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Average time to respond to hazardous material complaints and make safe (days)
Enforce City laws relating to air pollution, noise pollution and hazardous materials. — Investigate complaints in a timely manner.
Response times worsened for two distinct reasons in successive years: in FY24, DEP pointed to a small number of anonymous chemical-odor complaints that lacked enough location or callback detail to verify quickly, and in FY25 to a rise in complaints tied to damaged lithium-ion batteries combined with a staffing shortage in DEP's hazardous materials unit. DEP has since rolled out a new triage system with other City agencies that it credits with cutting response times substantially in early FY26.
Researched July 16, 2026 — DEP, Fiscal 2024 Mayor's Management Report, DEP, Fiscal 2025 Mayor's Management Report, DEP, Preliminary Fiscal 2026 Mayor's Management Report
* Year to date — this fiscal year isn't complete, so it's not compared against prior years in the target/trend status above.
View as table
| Fiscal year | Actual | Target |
|---|---|---|
| FY22 | 0.8 days | 85 days |
| FY23 | 0.3 days | 85 days |
| FY24 | 1 day | 1.5 days |
| FY25 | 2.5 days | 1.5 days |
| FY26 (YTD) | 2.3 days | 1.5 days |
Why this is tracked
Over Thanksgiving weekend in 1966, a thick smog of sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide blanketed New York City for days; a 1967 statistical analysis attributed roughly 168 deaths to the episode, one of the worst air pollution disasters in U.S. history. The event galvanized the nascent environmental movement and helped push Congress toward the 1967 Air Quality Act and 1970 Clean Air Act. DEP now enforces the City's own Air Pollution Control Code and Noise Code and responds to thousands of hazardous materials incidents a year, including asbestos violations and lithium-ion battery fires, carrying that public-health mandate forward at the local level.
1966 New York City smog - Wikipedia, DEP: Air Pollution & Regulations
Source: Bureau of Police and Security — via NYC Open Data: Mayor's Management Report, Agency Performance Indicators
Coverage shown: FY22–FY26, reported monthly.
Definition: The Average Time to respond to HazMat complaints (days) between receipt of a hazardous materials complaint to the time the condition is rendered safe and/or stable and no longer poses a risk to the public nor the environment.