NYC DOB Revokes Thousands of Worker Safety Cards Issued by Company Accused of 'Sham' Training School

NYC DOB Revokes Worker Safety Cards Issued by Alleged 'Sham' Training Company

Construction workers on large projects in New York City are required to go through 40 hours of safety training by an approved provider.

Image courtesy of New York City Dept. of Buildings

Thousands of construction workers in New York City holding Site Safety Training cards issued by Valor Consulting will need to undergo safety training from a different company in order to keep working as the city Dept. of Buildings disabled the cards and announced its intent to revoke the company’s status as an approved SST course provider.

Valor and six of its executives and employees are facing criminal charges announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in February. Prosecutors say the company ran a "sham" safety training school and issued SST cards without providing the training. Under the city’s Local Law 196, workers on large construction projects need at least 40 hours of safety training from a Buildings Dept.-approved provider.

Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Oddo said in a statement that the department needed to invalidate Valor-issued training cards “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.”

Of the 20,000 SST cards that Valor issued, 17,000 which were still active, Buildings Dept. officials said. Following the invalidation of those cards, there are still more than 360,000 construction workers in the city with active SST cards issued by other approved training providers.

There are more than 150 Buildings Dept.-approved SST providers. A list is available online.

Officials say they suspended Valor’s ability to issue SST cards in April 2023, and that they have been reaching out to workers and contractors over the past month to tell them to get legitimate SST training.

Buildings Dept. officials warn that workers attempting to enter a jobsite where SST training is required will be turned away if they have a card issued by Valor. Any contractors that allow workers to enter without a required valid SST card could also face enforcement action.

Eligible workers can receive training at no cost through the NYC Dept. of Small Business Services. Information about the program is available on the department’s website.

A hearing in the case against Valor is scheduled for April 3, court records show.

James Leggate is an online news editor at ENR. He has reported on a variety of issues for more than 10 years and his work has contributed to several regional Associated Press Media Editors and Murrow award wins.