Council Faults MTA
Train Crews Lack Evacuation Training

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

Train Conductors and Operators who work for New York City Transit need more training on emergency communication and subway evacuation procedures to properly protect themselves and straphangers, City Councilman John Liu said at an Oct. 5 hearing.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang JOHN LIU: Takes MTA to task.

He charged NYC Transit with ignoring its own mandate that Conductors and Operators be given yearly evacuation instruction.

'Training Woeful'

"There is an issue of woefully inadequate worker training," he said. "And also a major issue with [NYC Transit's] refusal to acknowledge the importance of communicating with workers and the general public."

But Charles Seaton, an NYC Transit spokesman, said agency rules don't stipulate annual training - the agency only requires refresher courses every few years.

"Our procedures do not call for [annual training]," he stressed. "Refresher courses for Train Operators and Conductors are given every three years on fire safety and evacuation."

Mr. Seaton said Conductors and Operators are trained to lead riders out of the subway system if necessary, but only as a last recourse. Regular procedures call for transit workers to maintain calm among the passengers, communicate with NYC Transit's Control Center and wait for first-responders to get on the scene.

MTA MIA

Mr. Liu, chair of the Committee on Transportation, was displeased by the agency's absence from the hearing, noting that it had "refused to attend" and only submitted written testimony when the proceedings finished.

Two members of Transport Workers' Union Local 100 - Train Conductor Eric King and Train Operator D.J. Smalls - talked at length to the committee about the training they had received on the job.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang 'TRAINED - BUT NOT ENOUGH': Train Conductor Eric King (foreground), who was promoted from Station Cleaner last year, told the City Council Transportation Committee that he'd received approximately 40 days of training to assume the duties of his new position, but only eight hours of that was dedicated to fire safety and evacuation. Train Operator D.J. Smalls (right) said in his 18 years on the job, he'd only attended three fire safety and evacuation courses.

Mr. Smalls said he had gotten training three times over the course of his 18 years as a transit worker.

"The training we receive today is no different than that before 9/11," he told Mr. Liu. "In 1988 I went through 30 days of training before setting out on the road at the controls of a train. One day was devoted to fire and safety evacuation. This included such topics as the chemistry and physics of fire, the classification of fires, the use of fire extinguishers and procedures for evacuation."

No Change in 15 Years

Mr. Smalls added that his 2003 refresher course contained the same information that he got in his initial training in 1988.

Mr. King started his NYC Transit career as a Station Cleaner nearly eight years ago and was promoted to Conductor in 2005. He went through 40 days of training that year and got the same eight hours on fire safety and evacuation that Mr. Small received.

Both men said they had been issued what are commonly known as "escape masks," which would enable them to survive in a toxic environment for up to 15 minutes. NYC Transit began giving masks to its Conductors and Operators a year after 9/11. Trains don't carry masks for passengers in the event of a chemical or biological incident.

Mr. Liu said the main focus of the hearing was not terrorist attacks, but how prepared workers were to handle a basic emergency like the one that occurred this summer.

Stranded on Bridge Two trains carrying hundreds of passengers were stranded on the Manhattan Bridge Aug. 16 for several hours during peak time after smoke conditions were reported on the tracks ahead.

Mr. Liu said it was one of many emergencies with no links to terrorism "but where passengers, the general public and workers are put at risk, and yet the training that [NYC Transit] says is required isn't being done."

Mr. Seaton reiterated that "evacuating a train is a last resort, always, especially if we have to bring people onto the road bed. However, we do train our employees to do that if necessary."

Although Mr. Liu said his immediate concern was for basic emergencies, outside experts who have pinpointed the subway system as a prime terrorist target said transit workers should get more-aggressive training.

Tempting Targets

Firefighters, Police Officers and Emergency Medical Service personnel routinely participate in simulated emergencies involving the subways and terrorist attacks. Transit workers, however, can only observe those proceedings.

Jean-Robert Leguey-Feilleux, a professor of Political Science at St. Louis University and an expert on terrorism who has studied the Middle East for more than 30 years, said subway systems are tempting targets for anything related to poisons, gases and biological agents because the trains allow for rapid contamination.

In a post-9/11 world, he noted, workers have to be taught to respond to fluid situations - the best thing to do is educate workers to be alert to all possible threats, and well-versed in the various ways that attacks are likely to be carried out, he said.

The circumstances of some terrorist incidents make it impossible to wait for first-responders to get on the scene. Other scenarios may involve biological agents that will spread to a large population before first-responders can identify the substance.

'Need More Awareness'

"This is our plight now, after 9/11," he said. "You don't want to panic people, but there must be a different level of awareness, and public officials are supposed to help make that happen in a calm and manageable way."

He stressed the need for rapid communication abilities in the subway so that information about attacks could be relayed immediately. Expert training was required for NYC Transit officials, supervisors and all the employees, he said, down to those who work on the tracks.

"If nothing happens for a long time, we say we are safe enough, and then the first step that should be taken - the training - isn't done," he said. "Israelis are the best example of what you're looking for, because they know they are at risk, and they have reconciled themselves to it. They are more vigilant - if they see a matchbook on the sidewalk they tell you, 'Don't kick it - it could explode.' And yet they are aware of the risk without stopping their lives. They still take the bus to work, despite all the bus bombings."