As NYC prepares to phase out the current Competent Person allowance on January 1, 2027, I’ve found myself thinking less about the rule itself and more about the people behind the title.
Most people hear the term Competent Person and immediately think about certifications, training courses, or compliance requirements.
And while those things are important, I’ve always felt the role is really about something else:
Judgment.
The ability to walk a site and notice something that doesn’t seem quite right.
The experience to recognize a hazard before it becomes a problem.
The confidence to speak up when everyone else assumes things are fine.
Construction is full of responsibilities that are easy to define on paper. But some of the most important qualities aren’t written in a code book or training manual.
They’re developed through years of experience, observations, conversations, and lessons learned in the field.
Looking back, some of the best construction professionals I’ve worked with weren’t necessarily the loudest people on the project.
They were the ones quietly paying attention.
Asking the right questions.
Spotting issues early.
Preventing problems that nobody else ever knew existed.
Their successes rarely show up in project reports.
Nobody celebrates the incident that never happened.
But in many ways, those are some of the most important contributions a person can make on a construction site.
To all the Competent Persons out there: thank you.
Your best work often goes unnoticed because the problem never happened in the first place.
But that doesn’t make it any less important. 👏🏻
Just something I’ve been reflecting on lately.
By Wilma Abreu
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