New York City Site Safety Manager Exam

Key Concepts

Scope triggers — who and what is covered - Major building: an existing or proposed building 10 or more stories or 125 feet or more in height, or with a building footprint of 100,000 square feet or more regardless of height, or so designated by the commissioner due to unique hazards (BC 3302.1, Major Building). - A separate fire safety manager (not the site safety manager/coordinator) must be designated once a building under construction reaches 20 stories or more than 250 feet, or has lot coverage of 200,000 square feet or greater; below-grade stories count (FC 1408.1). - Watchperson: required during all non-working hours where an individual building being constructed or demolished has a footprint between 5,000 and 40,000 square feet; one additional watchperson for each additional 40,000 square feet or fraction thereof (BC 3303.3).

Site safety manager duties and limitations - The primary site safety manager or coordinator must perform (or ensure performance of) the inspections in Tables 1–9 at the prescribed intervals, at all times he or she is required to be present (1 RCNY §3310-01(a)). - Standpipe checks (Table 1) are daily — standpipe in place and capped at each story below the construction/demolition floor, valves in place, connection to water source and siamese, siamese unobstructed, red light and "Standpipe Siamese Connection" sign — except verifying no breach by visually tracing risers, cross connections and siamese connections,…

NYC Site Safety Manager Exam

Key Concepts

Construction documents (Title 28, Art. 104; BC 107) - An application for approval of construction documents is deemed abandoned 12 months after the date of its submission unless diligently prosecuted after rejection or a permit has been issued; the commissioner may grant extensions for additional 12-month periods — §28-104.2.3. - Documents accepted with less than full examination (professional certification) are stamped/endorsed "accepted," with the same force and effect as approval after full examination — §28-104.2.2. - All elevations must be referred to the North American vertical datum of 1988 (NAVD) as city datum — §28-104.7.6. - Work subject to special inspection must be listed on the title sheet, or the sheet immediately following — §28-104.7.7. - Landscape architects may file tree protection, erosion/sedimentation, grading and drainage, curb cut, pavement and urban plaza plans, but not stormwater management or plumbing systems — §28-104.6. - One plan set for several buildings of the same construction requires adjoining lots under the same ownership and simultaneous filing — BC 107.2.2. - The building classification statement identifies, among other items, whether the building is inside or outside the fire districts — BC 107.4. - Full demolition filings include two sets of photographs, received on behalf of the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Municipal Archives — BC 107.12. - A prior code building existed, or had a lawful erection permit issued,…

Key Concepts

Definitions (BC 3302.1) - Major building: 10 or more stories or 125 feet or more in height; or a footprint of 100,000 square feet or more regardless of height; or so designated by the commissioner due to unique hazards of construction or demolition. - Working deck (concrete construction): the level where the floor is being formed. - Stripping operations: removal on the floor of any parts of the concrete formwork, including shoring, bracing and other supports. - Soil or foundation work: excavation, fill, grading, augering, drilling (soil or rock); installation or removal of foundations, piles, underpinning, sheeting, shoring, or supports of excavation. Stripping of formwork is not soil or foundation work. - Concrete washout water exceptions: on-site mixed concrete ≤ 1½ cubic yards (1.146 m³); bagged ready mix ≤ sixty (60) eighty-pound bags, eighty (80) sixty-pound bags, or equivalent (Exception 1.2). - Critical pick: includes an article with wind sail area exceeding 500 square feet (46 m²). - Heavy duty scaffold: supported scaffold capable of supporting loads up to 75 psf (medium duty 50 psf; light duty 25 psf). - Steel joist (BC 2202.1): hot-rolled or cold-formed solid or open-web sections, riveted or welded bars, strip or sheet steel, slotted/expanded or deformed rolled sections. - Mass concrete (BC 1902): volume large enough to require measures for heat of hydration and volume change, to minimize cracking, reduction of compressive strength, and/or…

Key Concepts

Definitions (BC 3302.1) - Major building: an existing or proposed building 10 or more stories or 125 feet or more in height, or with a building footprint of 100,000 square feet or more regardless of height, or so designated by the commissioner. - Critical pick: attaching/detaching loads hoisted outside a building that is at or above 95 percent of approved rated capacity, has a wind sail area exceeding 500 square feet, is a tandem pick, etc. - Hoisting equipment does not include scaffolds, mast climbers, and elevators. - Mechanical demolition equipment excludes powered equipment used to move debris or material outside the building. - Reinstallation (scaffold): addition, relocation, or removal of any part, component, or attachment (counterweights, tie-backs, anchorages, connections) after initial installation. "Use" covers relocation only where no counterweight modification and no anchorage/tie-back/connection work is required. - Sustained wind: winds with a 1-minute average duration lasting for a 1-hour period or longer.

Site safety management (BC 3310) - Section 3310 applies to façade alteration/maintenance/repair of a major building only where the building is more than 14 stories or 200 feet and the façade work requires a sidewalk shed (3310.1, item 4). - A site safety coordinator may substitute for a manager on enlargement or partial demolition only where the building is less than 15 stories or 200 feet and the footprint is 100,000 square feet or less (exception to…

Key Concepts

Scaffold design and permits (BC 3314) - Supported/outrigger (thrust out) scaffolds must be designed by a registered design professional. Design is not required only where the scaffold is not an outrigger, no hoisting equipment with a manufacturer's rated capacity greater than 2,000 pounds is on it, it is not loaded or designed beyond 75 psf, it is less than 40 feet in height, side-arm/end-arm brackets support workers only, and it is a light, medium or heavy duty scaffold (§3314.3.1). - Before installing a suspended scaffold, support devices and the support surface are inspected by a qualified person (§3314.4.3.1); where parapet clamps are used, that qualified person must be a registered design professional (§3314.4.3.1.1).

Safeguards (§3314.4.4) - Capacity: own weight plus at least four times the maximum intended load; each suspension rope and its connecting hardware on a nonadjustable suspended scaffold must support at least six times the maximum intended load (§3314.4.4.3). - Work must cease where sustained winds or gusts exceed 30 mph on roofs, exterior to a building, on a working deck, or at an unenclosed perimeter; a lower manufacturer/designer speed governs instead (§3314.4.4.6). - Noncombustible construction (except planking): exterior scaffolds exceeding 75 feet; interior exceeding 21 feet; all scaffolds used in alteration, repair or partial demolition of Groups I-1 to I-4 (§3314.4.4.8).

Key Concepts

Definitions (BC 3302.1). A major building is an existing or proposed building 10 or more stories or 125 feet or more in height, or with a building footprint of 100,000 square feet or more regardless of height, or one so designated by the commissioner. Partial demolition is the dismantling, razing, or removal of structural members, floors, interior bearing walls, and/or exterior walls or portions thereof. Mechanical demolition equipment includes powered equipment that demolishes a building or its elements (within or exterior to it) or moves debris within the building; it does not include powered equipment moving debris or material outside the building. A handheld device (demolition) is held, lifted, moved, and operated by a single person and includes accessory items such as a compressor, but does not include remote controlled equipment. A competent person can identify predictable hazards and has authorization to take prompt corrective measures; a qualified person has degree/certificate/professional standing or knowledge, training and experience, with no authorization element. Hoisting equipment excludes scaffolds, mast climbers, and elevators. Material handling equipment moves horizontally. An unenclosed perimeter is any exterior portion not solidly enclosed with the permanent façade, including the windows, or any roof edge without permanent parapet or guardrail. Structural net complies with the prototype test in ANSI A10.11. Heavy duty sidewalk shed: live load at least 300 psf; light duty: at least 150 psf.