FTA Orders MTA to Address Worker Safety after 1 Death, 38 Near-misses

New York, NY (WorkersCompensation.com) – The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued a special directive to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City to address “an escalating pattern of safety incidents” regarding workers.  

The order cite one fatality in November 2023, a serious worker injury in June 2024, and 38 near-miss incidents last year. The near-misses represented a 58 percent increase over the previous year’s 24, officials with the FTA said.

On August 14, the FTA issued the directive to the MTA, as well as issued a directive to New York’s Public Transportation Safety Board in regard to its over sight of New York City Transit, the MTA division that includes safety operations.

Both of the directive said the FTA determined “that a combination of unsafe conditions and practices exists such that there is a substantial risk of death or personal injury.” The directive

According to both of the FTA’s directives, a “combination of unsafe conditions and practices exists such that there is a substantial risk of death or personal injury.”

The audit reported that shortcomings within the subway system’s Roadway Worker Protection program that provides guidelines of safety for track workers, found that of the 38 near-miss incidents in 2023, half involved one or more workers failing to follow established flagging rules. Other incidents, the report said, involved improper communications and radio use, improper set-up of protection or access to the right-of-way, lack of supervision, failure to follow protocols in areas with communications-based train control and inattention by train operators.

The audit recommended that in order to address the findings NYC Transit had not exercised Safety Risk Management provisions in its safety plan, the FTA is requiring the subway agency to complete an assessment of the Roadway Worker Protection program within 60 days. Once completed, and approved by FTA, the NYC Transit must then submit a mitigation plan to address issues identified in the assessment.

Additionally, the FTA required that NYC Transit must take additional action to ensure that it is complying with the Roadway Worker Program by beginning a weekly compliance monitoring program within 10 days of the directive’s issuance. The agency will also have to report to the FTA within 100 days on the results of that monitoring. Once the report is approved, the agency will be required to submit the report monthly.

MTA said it was disputing the findings and that it plans to appeal. In a letter to the FTA, interim New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow wrote, “we strongly dispute FTA’s view that NYCT has somehow been negligent when it comes to addressing the safety of track workers, one of our most essential priorities. The agency has extensive safety protocols covering the more than 1.5 million work tours that take place along the right-of-way during active service in our 24/7 subway system.”

But union officials said the findings were what their members had been saying for years.

“There’s a constant tension between on-time train performance and worker safety and that pressure has increased dramatically,” John Samuelsen, president of the Transport Workers Union, told The City newspaper.

The audit came in response to the November 2023 death of Hiliarian Joseph, 57, an MTA flagger who was killed when he was struck by a subway train. In June of this year, another flagger was seriously injured when they were struck by an out-of-service train in Brooklyn.

The FTA’s directive to the Public Transportation Safety Board calls for the agency to expand its oversight of the Roadway Worker Safety program, to oversee responses to near-misses and other safety events, and to oversee NYC Transit Roadway Worker Safety training. The directive also requires a series of reports and plans to mitigate further safety issues similar to the ones the FTA recommended for MTA, and requires the PTSB to conduct an independent audit of the NYC Transit training program, which NYC Transit would be required to address through plans resulting from the findings of that audit.

Share This Article: