DOB strengthens inspection oversight following Comptroller’s audit
New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer released a new audit of the Department of Buildings (DOB) revealing the agency’s consistent failure to properly account for its inspections of amusement devices and rides often found at street fairs and in New York City’s amusement parks and public parks. The audit identified widespread inconsistencies in inspection records, reflecting deficient oversight at the DOB. In one example, 86 percent of the random spot checks of these devices reportedly performed by the DOB Elevator Unit and sampled in the Comptroller’s audit were not recorded on the rides’ DOB-issued compliance certificates, known as “green cards.” Further, DOB inspection records indicate that hundreds of inspections were made on devices that other DOB records stated were no longer in operation, suggesting that these records are inaccurate and unreliable. Following the Comptroller’s audit, DOB has agreed to integrate inspection results into DOB NOW, an updated system for tracking inspections, which could streamline and strengthen the oversight process.
“Part of what makes New York City such a great place to raise a family is that our communities have the space and opportunity to come together in celebration. That’s why we can’t take chances with inspections or the safety of New Yorkers,” said Comptroller Stringer. “The lack of oversight and management at the Department of Buildings has put hundreds of inspections in question and may have led to a waste of taxpayer money. Our audit is pushing the Department of Buildings to make fundamental changes in how it ensures inspections are completed and tracked, and that means more fun and peace of mind for New Yorkers.”
Amusement devices include permanent, temporary, and portable rides – all of which must pass an initial inspection performed by DOB’s Elevator Unit before receiving a license for public use at a street fair, carnival, or amusement park. While permanent devices must receive an inspection roughly every 120 days, temporary devices, often seen at street fairs, receive an inspection every time they are set up at a location and are approved for a period of not more than two weeks at a time.
According to DOB rules, all amusement devices across New York City are subject to random spot checks while in use to ensure that devices are operated safely, are on level ground, and that operators are following safety requirements such as enforcing height requirements and making sure that riders lock their seatbelts. Spot checks constitute the vast majority – 95 percent – of amusement device inspections by DOB and are performed solely during inspectors’ overtime hours.
The Comptroller’s audit surveyed nine locations across all five boroughs and reviewed 1,857 spot checks reportedly made by DOB’s Elevator Unit between January 1, 2016 through July 25, 2018, and reviewed DOB’s checklists of 242 periodic inspections of permanent amusement park devices, to determine the accuracy and reliability of the inspection process.
Findings include:
86 Percent of Sampled Random Inspections of Amusement Devices Cannot be Verified
Inspectors are required to record results of periodic inspections on “green cards” assigned to each amusement device. For random spot checks, however, DOB requires its inspectors to sign only one green card — for one device — at each amusement park or street fair they visit, which is supposed to signify that the inspector checked all the devices at the location. However, that practice was not consistently followed.
Auditors found instances in which all green cards at a location were signed, other instances where some, but not all, green cards were signed, and instances where only one green card was signed. As a result of DOB’s inconsistent practice, of the 1,857 spot checks sampled in the audit, only 267 (14 percent) were recorded on the devices’ green cards. The absence of consistent green card recording means that 86 percent of sampled spot checks reported in DOB’s central Buildings Information System (BIS) could not be verified by the Comptroller’s office or by DOB. As a practical matter, the spot checks reported in BIS cannot be readily verified to determine whether they happened and whether the reported results are accurate.
Missing and Unreliable DOB Records
DOB has a significant and longstanding backlog of inspection results to be recorded, making DOB’s internal tracking system unreliable. As a result, the Comptroller’s audit found:
- While a review of green cards for sampled devices show that 94 percent of the 176 periodic inspections were recorded as performed, only 41 percent of those inspections were recorded into BIS – DOB’s central data system.
- While, according to DOB officials, every device set up in New York City must receive at least one spot check during operation, DOB’s BIS database shows:
- For the 119 devices active in 2016, 31 percent had no record of a spot check.
- For the 124 devices active in 2017, 19 percent had no record of a spot check.
- For the 114 devices active in 2018, 13 percent had no record of a spot check.
- While some devices received just one or two spot checks over the course of three years, another 52 devices received anywhere from 44 to 265 spot checks, revealing a potential waste of resources from inspector overtime and lax oversight of device inspections.
- DOB records aren’t just missing, in some cases they appear to be wildly inaccurate.
- DOB incorrectly reported that multiple spot checks were performed for a device at Luna Park in Coney Island that was not set-up and not in use – in fact, it was removed from service the prior year.
- Following this discovery, the audit team comprehensively reviewed DOB listings for “removed” devices against its listings of inspections for “active” devices and identified an additional 16 devices that, according to DOB, received a total of 294 inspections despite being listed in the agency’s own records as “removed” and not operational.
Audit Leads to Stronger DOB Procedures
DOB agreed with the audit’s finding that the agency’s recordkeeping had issues – and agreed to implement the Comptroller’s recommendations including, but not limited to:
- Ensure adequate oversight of the inspections of amusement devices, including by developing written procedures detailing management’s responsibilities for monitoring and reviewing data related to spot checks and periodic inspections, and ensuring that management performs regular reviews.
- Generate periodic reports of spot checks to ensure that all devices are receiving at least one spot check annually, and to ensure that resources are being used efficiently.
- Ensure that inspectors are entering the inspections into DOB NOW on the day they are conducted, implement a plan to eliminate the entry backlog for amusement device inspections, and ensure that going forward inspections are recorded timely.
- Implement procedures for tracking temporary and portable devices and their associated inspections.
