Call Safety Moves Minor
6 Months Later, Still Track Perils

By ARI PAUL

In the months following the death of two of his New York City Transit colleagues, despite the promises of both his union and his employer for a safer workplace, Power Distribution Maintainer Brendan Sheil has yet to feel more secure.

ROGER TOUSSAINT: Said it wouldn't be easy.

"I can honestly say I haven't really seen any major changes," said the 15-year NYC Transit veteran. "There are some differences with flagging, but nothing major. It's been pretty much for the most part status quo."

Some Changes, But ...

Oct. 24 will mark six months since Track Worker Daniel Boggs was hit and killed by a downtown-bound 3 train while working near the Columbus Circle station in Manhattan. Five days later, on April 29, Track Worker Marvin Franklin met the same fate while working at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn St. station on the A/C line in downtown Brooklyn.

In response, NYC Transit announced various rule changes for Maintenance of Way (MoW) employees, such as the issuance of radios to workers, the discouragement of noisy machines and the creation of work safety inspection teams with Transport Workers Union Local 100 representatives. But rank-and-file MoW workers and union officials claimed that they still await substantive changes, with some pointing to a near-miss on the tracks that almost killed two Track Workers in Queens last month.

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James 'HAVEN'T SEEN CHANGES': Power Distribution Maintainer Brendan Sheil claims that little has changed in terms of safety rules and enforcement for NYC Transit Maintenance of Way employees in the six months since two Track Workers, Marvin Franklin and Daniel Boggs, died on the job.

Lack Follow-Through

Mr. Sheil said that workers do their best to suppress noise, but he doesn't know anyone who has received a radio. Local 100 Power Division Chairman Thomas Creegan surveyed his members about work safety, and he claimed the answers he got weren't good ones. He specifically noted the joint labor/management safety inspection teams, which both Local 100 President Roger Toussaint and NYC Transit President Howard H. Roberts have heralded as a major improvement, only inspect a job before it has begun.

"They go out to a major job and they do their little walk-through," Mr. Creegan said. "And they got to sign off and they leave. Once the job starts, you see all kinds of stuff going on. And as far as supervisors working, absolutely you will see supervisors working." Union officials have said that the need to have supervisors assist in track work hinders their ability to spot hazards.

Sees Backsliding

One of the Power Distribution Maintainers he represents, Joseph Alvarez, believed that NYC Transit addressed safety issues in the immediate aftermath of the deaths, but lamented that things have gone back to the way they were before then.

"In the first three months, there were major improvements," he said. "They were following all the rules to the T."

He concurred that neither workers nor foremen have been given radios since the accidents.

"The biggest safety issue right now is you need manpower for this flagging routine," he said. "The gangs are short men."

Track Workers Steve St. Hill and Danny Acevedo were at work near the 39th Ave. station on the N/W line in the Astoria section of Queens Sept. 6 when a train overran a portable tripper and nearly hit them. Mr. St. Hill later testified to NYC Transit investigators that both the Flagger and the foreman were violating safety rules. The foreman, he claimed, was working rather than overseeing, which endangered workers.

Mr. Toussaint admitted in a recent dispatch to members that the fight for safety after the two deaths would be a challenging one.

'A Hill We Must Climb'

"It will be difficult," he said. "We can expect resistance from some in management and even from some union members set in their ways. But that is a hill we must climb."

"These initiatives address concerns in the area of communications, adjacent track safety, noise, and procedures," said NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges. "Two joint union/management audit teams have been established to conduct random safety audits on track construction and maintenance jobs. The teams have, so far, conducted 144 inspections."

Signal Maintainer John Chiarello, recording secretary of the local's Line Equipment and Signal Division, faulted Mr. Toussaint for not putting pressure on NYC Transit to do more.

"They've been a little more vigilant in the enforcement of the rules, but they haven't been as vigilant in the retraining at all," he said of management. "The only thing that's changed is they've made more committees and more oversight."