Board Urges City to Create Program to Track Construction Safety

March 23, 2015 — Tram-Thuy Nguyen, 37, died in Bellevue Hospital after being fatally struck by a sheet of plywood that was ripped away by high winds from a condo construction site where St. Vincent's Hospital used to be. The incident happened just days after plexiglass fell onto two parked cars from One57, and just a few weeks after a falling piece of drywall seriously injured a construction worker inside a luxury TriBeCa apartment building. Nguyen's death has been described as a freak accident, but Community Board 2 chair, Tobi Bergman, told DNAinfo that "there are indeed freak accidents in the world that may be unavoidable." The board is therefore reportedly calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Department of Buildings (DOB) to "create a program, similar to the Vision Zero traffic safety initiative, that would shine a light on construction accidents around the city." According to DNAinfo, the mayor's office did not directly address the resolution, but quoted de Blasio spokesperson Wiley Norvel in an e-mail saying: "There is no higher priority for the Department of Buildings, or this administration, than safety. That’s why [DOB] Commissioner [Rick] Chandler is spearheading changes that will improve compliance at building sites to protect workers and the public."