Washington, D.C., Metro continues strides to improve safety

Metro's Safety Department received approval from the Tri-state Oversight Committee to close 22 corrective action plans last month that address safety issues identified during internal and TOC safety audits. Some of the plans closed in June included identifying and marking tripping hazards near the tracks, evaluating and updating communication procedures for track workers and developing standards for allowable wheel roughness and wheel repair for rail cars. 

Metro's staff presented these and other steps made to improve safety to the Metro Board of Director's Customer Service, Operations and Safety Committee.

Other actions reported on
included an update on a system-wide safety survey. To date 93 percent of Metro’s
employees have completed the employee safety survey designed to understand
employee safety awareness in the workplace to establish a benchmark from which
the agency will work to improve the agency’s safety culture.

Metro just expanded its
whistleblower protection policy to include new federal protections that are
outlined in the National Transit Systems Security Act and the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act. Both acts prohibit reprisal against employees who report
safety violations. The NTSSA specifically addresses retaliation complaints
against workers who report safety violations or assist with investigations of
safety violations, or fraud, waste or abuse of public funds intended for safety
or security.

In an effort to build a
stronger, enhanced Safety Department, new Chief Safety Officer Jim Dougherty
told the Committee that all 12 of the newly-created positions in the Safety
Office have been filled, bringing the total safety staff to more than 40.

Kenneth Sundberg started
work at Metro July 6 as the assistant chief safety officer. Sundberg came to
Metro following 25 years at the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority Long
Island Rail Road. He has 18 years experience with System Safety, acting as the
lead investigator and reporting officer for many rail incidents.

Robert Davis and Jeremy
Parr joined Metro as safety officers. Davis has 25 years experience with Amtrak
as a locomotive engineer and safety and operations manager. Parr has 12 years of
experience with light, heavy and high-speed rail transportation.

Safety Department employees
have completed three of six specialized training classes at the Transportation
Safety Institute to better prepare them to more safely operate, maintain and
manage in the transit environment. 



Other recent Metro safety
actions include: 



• Appointed an on-call
safety person for Metrobus and Metrorail to respond to accidents and incidents
and begin the initial investigation. 



• Began a second review of
the newly developed Roadway Worker Protection Manual to be completed this
summer and used for training in September. 



• Awarded a contract to
bring in additional safety consultants to help address FTA and TOC audit
recommendations. 



• Began training Bus
Department staff on a newly developed safety tracking system that provides a
comprehensive view of safety-related incidents. The Rail Department will begin
using the system in the coming months.



Metro has developed a
safety fact sheet that provides a comprehensive list of safety goals and
accomplishments since June 2009.