Is OSHA 10 Required in New York?
New York has two separate OSHA-10 requirements layered on top of each other, and they are easy to confuse. A state law reaches large public-work contracts anywhere in New York State. A separate New York City ordinance reaches construction sites inside the five boroughs and demands more than the federal card alone. This page explains both.
Does New York State require OSHA 10 by law?
Yes, New York Labor Law 220-h requires OSHA-10 certification before performing any work on a public work contract, when the state or a municipality is a party and the total contract cost is at least $250,000.
The requirement covers every laborer, worker, and mechanic employed on that contract's public-work site, by the contractor, a subcontractor, or any other person doing the work. It is written into the advertised contract specifications rather than administered as an individual licensing scheme, and it does not reach private construction or public-work contracts below the $250,000 threshold.
Does New York City require anything beyond the state's OSHA-10 mandate?
Yes, under NYC Local Law 196, workers on a site requiring a Site Safety Plan must hold a Site Safety Training card documenting at least 40 hours, and supervisors need a 62-hour card, both valid five years.
OSHA Outreach training is an explicit, credited input toward the 40-hour worker card, not a separate parallel requirement:
| Worker option | Components | Total hours |
|---|---|---|
| Option 1 | 30-Hour OSHA + 8-Hour Fall Prevention + 2-Hour Mental Health Awareness | 40 |
| Option 2 | 10-Hour OSHA + 8-Hour Fall Prevention + 8-Hour Site Safety + 4-Hour Supported Scaffold User/Refresher + 2-Hour Mental Health Awareness + 4-Hour General Electives + 4-Hour Special Electives | 40 |
A worker who completed OSHA-10 or OSHA-30 within the past 5 years is eligible for a 6-month SST Temporary Card while completing the balance of the required hours.
What changed with Local Law 10 of 2026?
Local Law 10 of 2026, effective August 1, 2026, replaced the prior 2-Hour Drug and Alcohol Awareness component of the NYC Site Safety Training curriculum with a 2-Hour Mental Health Awareness component, changing one input in both worker options above.
Workers who completed their SST hours under the older Drug and Alcohol Awareness component before the effective date are not required to retake that specific module; the change applies to training completed on or after August 1, 2026.
Who enforces these requirements, and what is the penalty for noncompliance?
Enforcement for the NYC Site Safety Training rule falls on the site owner, permit holder, and employer rather than the worker, with penalties as high as $5,000 per untrained worker and $2,500 for a training-log failure.
For the state-level Labor Law 220-h requirement, the certification obligation is written into the public-work contract specifications themselves, meaning a contractor that fails to certify workers risks the contract compliance mechanism rather than a separate individual-worker fine.
Does New York operate its own state OSHA plan?
New York operates an OSHA-approved State Plan through the PESH Bureau, but that plan covers only state and local government workers, not the private-sector OSHA-10 mandate described above, which comes from Labor Law 220-h.
No OSHA-10 or OSHA-30 training mandate was found in the PESH state-initiated standards for government workers; private-sector New York workers remain under direct federal OSHA jurisdiction for general enforcement, separate from the public-work certification requirement.
Related pages
- OSHA 10 Requirements by State - the full hub, with the comparison table of every confirmed mandate jurisdiction
- OSHA 10 Requirements: Hours, Tracks, and Card Rules - the federal baseline rules that apply on top of New York's statute
- OSHA 10 vs. OSHA 30 - how the NYC Site Safety Training options use each level differently
- Is OSHA 10 Required in Nevada? - another mandate state, with a dual-industry statute instead of a dollar threshold
- Cost - dated pricing across every OSHA-authorized provider
Sources
| Fact | Value | Authority | URL | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State public-work mandate | Labor Law 220-h, contracts >= $250,000 | New York State Senate | https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/220-H | 2026-08-04 |
| NYC worker SST card | 40 hours, valid 5 years | NYC Department of Buildings | https://www.nyc.gov/site/buildings/safety/sst-worker-information.page | 2026-08-04 |
| NYC supervisor SST card | 62 hours, valid 5 years | NYC Department of Buildings | https://www.nyc.gov/site/buildings/safety/sst-worker-information.page | 2026-08-04 |
| NYC temporary card eligibility | 6 months, if OSHA 10/30 completed within past 5 years | NYC Department of Buildings | https://www.nyc.gov/site/buildings/safety/sst-worker-information.page | 2026-08-04 |
| NYC penalty schedule | $5,000/untrained worker; $2,500/training-log failure | NYC Department of Buildings | https://www.nyc.gov/site/buildings/safety/sst-worker-information.page | 2026-08-04 |
| Local Law 10 of 2026 curriculum change | 2-Hr Drug/Alcohol Awareness replaced with 2-Hr Mental Health Awareness, effective 2026-08-01 | NYC Department of Buildings | https://www.nyc.gov/site/buildings/safety/sst-worker-information.page | 2026-08-04 |
| PESH State Plan scope | State and local government workers only | U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA | https://www.osha.gov/stateplans/ny | 2026-08-04 |
Frequently asked questions
Does the state's $250,000 threshold apply per contract or per project?
Labor Law 220-h applies to the total cost of all work under the specific public-work contract; it is a contract-level threshold, not a per-worker or per-trade one.
If I already have an SST card, do I still need a plain OSHA-10 card for a job outside NYC?
Yes, the SST card is a New York City-specific credential; a public-work job elsewhere in New York State governed by Labor Law 220-h requires the underlying OSHA-10 or OSHA-30 certification, not the NYC SST card specifically.
Does completing OSHA-30 satisfy more of the NYC 40-hour worker requirement than OSHA-10?
Yes. Option 1 uses the 30-hour OSHA course plus only 10 additional hours (Fall Prevention and Mental Health Awareness) to reach 40, while Option 2 using the 10-hour OSHA course requires 30 additional hours across five other named components to reach the same 40-hour total.
Is the SST card renewal automatic after 5 years?
No, the SST card is valid for 5 years from issuance and then requires renewal training; check the NYC Department of Buildings' own current renewal requirements before the card's expiration date.
Does Labor Law 220-h apply to a private construction job in New York City?
No, Labor Law 220-h applies only to public-work contracts of $250,000 or more anywhere in New York State; private construction in New York City is instead governed by NYC's own Local Law 196 Site Safety Training requirement described above, not by Labor Law 220-h.