DOI ARRESTS SITE SAFETY REPRESENTATIVE ON A CHARGE OF POSSESSING FRAUDULENT SAFETY CERTIFICATES

  Mark G. Peters, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), announced today the arrest of an individual in charge of site safety at the renovation of the New York City Housing Authority’s (“NYCHA”) Fulton Houses Community Center in Manhattan on a charge of possessing fraudulent safety training certificates. This site safety representative is required to hold a 30-hour safety certification issued by training centers approved by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) and provided to construction workers who successfully complete a comprehensive safety program that provides information on OSHA compliance issues. These Site Safety representatives are responsible for the enforcement of all OSHA and government construction regulations, all NYCHA-approved site safety plans, informing workers of safety deficiencies, and maintaining a log of hazardous materials used at the work site, among other duties. Based on information provided by NYCHA, DOI investigators requested the Site Safety representative produce his OSHA safety credentials and, when he did, DOI investigators determined the certificates were fraudulent. The office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., is prosecuting the case.

  DOI Commissioner Mark G. Peters said, “Individuals overseeing site safety are charged with making sure that construction sites are safe and workers are not injured. This manager, instead, relied upon false documents at a site with multiple other safety problems. Professionals who place construction workers in danger will not be tolerated and will face arrest."

  ANDREAS TSAMOS, 49, of Whitestone, N.Y., was arrested Friday, November 3, 2017, at the construction site and charged with Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Third Degree, a class A misdemeanor. Upon conviction, a class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to one year’s incarceration. TSAMOS was arraigned on Friday and released on his own recognizance. His next court date is December 5, 2017, in New York County Criminal Court.

  On Thursday, November 2, 2017, DOI investigators found numerous safety problems at NYCHA’s Fulton Houses Community Center in Manhattan, including an emergency fire exit door locked from the outside preventing workers from exiting during an emergency, a fall protection guardrail system missing where work was being done, and a scaffold was installed without any fall protection guardrail system. NYCHA ordered the contractor to correct the safety problems. City Department of Buildings’ inspectors evaluated the site Friday, November 3, 2017, and found no outstanding safety issues.

  According to the criminal complaint, also on Friday, November 3, 2017, DOI investigators asked TSAMOS, who works for Gem Quality Corporation of Brooklyn, to provide his safety credentials. The defendant 2 provided two certificates – one for a 10-hour-approved OSHA course and a second certificate for a 30-hourapproved OSHA course. Both certificates bore the same training completion date and did not indicate the course names. DOI observed that the certificates indicated the defendant took his training courses at “360Training.com”. DOI confirmed with the training company that no individual with the defendant’s name completed training courses on the date of the certificates. Additionally, the training company informed DOI that its certificates bear course names.

TSAMOS was arrested on Friday, November 3, 2017, and removed from the site. NYCHA shut down the site, which remained closed Monday, November 6, 2017, until a new site safety representative is submitted for NYCHA’s approval.

  DOI Commissioner Peters thanked NYCHA Chair and Chief Executive Officer Shola Olatoye and her staff for their cooperation and assistance in this investigation. Commissioner Peters also thanked Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and his staff for their assistance on this investigation. 

  The investigation was conducted by DOI’s Office of the Inspector General for NYCHA, specifically Special Investigator/Investigative Auditor David Haynes and Investigative Engineer Kris Kingpayom, under the supervision of Deputy Inspectors General Edward Bradley and Doug Schneider, Inspector General Ralph Iannuzzi, Associate Commissioner James Flaherty, Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Michael Carroll and First Deputy Commissioner Lesley Brovner. 

A criminal complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.