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Supervisors press city agencies to standardize contractor safety vetting after fatal Twin Peaks accident
Summary
A Board of Supervisors hearing examined how city departments vet contractors’ safety records following an August construction worker death on the Twin Peaks tunnel project, with departments outlining pilot prequalification questions, incident-tracking pilots and plans for a citywide standard roll‑out in 2019.
Supervisor (sponsor) opened a hearing after an August construction fatality to ask why a contractor on the Twin Peaks tunnel project had answered “no” when asked about serious-and-willful Cal/OSHA citations and whether departments verify application answers before awarding contracts.
John Thomas, city engineer at Public Works, said safety is the department’s “number 1 priority” and described current constraints: procurement follows Chapter 6 of the Administrative Code and state and federal law, many contracts are firm-fixed-price low-bid awards, and the city generally relies on contractors to develop and implement project-specific safety programs. Thomas said Public Works documents incidents, exercises stop-work authority when needed, and is aligning specifications with sister agencies to share lessons learned.
Nicholas King (Public Works) told the committee the city formed a citywide construction safety committee after a 2017 City Services Auditor recommendation and is piloting a shared set of safety questions across departments. King said the effort includes tracking project incidents and building a performance-tracking database to support future responsibility determinations; pilots cover 1–5 projects per department now, with an expected broader rollout in 2019.
SFPUC Construction Manager Ryan Kayabyab described the PUC’s prequalification program and said the agency logs safety history in categories and plans to expand questions about closed OSHA violations and use the EMR (experience modification rate) and Form 300A in evaluation. Kayabyab explained EMR: “a lower EMR rating, lower than 1, is better,” but cautioned it can be less stable for small firms.
An SFMTA construction leader outlined proposed contractor-safety thresholds for projects over $1 million (EMR ≤1, limits on serious/willful OSHA citations, required safety managers, weekly inspections and job hazard analyses) and said the agency is discussing how to evaluate subcontractor safety performance with the city attorney.
Public commenters, including union representatives, urged a uniform RFP safety questionnaire and greater worker-safety protections. A union representative said the city’s screening “contributed to” a contractor getting work despite a problematic record.
The committee did not adopt new rules at the hearing but agreed to continue the item to the call of the chair so departments can present pilot results and a standardized questionnaire at an update expected in roughly six months.
