First FTA safety investigator suits up

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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FTA

George Good, Jr., the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) first full-time safety investigator recently began according to a blog post to the U.S. Department of Transportation's "Fast Lane."

 

Thomas Littleton, FTA’s associate administrator for safety and oversight, writes that FTA has been working hard to establish a new safety authority and develop a framework that will allow FTA to better protect the nation’s transit riders and transit employees and Good’s start is the next milestone in that development.

Day-to-day, Good will support round-the-clock operations for accident investigations. He will also work closely with the transit industry and other United States Department of Transportation agencies to promote transit safety and develop recommended practices and procedures that can help make a safe mode of transportation even safer. When safety issues are identified at a transit agency. he will help draft recommendations and advisories to eliminate those risks.

Most recently, Good served as the safety program director for the Maryland Department of Transportation. His previous experience includes 28 years in operations safety and security for bus, heavy rail and light-rail transit systems, as well as commuter rail.

While accident or defect investigation is a standard procedure in several USDOT agencies, the skills and expertise that Good brings, the FTA says, are critical assets at a time when it is beginning to establish its independent investigative safety authority as required by law.

For example, FTA is presently supporting the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the investigation of a January 12 subway incident in Washington, DC. The Office of Safety will use the information gathered during the current investigation to proactively address incidents like this in the future by sharing best practices and improving safety protocols at transit systems nationwide.

FTA plans to hire additional safety investigators immediately to complete the investigative team.

 

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