The MBTA petitioned federal transit regulators Friday for extra time to finish an inventory of corrective actions — together with an agency-wide staffing evaluation — they’re taking within the wake of an investigation into the Massachusetts company that was prompted by a string of security failures.
In a letter obtained by the Herald, a prime MBTA official cited monitor “safety actions” and a personnel shift introduced final week that divided the company into 4 completely different divisions as the explanation for needing an extension for some plans they submitted to the Federal Transit Agency.
“As you will see, there are some broad but relatively minor shifts requested across specific action items in many of the [corrective action plans] for whom our stakeholders have had to focus on [right of way] safety policies and procedures in the immediate short term, preventing us from progressing on other [corrective action plan] actions,” MBTA Chief of Quality, Compliance, and Oversight Meredith Sandberg wrote in a letter to the FTA.
Sandberg mentioned there have been “more significant shifts requested for dates” present in a plan to rent a consulting company to finish an MBTA-wide workforce evaluation.
The evaluation contains an evaluation of staffing ranges required to help “mission critical activities,” the T’s potential to help these actions with present staffing ranges, and a threat evaluation and mitigation technique for gaps between present and required staffing ranges, in keeping with a publicly out there copy of the plan.
MBTA officers anticipated all the plan to price roughly $3.9 million and initially estimated the total evaluation could be introduced to the board by Dec. 31.
But Sandberg mentioned the MBTA wants some leeway.
“For this work, the organizational shifts, in addition to redoubled efforts to solicit input and feedback on that work deeply and broadly across the organization, necessitate a more significant delay in submitting deliverables that are accurate and helpful to the authority in building the right sized and skilled workforce,” Sandberg wrote within the letter to FTA Chief Safety Officer Joe DeLorenzo.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo didn’t reply a collection of questions in regards to the letter, together with a possible up to date timeline for the staffing evaluation, in an announcement despatched Friday night time.
“With the safety of riders and employees its top priority, the MBTA continues to work closely with the FTA on these corrective action plans,” Pesaturo mentioned within the assertion to the Herald.
A spokesperson for the FTA didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The request from the MBTA comes the identical week officers acknowledged that trains on the $2.3 billion Green Line Extension had slowed to a strolling tempo, or 3 mph, in some locations due to faulty monitor.
The company’s chief of infrastructure mentioned Thursday that the extension “didn’t meet construction standard” and Eng instructed reporters he’s trying into how the scenario occurred.
It additionally comes every week after MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng introduced a significant personnel shakeup that restructured the company into 4 divisions — operations, security, capital, and administration — and shuffled round prime management.
Eng mentioned the reorganization was essential to “empower employees with decision making authority that I believe will foster the necessary stability and continuity our workforce is looking for.”
At the Thursday board assembly, Eng and different officers touted 1,002 new hires this yr, and within the Friday letter, Sandberg mentioned the workforce evaluation is a “key focus area for the FTA.”
“I can assure you that is also the case for the MBTA, this requested delay signifies the MBTA’s commitment to getting the final outcome of the project right,” Sandberg wrote. “Our press on hiring and resourcing our workforce in the short term will continue in parallel.”
Sandberg pointed to the thousand-plus hires and “significant progress” on the company’s fiscal yr 2023 hiring plan.
“We will apply even greater focus on our interim, FY24 hiring efforts while we work to push our planning to the required 5-year timeline,” Sandberg wrote. “We also continue to work on innovating in our hiring practices, with scheduled ‘Hiring on the Spot Events’ scheduled this fall, with expand [sic] scope on which roles are eligible for that event.”
Sandberg mentioned the MBTA “is entirely open to further conversation” in regards to the requested extensions and the company’s considering “if the FTA flags any concerns.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”