DC Metro Board commits to implementing NTSB recommendations
Written by jrood
In-Channel Work Press Release Washington, D.C., Metro Board Chairman Peter Benjamin made the following remarks at a joint meeting between the Metro Board of Directors and the National Transportation Safety Board at Metro headquarters on Monday, August 9: Safety is the top priority at Metro, for the Board, for Metro management, for all of our staff from top to bottom. This Board intends to ensure that, to the best of our ability, each and every National Transportation Safety Board recommendation to Metro associated with its review of the June 22, 2009 accident is implemented.
As part of that process,
the Board of Directors will recreate a Board Safety Committee and will revise
Metro’s mission statement and Board procedures to underscore the authority’s
commitment to safety.
In addition, Metro has already taken steps to address
NTSB recommendations.
In July, the Board approved
a contract to replace the 1000 series rail cars.
Metro has stabilized and
strengthened the Office of Safety with a Chief Safety Officer reporting
directly to the General Manager and augmented staff.
The Board of Directors
is receiving monthly reports from the Chief Safety Officer and quarterly
reports from the Tri-State Oversight Committee (TOC).
We have directed Metro’s
independent Inspector General to review regularly internal and external safety
reports and progress that has been made in carrying out recommendations, and to
report any delays or concerns directly to the Board.
In January, we requested
assistance from the U.S. Department of Transportation, AFL-CIO and the American
Public Transportation Association in changing Metro’s safety culture. They
suggested experts in transportation safety to assist Metro in enhancing its
safety culture. That external safety panel is hard at work, will make
recommendations on how to create a true culture of safety in which safety is an
inherent aspect of all activities, and will help us to implement those changes.
Metro has conducted a
staff-wide survey of how safety is viewed by its own employees and what
difficulties employees have in enhancing safety, with 97 percent response by
employees.
A safety hot line has been established for employees to report
safety concerns.
The Board also strengthened Metro’s whistleblower protection
policy to encourage employees to report safety concerns or near misses without
punitive consequences.
A new Safety Management
System is being developed that tracks safety concerns identified by staff and
actions taken to deal with the issues raised, provides a comprehensive view of
all safety-related incidents, tracks the progress of incident investigations
and monitors the status of corrective actions.
An internal task force has
been established, which has reviewed and revised operating procedures to ensure
that they stress safety while allowing the job to get done.
The Board
approved a multi-year capital budget, which focuses on safety, rehabilitation
of facilities and replacement of equipment to ensure that the Metrorail and
Metrobus systems are in a state of good repair.
We welcome this opportunity
to improve our understanding of critical issues, which can improve the Board’s
actions to enhance the safety of our passengers, our employees and the general
public.
