Progress on Track Safety

There was a measure of satisfaction to be taken from the joint press conference that Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint and New York City Transit President Howard Roberts held last week regarding the inquiries into the deaths of two Track Workers in separate incidents back in April.

In discussing the reports by the two Boards of Inquiry, the two men departed from the unfortunately familiar script during the Pataki administration, when management would often suggest that an employee had caused his or her own death and the union would respond angrily to the assertion.

In this case, while the Board of Inquiry in one case faulted Track Worker Daniel Boggs for failing to look in both directions before he ventured onto the downtown express track where he was struck by an IRT train near Columbus Circle, it also cited the communications failure that led the train to run through at a time when service on the express track was supposed to be suspended. In the other case, the Board of Inquiry placed primary blame for the death of Marvin Franklin on his supervisor, Lloyd London, for failing to follow procedures.

The findings, while stinging, appeared to be a legitimate attempt to pinpoint what went wrong and take corrective steps to avoid future tragedies. That is a distinct contrast with NYC Transit's posture in past incidents, where it seemed most intent on laying the groundwork for defenses against possible civil suits by the victims' families.

When Mr. Roberts spoke of improving the "culture" of safety, he was acknowledging management's culpability in encouraging workers and supervisors to take short-cuts that carried life-threatening risks in order to get jobs done quickly.

Local 100 is talking to Track Workers to get their input about how to make the work safer, and visiting job sites to ensure that line workers and supervisors are complying with safety regulations.

Both sides seem to recognize that while they will sometimes be placed in adversarial positions, safety is one area where they should and can find common ground.