BART affirms safety is top priority following NTSB report

Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) reiterated its commitment to employee safety following the issuance of the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) final report regarding an October 2013 accident in which two engineering employees were struck and killed.

According to the NTSB, the probable cause of the accident was BART’s “use of simple approval for granting roadway worker access to the track, which required the workers to provide their own protection.”

BART issued a statement from General Manager Grace Crunican regarding the report where Crunican acknowledges receipt of the final report and thanked NTSB for its “meticulous investigation.”

“Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the families of Chris Sheppard and Larry Daniels, as well as to others who have been affected by the tragedy,” said Crunican. “BART, with the assistance of the California Public Utilities Commission, has made significant changes to its trackside procedures in order to provide additional safety measures for our workers.”

Among the changes Crunican outlined are that trains are slowed to not-more-than 27 mph whenever a worker enters the fenced off area surrounding the BART right-of-way; if a worker is within six feet of the track, trains are stopped and cannot proceed unless and until the wayside worker acknowledges to the Operations Control Center that they are clear of the trackway and that it is safe for the train to proceed and the Operations Control Center conveys this information to the Train Operator; all BART employees who routinely work on or near the trackway undergo at least 32 hours of wayside safety training with retraining every two years; all other frontline BART employees undergo at least eight hours of track safety training with biennial or triennial retraining; even when trains aren’t running, a watch person is mandatory whenever maintenance vehicles are working on the tracks; in fiscal year 2015, the District invested an additional $5.3 million in roadway worker safety initiatives, including the hiring of 40 additional staff; and the District has implemented a safety incentive program for frontline workers.

“BART’s top priority is the safety of our customers and workers and we will continue our work to develop solutions to improve safety,” said Crunican.