All topics / Infrastructure and Sustainability / Department of Buildings
Construction-related injuries
Ensure the safe and lawful use of buildings and properties by enforcing the Building Code and the Zoning Resolution. — Prevent construction-related fatalities and injuries.
Injuries rose through fiscal 2023 alongside a construction boom, then fell sharply as DOB rolled out new safety measures: stricter enforcement of Local Law 196's mandatory 40-hour worker safety training, and a Calendar 2024 rule cutting the number of sites one construction superintendent can oversee from five to three. DOB reports these efforts helped cut injuries by 42 percent from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2025, with the decline continuing into fiscal 2026.
Researched July 15, 2026 — DOB, Fiscal 2025 Mayor's Management Report, NYC Mayor's Office, "Mayor Adams and DOB Commissioner Oddo Release Annual Construction Safety Report" (Apr. 25, 2025)
* Year to date — this fiscal year isn't complete, so it's not compared against prior years in the target/trend status above. The dashed marker projects a full-year estimate at the current year-to-date pace.
View as table
| Fiscal year | Actual |
|---|---|
| FY22 | 487 injuries |
| FY23 | 658 injuries |
| FY24 | 625 injuries |
| FY25 | 363 injuries |
| FY26 (YTD) | 231 injuries |
| FY26 (projected) | ~308 injuries |
Why this is tracked
New York's modern building-safety bureaucracy grew out of tragedy: a "Superintendent of Buildings" post was created in 1860 after the Elm Street fire on the Lower East Side killed 20 people, and the 1901 Tenement House Act created a citywide Buildings Bureau after investigators documented dangerous, overcrowded housing conditions. A unified, citywide Department of Buildings was established in 1936. Today DOB enforces the Building Code and Zoning Resolution across more than a million buildings, issuing permits, licensing trades, and responding to structural emergencies.
Source: Incident database maintained by the FDC of Development & Tech Affairs Unit — via NYC Open Data: Mayor's Management Report, Agency Performance Indicators
Coverage shown: FY22–FY26, reported monthly.
Definition: The total number of persons injured (fatalities and non-fatalities) as a result of construction activity. This includes injuries occurring at a construction site or related to an incident at a construction site.