Gov. Maura Healey started the week by following by means of on a longstanding marketing campaign promise, asserting Monday morning she had discovered a seasoned hand to guide the state’s transportation security initiatives.
“Pat Lavin is a dedicated public transportation expert who shares our administration’s commitment to improving safety and reliability across our transportation system, including the MBTA,” Healey stated in a written assertion. “We created this position to ensure we had a senior official coordinating efforts across all modes of transportation and driving strategies across the system to improve safety for riders and workers.”
According to Healey’s workers, Lavin will start his $ 325,000-a-year job as MassDOT Chief Safety Officer on May 8 and comes into the newly created function with over 40 years of expertise working in transit.
Lavin has been serving as director of security at Ok & J Safety and Security Consulting Services since 2019 and was chief security officer for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and senior director for operations within the Office of System Safety for the New York City Transit earlier than that.
In his new function, Lavin is tasked with “ensuring a safe and healthy environment for all employees, passengers, and the public, in all modes of transportation, including rail, bus, commuter rail, paratransit, and highway,” and can report back to the Secretary of Transportation and the just lately employed MBTA General Manager.
“Prioritizing safety for our customers and our workers must be a daily priority in our transportation system, and Pat has the experience and expertise that is needed as we improve safety for all,” MBTA General Manager Phil Eng stated together with the hiring announcement.
The creation of the function comes following a number of high-profile incidents involving the MBTA or on its properties, some deadly, and after the Federal Transit Administration took the almost unprecedented step of requiring the state’s beleaguered transportation system bear a security inspection and reply to a listing of remedial calls for.
Healey promised she would discover somebody to spearhead the state’s transportation security efforts each earlier than and after her November election, a proposal she paired with a 60-day timeline to finish. Lavin’s hiring Monday marked 50 days previous that self-imposed deadline.
“I am looking forward to working collaboratively with the MassDOT team, agency personnel, local stakeholders, and our federal partners to improve safety at the T and at a broader level across the state,” Lavin stated in a press release.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”