Association of Contracting Plumbers Raises $103,000 For Special Olympics

The Association of Contracting Plumbers of the City of New York, Inc. held its annual “Plumbing Industry Day” Charity Golf Outing on May 6th. The charity chosen this year was the Special Olympics NYC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that helps athletes with intellectual disabilities have the opportunity to challenge themselves in fair and even competition.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded Special Olympics in 1968. Just one year later, Dorothy Buehring Phillips inaugurated the program in New York—and the state sent its first delegation of athletes and coaches to the Northeast Regional Special Olympics competition in Boston, Mass. Special Olympics New York was incorporated in 1970 with Phillips as its first State Director. In June 1970, Rochester hosted the first State Summer Games. Today, Special Olympics New York is the largest program in the United States and one of the largest in the world. The Mission of Special Olympics New York is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-style sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community.

Several of the athletes attended the golf outing and showed off their impressive skills. The ACP is pleased to report that $103,000 was donated to the Special Olympics NYC. Thank you to everyone who made the day a success!

Plumbing Foundation Hosts Table at 2019 ASPE Plumbing & Fire Protection Expo

On May 23, 2019, The Plumbing Foundation City of New York, Inc. hosted a table at the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) 2019 Expo on Plumbing and Fire Protection. April McIver, Executive Director, and Susana Collado, Administrative Assistant, discussed the importance of the Plumbing Foundation’s mission and the need for collaboration of all NYC plumbing industry stakeholders.

2019 Plumbing Industry Promotion Fund Scholarship Award Winners

The Plumbing Industry Promotion Fund of New York City held its annual awards ceremony for recipients of its 2019 scholarship on May 22nd. Each student was awarded an annual $2,000 scholarship. The Promotion Fund provides $100,000 in scholarships each year, to help defray their higher education costs over their next four years of college. The Plumbing Industry Promotion Fund of New York City has been awarding scholarships for over 30 years. To date, the Promotion Fund has disbursed over $1.2 million to more than 420 students. Participants in the scholarship Program may attend any accredited college, university, or approved technical institution in the United States, and may select any course of study.

DOB Procedure For Handling L2 Requests

On June 4, 2019, the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) Limited Alteration Application (LAA) Division shared with the industry a step-by-step guide on requesting L2 overrides, waivers, and reductions.

How to request L2 override/waiver/reduction requests to DOBNOW LAA: Fill out an L2 form and save it to your desktop and please use one of the following methods:

• Go to www.nyc.gov/dobnowhelp and fill out the fields, selecting:
  • Module: Build
  • Project/Filing Type: LAA
  • Question Category: Request Override, Reduction or Waiver
  • Job/Filing Reference Number Type: Job Filing Number
  • Reference Number: DOB NOW: Build LAA job filing number
  • Supporting Information Upload: select Choose File and clicking Browse to select the form that you saved to your desktop
  • Enter your name, phone and email address, and click Send.
• Uploading large L2
  • The subject line of L2 email must include:
    • Address of the LAA
    • The job number
    • A brief description of the emergency “for expedite requests only”

The email address is DLAAL2@buildings.nyc.gov. If a permit holder has any objections, he/she may request an appointment by calling 212-393-2406 or emailing the above email address. Appointment hours are Mondays and Wednesdays 10:00am-12:30pm.

DOB also notified the industry the current turn around on all non-expedited requests is currently 7-10 days.

Enforcement of Operator Qualification in Covered Task 87

As of April 15, 2019, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (“Con Ed”) and the Brooklyn Union Gas Company d/b/a National Grid (“Nat Grid”) began enforcing Operator Qualification in Covered Task 87 (conducting interior jurisdictional piping construction and maintenance activities). Only New York City licensed master plumbers (LMPs) and those working under NYC LMPs holding Operator Qualification in CT87 (i.e. they are in the Plumbing Foundation’s GOQ membership program and have obtained the e-Wallet Photo ID Card) will be accepted by the Utility Companies for certain construction and maintenance functions.

As a reminder, Task 87 covers: “…isolation of piping systems (with approval from the Operator); purging of interior piping systems; making piping connections between interior deenergized piping systems and isolated, engerized piping systems, and constructing meter header assemblies, meter bars, and pressure regulator vent piping assemblies.”

The Utilities have or will be updating their instruction manuals (Yellow Book and Blue Book) and training their inspectors on how verification will occur in the field.

NOTE: This is DIFFERENT than Local Law 150 of 2016 NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) gas qualification requirements.

Any further questions on GOQ please visit the Foundation’s website or email GOQmembership@plumbingfoundation.nyc.

Important DOB Service Updates

The NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) has issued several important services updates which can be accessed on its website at
www1.nyc.gov/site/buildings/business/service-updates.page.

First, DOB notified the industry that effective July 12, 2019 Gas Test and Gas Finish self-certifications will no longer be allowed for work done in the Bronx and Queens. A physical inspection witnessed by the Department of Buildings will be required. All inspections must be requested using DOB NOW: Inspections.

In addition, DOB announced that effective July 1, 2019, all new applications for the Mechanical Systems (MS), Structural (ST), Plumbing (PL)/Sprinkler (SP)/Standpipe (SD) work types will be mandatory to submit in DOB NOW: Build.

DOB also notified the industry that effective June 2, 2019, Fire Alarm (FA), Fire Suppression (FP), and Fire Protection Plan (FPP) work types will no longer be filed with the Department of Buildings. Applicants must file these work types with The Fire Department (FDNY) and pay the filing fees to FDNY.

Finally, DOB announced that the Local Law 196 Site Safety Training requirements have been pushed back. The deadlines are now as follows: workers at job sites that must designate a Construction Superintendent, Site Safety Coordinator, or Site Safety Manager must have 30 hours of site safety training by December 1, 2019 and an additional 10 hours of training by September 1, 2020. Supervisors will need 62 hours of training by the December 1, 2019 deadline.

The Plumbing Foundation strongly recommends licensees frequently check the DOB Service Update website to ensure compliance with all policy changes.

DEP Launching Water Conservation & Reuse Grant Program

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is launching a new Water Conservation and Reuse Grant program this July. Conservation projects must propose a savings of at least one-million gallons of water per year and projects must cover the cost for replacement of inefficient fixtures and more. Substantial costs can be saved by participating. Applications will be open until October 2019. More information will be available on the DEP’s website.

Any questions or to apply, please email waterconservation@dep.nyc.gov.

THE PLUMBING FOUNDATION’S ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT

Since its establishment in 1986, the Plumbing Foundation has worked diligently to ensure the plumbing industry has as little a “carbon footprint” on New York City as possible. The plumbing industry has historically utilized environmentally friendly materials such as recycled cast-iron and copper piping/fittings. The Foundation will continue in its role of protecting New York City as well as being an advocate for the environment by strengthening its water/sanitary regulations and thereby reducing wasteful water consumption in the City.

Lawrence J. Levine, Chairman; Thomas Maniuszko, Vice Chairman; Louis J. Buttermark, Treasurer; April McIver, Executive Director; Terence O’Brien, Editor. Board of Directors: George Bassolino, Paul Belli, Marc Breslaw, Louis J. Buttermark, Harris Clark, Angelo Lemodetis, Lawrence J. Levine, Adam Levy, Thomas Maniusko, Andrew Moran, Barr Rickman, Richard Turchiano