NYC Local Law 196 and the SST card: what contractors need in 2026

If you run construction crews in New York City, Local Law 196 is one of the most consequential rules you deal with, because it decides whether your people are even allowed on site. It requires safety training well beyond the OSHA 30, tracked through a physical SST card that is checked at the gate. This guide explains who is covered, how many hours workers and supervisors need, and how the SST card works in 2026.

What Local Law 196 is

Local Law 196 of 2017 is a New York City law, enforced by the Department of Buildings (DOB), that mandates site safety training for construction and demolition workers on covered projects. It was phased in over several years and is now fully in effect. Its instrument is the SST card — a wallet-sized card a worker carries as proof they have completed the required training, which must be presented at site entry.

The hours required

There are two levels. Workers need a 40-hour SST card. That 40 hours is built on an OSHA 30 (or an accepted equivalent) plus NYC-specific safety modules — topics like fall prevention, drug and alcohol awareness, and other city-mandated content. Supervisors — construction superintendents, site safety coordinators and managers, and competent persons — need a 62-hour SST Supervisor card: the worker content plus additional supervisor-specific training. Workers typically build up to the full requirement through a mix of OSHA 30 and shorter SST courses, and there are limited-duration temporary cards that let new workers start while they complete the hours.

Who and what is covered

Local Law 196 applies to workers and supervisors on covered projects — broadly, NYC construction and demolition sites that require a Construction Superintendent, Site Safety Coordinator, or Site Safety Manager under Chapter 33 of the Building Code. In practice that captures major buildings (generally 10 or more stories or 100+ feet) and many smaller projects that trigger a superintendent requirement, as well as qualifying demolition. Smaller alteration jobs that do not require a superintendent may fall outside the law. If your project needs one of those safety roles, assume your workforce needs SST cards.

How the card works — and expires

The SST card is valid for five years, but it is not "train once and forget." Cardholders must complete continuing-education hours during that period — commonly around 8 hours per year of refresher training — to keep the card valid through its term. Employers are responsible for keeping records of their workers' training and for making sure everyone on a covered site holds the right card. The blunt reality is that a worker without a valid SST card can be refused entry, so a lapsed card is not a paperwork problem — it is a worker who cannot earn that day and a crew that is short.

Why tracking is the hard part

The training itself is a known quantity; the operational challenge is keeping every worker's card valid, tracking the continuing-education hours, and being able to prove it at the gate and to the DOB. Across a workforce with cards issued on different dates and refreshers due at different times, this is exactly the kind of expiry-tracking problem that trips crews up. Complys tracks each worker's SST card, OSHA 30 and every other certification with reminders before they lapse, so nobody is turned away and your covered-site records are always ready to show. If you hire across state lines too, our OSHA State Plans overview explains how requirements change by state.