The feds ordered the MBTA to take quick motion to handle right-of-way violations that led to 5 near-misses the place staff had been practically struck by trains, and one incident that left a employee “seriously injured” previously month.
In a letter despatched to MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng, the Federal Transit Administration acknowledged that it “remains deeply concerned regarding MBTA’s implementation of its right-of-way access procedures and practices,” and revealed that two extra security incidents involving staff occurred final week.
“Given recent events, the results of FTA’s on-site inspections, reports from DPU, and the MBTA’s backlog of maintenance work which necessitates continued track access for work crews, FTA finds that a combination of unsafe conditions and practices exist such that there is a substantial risk of death or personal injury,” FTA Associate Administrator Joe DeLorenzo wrote.
DeLorenzo cited related issues raised by the T’s state security oversight authority, the Department of Public Utilities, which ordered the MBTA to conduct a “safety stand-down” following three near-misses that occurred between March 13-24.
Despite motion by each the DPU and MBTA to bolster worker and contractor understanding of security guidelines defending them on the proper of manner, one other near-miss occurred on April 7, DeLorenzo wrote.
MBTA Chief Safety Officer Ron Ester reported these 4 near-misses to a security subcommittee final Thursday, saying that they had been brought on by a breakdown in security communication between building employees, their supervisors and subway dispatchers.
Ester didn’t disclose, nonetheless, that an worker was critically injured on the morning of his report, April 13. The worker was engaged on the right-of-way “where access had not been requested or granted — a major violation of MBTA’s ROW safety procedures,” DeLorenzo wrote.
The following morning, April 14, the MBTA skilled its fifth near-miss in simply over a month, DeLorenzo wrote.
He added that federal inspectors tasked with making certain the T’s compliance with directives issued as a part of final yr’s security administration inspection proceed to look at deficiencies in implementation of right-of-way security guidelines, “significant gaps” in ROW security oversight and coaching, and lack of readability in authorities, accountabilities and duties for employee security there.
In this letter, the FTA outlined a collection of steps the MBTA should take, warning that right-of-way entry may very well be prohibited if deadlines are missed for the requested actions by a collection of dates, April 20 and 24, May 5 and June 15.
Katie Choe, the T’s chief of high quality, compliance and oversight, mentioned her workplace is working with the FTA to “formulate a response plan” to its letter, which requires motion in three areas: monitoring right-of-way entry procedures and compliance, evaluating right-of-way entry capability, and accelerating ROW coaching updates.
“We share the FTA’s concern with the recent near-misses, and we will comply with the intent of the FTA’s letter,” Choe mentioned. “The work required by the immediate action letter is in line with the work already underway at the MBTA, and we have incorporated the near-miss events and new requirements into our global performance initiative.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”