Mark Workers' Deaths
A Year Later, Still Track-Safety Issues

By ARI PAUL

In the year since two Track Workers, Daniel Boggs and Marvin Franklin, were killed in the line of duty last April 24 and April 29, Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint and New York City Transit President Howard H. Roberts have collaborated to improve safety on the tracks.

ROGER TOUSSAINT: Believes safety's improved.

In December, the union endorsed a joint track-safety task force report that made 63 recommendations to curtail hazards for Maintenance of Way (MoW) workers and Train Operators. The report urged NYC Transit's Department of Subways to inspect emergency alarm boxes and emergency telephones more frequently, as well as rehashing existing work-safety rules and modifications NYC Transit made in the immediate aftermath of the fatalities.

Changing the Culture

Mr. Toussaint, a former Track Worker, has also said he is committed to working with NYC Transit to monitor safety and address an organizational culture that both he and Mr. Roberts agree has encouraged supervisors and workers alike to cut corners on safety.

JOHN SAMUELSEN: Losing some protection.

But a leading union dissident told the authority in a letter last week that one of the recommendations would make things more dangerous for workers in his job title.

Track Inspector John Samuelsen, a former Toussaint loyalist who will likely challenge the union president in Local 100's election next year, said in a letter to Mr. Roberts April 15 that a rule change that the NYC Transit President and Mr. Toussaint agreed to in December will decrease the amount of flagging protection for Track Inspectors.

The change, he said, would eliminate "the enhanced protections of three adjacent cautions and one green resume light. Further your rule change allows for the placement of the flagger and the red and tripper significantly closer to a train moving full speed than is currently permissible. Thus, the flagger is also placed in a more dangerous situation.

Mr. Samuelsen believed NYC Transit wanted this alteration in order to increase train speeds.

Geared to Timeliness

"Although workers will not benefit from the elimination of the existing full-flagging requirement, on-time train performance certainly will," Mr. Samuelsen wrote. "The elimination of the second set of cautions on the primary work track, as well as the elimination of the three adjacent cautions and green resume light will allow trains to maintain normal operating speed for a longer portion of their run. This is particularly true on the day tour. Since the rule change offers no positive impact on worker safety, it is reasonable to conclude that its purpose is to speed up the trains."

DARLENE MEALY: 'Must stay on top of it.'

Officials from NYC Transit and Local 100 did not comment on Mr. Samuelsen's letter, but a source close to Mr. Toussaint said that the recommendations would create an overall safer environment.

Track Worker Franklin died April 29 at age 55 after he was struck by a Queens-bound G train while crossing over to the A/C line at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn St. station in Brooklyn. Five days prior to that death, Track Worker Boggs was killed when he was struck by a downtown 3 train that had been diverted to the express track because of a stalled train on the local track.

Adjacent-Flagging Rule

In the immediate aftermath of the deaths, officials clarified rules and NYC Transit discouraged the use of noisy generators on job sites. The then-Vice President of NYC Transit's Department of Subways, Michael Lombardi, wrote to 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. A wide area is not considered a barrier."

Workers in several MoW titles received radios to communicate with train dispatchers, according to several sources.

Last summer the union pushed a track-safety bill that would have established concrete regulations on worker safety, similar to standards established by the Federal Railway Administration. The bill stalled, and a compromise bill was passed and signed that established the Track Safety Task Force, comprised by the heads of NYC Transit and Local 100 as well as the state Labor and Transportation Commissioners. Mr. Toussaint hailed this as progress in the collaborative relationship with the MTA and a way to proactively address track-safety issues.

Surprising Retreat

The decision to abandon a bill for state-mandated safety regulations for NYC Transit workers came as a surprise. The union had pushed the original track-safety bill for several years, and in 2003, then-Local 100 Director of Safety and Health Tony Earle told the state Department of Labor the FRA standards were "life-saving" and that "should NYC Transit choose to exceed the standard, that would be perfectly acceptable to us."

The same year, Mr. Toussaint testified to the Labor Department that track conditions were "comparable to conditions in a mine, save for two added factors: a third rail carrying 7 million watts of electricity and trains weighing 40 tons per car hurtling past in the darkness."

In December, the New York City Transit Museum opened an exhibit of Mr. Franklin's artwork. Local 100 had provided much of the funding for the show, and while his family had said it was a monument to his life and legacy as an artist, a transit worker and someone who portrayed daily life on the subways, it was also meant to raise awareness about the dangers Track Workers face on the job.

Councilwoman Skeptical

Brooklyn Councilwoman Darlene Mealy, a former transit worker and a member of the Council's Transportation Committee who was elected with Local 100's help, was exasperated at what she believed was little improvement in the safety of workers on the tracks.

"They have not changed the procedure as of yet," she said. "We can't believe what the [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] says."

Councilwoman Mealy believed that while it was admirable that Local 100 was partnering with NYC Transit to address track safety, the authority needed some sort of outside oversight.