The SST Card in NYC: What Changed on August 1, 2026

If you work construction in New York City, an OSHA card alone does not get you on site. You need a Site Safety Training card, and the rules for getting one changed on August 1, 2026. This guide is written off the Department of Buildings' own page, read that day. You can see the requirement and the quoted rule here.

What changed this month

The Department of Buildings retired one course and replaced it with another:

2 -Hour Drug and Alcohol Awareness may not be delivered beginning August 1,2026. 2-Hour Mental Health Awareness replaces it.

If you are reading an older guide, or a provider's page that has not been updated, you may still see Drug and Alcohol Awareness listed as part of the path. It no longer counts. This follows Local Law 10 of 2026, which took effect on May 3 and added mental health, suicide prevention and substance misuse topics to Site Safety Training.

Who needs the card

Local Law 196 of 2017 applies to construction and demolition workers on any job site that has a Construction Superintendent, Site Safety Coordinator, or Site Safety Manager. The DOB lists the roles it covers: construction and demolition workers, superintendents, site safety coordinators and managers, concrete safety managers, competent persons, journeypersons, forepersons, and employees of DOB licensees or registrants.

Workers need a card showing at least 40 hours. Supervisors need 62 hours.

The part most people get wrong

An OSHA-authorized provider cannot issue your SST card. The DOB keeps its own separate registry:

NYC construction workers and supervisors can complete their Site Safety Training (SST) courses through any DOB-Registered Course Provider authorized to issue SST cards.

Being on OSHA's authorized list and being on the DOB's registered list are two different things. Your OSHA 10 or 30-hour course counts toward the hours, but the card itself comes through a DOB-registered provider. Buying only an OSHA course and expecting an SST card is the most expensive mistake in this process.

The two routes to 40 hours

Route 1, if you have OSHA 30 or 40-Hour Site Safety:

• 30-Hour OSHA or 40-Hour Site Safety: 30 hours
• 8-Hour Fall Prevention: 8 hours
• 2-Hour Mental Health Awareness: 2 hours

Route 2, if you have OSHA 10:

• 10-Hour OSHA: 10 hours
• 8-Hour Fall Prevention: 8 hours
• 8-Hour Site Safety: 8 hours
• 4-Hour Supported Scaffold User and Refresher: 4 hours
• 2-Hour Mental Health Awareness: 2 hours
• General electives: 4 hours
• Special electives: 4 hours

Route 2 is the only one where an OSHA 10 counts. If you are choosing your OSHA course now and you know you will work in NYC, that choice decides which route you are on. You can compare the providers OSHA authorizes before you buy.

The temporary card

If you have taken OSHA 10 or 30 in the past five years, you are eligible for a temporary card:

Workers who have taken 10-Hour or 30-Hour OSHA in the past 5 years are eligible for a Site Safety Training (SST) Temporary Card, valid for 6 months, during which time the worker must complete the rest of their outstanding training

That gives you six months to finish the rest without being locked off the site.

How long the card lasts

SST cards are valid for five years from the date of issuance. This is a place where New York and federal rules genuinely differ: the federal DOL Outreach card carries no expiration date at all, while your SST card does.

After it expires you have a one-year grace period to renew, but the DOB is explicit that an expired card cannot be used on a job site during that window. Miss the grace period and you start over with a new card application.

Where to check your own site

The DOB publishes a Site Safety Construction Map where you can enter a job site address and see whether the training requirement applies there. For questions the DOB lists Trainingproviders@buildings.nyc.gov and a hotline at (212) 393-2729.

All of the above was read from the Department of Buildings' SST Card Information page on August 1, 2026. Rules in this jurisdiction change more often than most, so check the date on anything you read about SST, including this.