New York Construction Report staff writer
Site Safety Training cards issued by Valor Consulting are no longer valid and more than 17,000 construction workers will have to complete safety training to keep working, the City of New York Dept. of Buildings announced this week. Also, the company’s status as an approved SST course provider has been revoked.
The action follows a criminal indictment filed in Manhattan Criminal Court against senior executives and employees at Valor Consulting for allegedly selling construction safety training identification cards to workers, without providing any of the required safety 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.
“In an industry as dangerous as construction in New York City, fraud can mean life or death. I applaud Commissioner Oddo and everyone at DOB for taking regulatory action that could save lives following our indictment of Valor Security for allegedly operating a massive sham safety school,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “Alongside our partners at the Department of Buildings and Department of Investigation, we are determined to root out crime that puts hardworking New Yorkers at risk.”
Local Law 196 requires workers on large construction sites to have at least 40 hours of safety training from a Buildings Dept.-approved provider.
“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,” said Commissioner Oddo. “The actions of this company put profits ahead of the safety of these workers and the public, which is something we cannot tolerate.
“The invalidation of Valor-issued training identification cards was done because we cannot in good conscience continue to allow untrained workers on these work sites, where they are potentially posing a danger to themselves and their colleagues. 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.”
The DOB originally suspended Valor’s ability to provide training and issue SST cards in April 2023, when it first became aware of major inconsistencies in Valor’s training records. To date this suspension has remained in effect.
Since there are serious questions about the legitimacy of any Valor training certificates, DOB has disabled all of the more than 20,000 Valor SST cards in circulation, of which approximately 17,000 are currently active.
DOB has conducted direct outreach to the construction professionals with these cards as well as contractors citywide, urging these individuals to get legitimate SST training from a different course provider as soon as possible to avoid any interruptions in their ability to work.
Wallet-sized SST identification cards, issued by over 150 different DOB-approved course providers around the City, can be scanned by inspectors and contractors out in the field using a smart-phone app, which will immediately inform the user whether an SST card is valid or not. Workers that attempt to enter a work site that requires the training with an invalidated card must be turned away from the site. If a contractor allows a worker without a valid SST card to enter their work site, they could be subject to enforcement actions from DOB.
To obtain information about DOB-approved course provider who offer training, construction workers can visit this page of the Department’s website.
“The Building Trades is proud to have supported the establishment of these robust safety requirements for all construction workers and is thankful that Commissioner Oddo is taking their enforcement seriously,” said Gary LaBarbera, President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York (BCTC). “Under the Commissioner’s leadership, the Department of Buildings is undertaking this critical work to ensure only legitimate providers are delivering these training services, which is vital to making construction sites safer for all.”
