17K NYC Construction Workers Unable To Work After Company's Indictment
The mass deactivation begins Tuesday, officials said. Here's what to know: A criminal indictment was filed against Valor's senior executives and employees alleging that the company sold construction safety training identification cards to laborers without providing any actual training. The NYC Department of Buildings has deactivated any SST cards issued by Valor, which can be scanned by inspectors and contractors using a smart-phone app to verify its legitimacy. Construction workers with these cards will not be allowed to work on larger work sites in New York City until they are able to acquire a new SST card from a legitimate DOB-approved course provider. The DOB suspended Valor’s ability to provide new trainings and issue the safety cards last April due to “major inconsistencies” in training records provided by the company.
Published : a month ago by Nicole Rosenthal in Business
The criminal indictment filed in Manhattan Criminal Court on Feb. 28 against Valor’s senior executives and employees alleges the company with Coney Island headquarters sold construction safety training identification cards to laborers without providing any actual training. “Effective immediately, any SST cards that have been issued as a result of training certificates issued by Valor have been deactivated, and construction workers with these SST cards will no longer be allowed to work on the larger and more complex work sites in New York City until they are able to acquire a new SST card from a legitimate DOB-approved course provider,” the NYC Department of Buildings said in a news release Tuesday.
The cards, which are issued by more than 150 DOB-approved course providers, can be scanned by inspectors and contractors using a smart-phone app to ensure its legitimacy. Workers who try to enter a work site that requires the training with an invalidated card must be turned away, and contractors who look the other way will be subject to DOB enforcement actions, the agency said.
The DOB said it first suspended Valor’s ability to provide new trainings and issue the safety cards last April, when it first became aware of “major inconsistencies” in training records provided by Valor. About 17,000 of the total 20,000 invalidated safety cards are still active, and no new cards have been issued since the initial suspension. Agency officials are now reaching out to the workers with the cards, as well as contractors around the city, to urge affected individuals to get re-trained from a different provider to avoid work interruptions.
“The allegations made against Valor by our partners in the Manhattan DA’s office are disturbing, as they have allegedly allowed thousands of people to work on construction sites in our City without the required safety training,” Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Oddo said Tuesday. “The actions of this company put profits ahead of the safety of these workers and the public, which is something we cannot tolerate … to the construction industry members impacted by today’s announcement, I urge you to sign up for training courses as soon as possible with a legitimate training provider to get this critical safety training.”