The Department of Buildings has six staffers making life-or-death decisions on about 220 cranes operating in the Big Apple, while an obscure mayoral unit employs nearly triple the number of inspectors, earning a lot more money, to police potholes.
As the Street Conditions Observation Unit’s army of 15 inspectors goes about its important business of reporting rough streets and graffiti, the understaffed DOB Cranes and Derricks Unit continues to struggle in the wake of a March 15 crane collapse that killed seven people.
The DOB team is budgeted for eight inspectors, but one slot has been empty for six months, according to a city source. Another slot was vacated when inspector Edward Marquette was charged with falsifying reports.
To prop up the unit, on Friday the DOB entered into an emergency contract with an engineering firm to help agency inspectors with their current safety sweep of 30 tower-crane construction sites around the city, said a source.
Four engineers will visit sites with agency inspectors to conduct full-day safety checks. More engineers could be hired for the sweep, which is to be completed by April 15, the source said.
Since the tragic collapse – caused when a six-ton steel collar used to secure the crane came loose – the city’s crane-inspection system has come under glaring scrutiny. Some fear the small unit handles too many inspections, causing inspectors to rush and possibly miss safety violations.
This year, crane inspectors have averaged 3.2 inspections per day. Industry experts say a full day is needed to properly inspect a single crane job.
The Cranes and Derricks Unit is a small fraction of the 426 inspectors employed by the DOB. Other city agencies carry similarly large legions of inspectors – despite less pressing missions.
* The Parks Department has roughly 250 workers to inspect parkland. It declined to say how much the inspectors are paid.
* Two inspectors at the Landmarks Preservation Commission, earning salaries up to the low-$40,000 range, investigate reports of illegal work on historic buildings and ensure that landmarked structures stick to their original look.
* The Sanitation Department employs 46 inspectors to examine buildings’ recycling efforts and hand out fines to New Yorkers who aren’t separating recyclables from trash. The agency did not reveal its salary structure.
* The Business Integrity Commission has 24 inspectors earning up to $58,000 – about the same as crane inspectors. They provide oversight of wholesale markets, and the carting and shipboard-gambling industries.
The little-known Street Conditions Observation Unit’s 15 patrolmen cruise the five boroughs in three-wheeled vehicles looking for quality-of-life problems. A $1 million initiative started by the Mayor’s Office in August 2007, the unit seeks potholes, graffiti and illegally dumped trash.
While a representative of the unit could not be reached for comment yesterday, it is believed the average salaries for these inspectors – who were culled from the Sanitation, Transportation, Buildings, Housing Preservation and Environmental Protection departments – top $65,000.
Salaries for crane inspectors start at $47,864, and average $55,430.
“I have launched a full operational review of the Cranes and Derricks Unit to see if there are ways in which it can be improved,” Commissioner Patricia Lancaster told The Post. “As part of this review, we are considering the staffing level of the unit, the salaries for the personnel, and the qualifications needed to work there.”
jfanelli@nypost.com