are mandated by the city whenever construction, remodeling or demolition is taking place and several private contractors specialize in building the structures.

But the city’s effort to ensure that the structures are safe and effective has faltered, a New York World investigation found.

Among the findings:

● A special Scaffold Safety Team, created in late 2007 by the Bloomberg administration to monitor construction scaffolds and sidewalks sheds, has seen its staff reduced from 14 field inspectors in 2008 to 9 in 2013.
● The number of violations issued for faulty sheds has plummeted, from 855 in 2009 to 337 in 2013.
● At least 39 pedestrians and construction workers have been injured since January 2011 in accidents involving sidewalk sheds

While no deaths have been recorded over the last four years, victims have suffered serious injuries, including concussions and electric shock.

In most cases reviewed by the World, the shed collapse occurred during the construction or removal of the shed, as the result of falling construction debris, or from high winds.

There are also instances when sidewalk sheds fail but no one happened to be walking under the shed at the time.

The World found a dozen cases between 2012 and 2013 when portions of a sidewalk shed collapsed without injury to pedestrians or workers.

For instance, on February 1, 2013, a sidewalk shed partially collapsed outside of the Hanson Place Central Methodist Church in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn.

The DOB issued a violation against the church for failing to maintain the shed, and the inspector noted that additional sections of the shed were in danger of collapsing.