Workers Endangered
New Safety Scare On Train Tracks

By ARI PAUL

Two Track Workers were nearly hit by a train that accidentally sped through a work site Sept. 6, prompting a New York City Transit investigation and calling into question the integrity of track safety four months after two Track Workers died on the job in separate incidents.

STEVE ST. HILL: Close call on tracks.

Steve St. Hill, who has been with NYC Transit for 15 years, was at work near the 39th Ave. station on the N/W line in the Astoria section of Queens when a train overran a portable tripper at 11:25 a.m. The Flagger, he said, had blown his air horn but the Train Operator had not blown his horn. In violation of safety rules, the Flagger had left his red flag on the tripper instead of holding it in his hand, Mr. St. Hill said, and his foreman, Arnold Matles, was doing track work rather than overseeing Track Workers.

Didn't Wait for Inspectors

When the train hit the tripper, it broke the flag and the emergency brakes went into effect, he said. Track Worker Danny Acevedo yelled, "Look out!" He and Mr. St. Hill jumped out of the way. Frightened, Mr. St. Hill got off the tracks and onto the subway platform. After collecting his thoughts, he saw Mr. Matles speaking with the Train Operator. But instead of waiting for inspectors from NYC Transit to come to assess the scene, the train left and the foreman, who was in the way of the train when it hit the tripper, resumed working, said Mr. St. Hill.

JACK BLAZEJEWICZ: A supervisory cover-up?

"He went back to work like nothing happened," he said. "Nobody even checked on me to see if I was okay."

He added that if the tripper had failed to stop the train, Mr. Matles would have been "cut in half" since he "froze" in front of the train.

Probe Starts

Upon hearing about the incident, Transport Workers Union Local 100 Track Division Recording Secretary Jack Blazejewicz came to the scene and NYC Transit started an investigation. The Train Operator, the Flagger and Mr. Matles, in addition to Mssrs. Acevedo and St. Hill, testified later that day at NYC Transit's office at 130 Livingston St. in Brooklyn.

HOWARD H. ROBERTS: More to do.

Mr. St. Hill recalled the story in his testimony and in a written statement to NYC Transit President Howard H. Roberts, and also claimed that the foreman replaced the red flag that had been broken in the tripper and instead testified that the Flagger had properly held the flag.

"This really stinks of a supervision cover-up," Mr. Blazejewicz said in an e-mail.

The incident happened several weeks after NYC Transit Senior Vice President of Subways Michael A. Lombardi wrote to Maintenance of Way (MoW) employees outlining new safety rules in response to the April work accidents that killed Track Workers Daniel Boggs and Marvin Franklin. Some of the new rules address the issue of flagging as well as improving communication between Rapid Transit Operations and MoW workers.

"Unless the work area is separated from an adjacent track by a physical barrier (a wall or station platform), adjacent track flagging is required," Mr. Lombardi wrote last month. "A wide area is not considered a barrier."

Seek to Alter 'Culture'

Mr. Roberts and Local 100 President Roger Toussaint have vowed to not only implement better track safety rules but to alter an "organizational culture" that encouraged workers and managers to find short cuts around safety procedures. The union has said it will work with NYC Transit on the issue. During a joint press conference with Mr. Roberts last month, Mr. Toussaint promised that transit workers will see "some pretty far-reaching steps coming out of this process."

In his 15 years on the job, Mr. St. Hill thought the culture came from pressure from NYC Transit to finish work as soon as possible. Foremen, he said, received pressure from their supervisors if track work was not completed in a speedy fashion. That is why, he thought, his foreman was doing track work rather than oversight during the Sept. 6 incident. This culture, he believed, compromised safety.

"Get the job done or else," Mr. St. Hill said. "That's the attitude."

While the investigation into the incident as well as the effort to reform safety rules is ongoing, Mr. St. Hill thought having to jump from the tracks to avoid being hit by a train proved that both his union and employer have a long way to go in terms of fixing track safety culture.

"Nothing's changed," he said. "It's still the same. That's why we almost got killed."