MTA stressing safety after deadly week

After a week that witnessed two track workers killed by oncoming trains, the MTA used a mandatory work stand-down to stress safety. Their main message? Do not take short cuts.

According to William Neuman in The New York Times, in the wake of the two deaths last week, New York City Transit officials have drawn up a 60-page document designed to instruct workers on the necessary safety protocols that should guide this dangerous job. The document stressed the importance of following basic safety rules, a task often ignored by those working in the subway tunnels.

The review also found that the most common cause of worker deaths was failure to look for an oncoming train before stepping onto the tracks. That may have been what happened on April 24 when Daniel Boggs, 41, a veteran track worker, was killed when he stepped in the path of a No. 3 express train at Columbus Circle in Manhattan, according to transit officials.

After the death of [Marvin] Franklin, Howard H. Roberts Jr., the president of New York City Transit, ordered a halt to maintenance and construction work on tracks and in tunnels. He also directed the agency’s safety experts, in coordination with the Transport Workers Union, to prepare the 60-page curriculum, which is the backbone for the safety refresher course that track workers are now receiving.

Interestingly, NYCT claims that overall injury numbers are down markedly since 2000, but union officials disputed this claim. The numbers, TWU officials say, are skewed because they count multiple injuries stemming from one accident as just one incident.

Meanwhile, Howard Roberts, the new president of NYCT, sent out a letter to all union members stressing his support for the thousands of subway workers who toil away under dangerous conditions. Considering the bitterness that has long existed between the MTA and the TWU, it’s refreshing to see moments of labor peace in the subway. It’s such a shame that the price tag for this peace included the lives of two workers.