Passenger Trains > Metro Has A ‘Culture That Accepts Noncompliance'

Metro Has A ‘Culture That Accepts Noncompliance,'  Bypassing Safety Protections As Recently As This Month, Report Claims

DCist
by Amanda Michelle Gomez 

Metrorail repeatedly powered the electric third rail while workers were still on the roadway in recent weeks, bypassing safety procedures and putting people at risk of injury and death, according to a new report issued by the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission. An investigation into an incident on April 26 led the independent commission to conclude that Metrorail accepts a “culture of noncompliance.” 

The scathing report published Tuesday morning follows a damning 48 hours for WMATA: Officials reported that safety certifications expired for half of the agency’s 500-plus train operators, leading Metrorail to pull workers off the tracks and creating significant delays for Yellow and Green line trains. Then Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld announced he’d be retiring 45 days earlier than expected, along with WMATA Chief Operating Officer Joe Leader. Andy Off, executive vice president of capital delivery, will lead the company until Wiedefeld’s replacement, Randy Clarke, starts this summer.

 WMATA has received a lot of heat from local leaders given how critical the public transit system is for the D.C. region. “It has been disappointing to residents, workers, and visitors that, as D.C. has reopened, Metro has not been able to deliver the level of service we expect and deserve,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser tweeted Monday. She also underscored that this is a problem of management and not finances. The commission’s report offers a detailed view into Metrorail’s more recent safety failures involving the third rail system, which powers trains so they can move down the track. There is a detailed set of procedures involving various departments within Metrorail that need to be followed given how lethal powering the third rail can be. But Metrorail’s Power Desk has so far failed to course correct and address longtime safety issues with power restoration, WSMC claims, after inheriting the responsibility earlier this year. 

“The investigation demonstrates that Power Desk personnel, including supervision and management, did not follow the specific safety procedures that management specifically designed to assure safety,” the commission says in the report. Prior to the report, Metro maintained that it was following proper power restoration procedures. The commission goes on to list examples when Metrorail and its Power Desk focused more on restoring train service rather than following critical safety procedures.

On April 26, 2022, Metrorail reportedly skipped various steps while preparing to start service. Consequently, workers were not yet cleared of the roadway near College Park Station when Metrorail improperly restored power. “Power Desk Controllers stated that Power Desk personnel are regularly acting based upon personal notes rather than the safety steps required in Metrorail’s procedures,” the commission’s report says, “partly because Power Desk personnel believe this circumvention of safety requirements results in a quicker process.” The commission’s investigation of April 26 found that the Power Desk Controller who failed to follow safety steps had likely been sleep deprived. The employee was more than 10 hours into their sixth consecutive 12-hour overnight shift at the time of the event.

Metrorail’s Safety Department reportedly requires Power Desk personnel to undergo duty evaluations but could not produce records. The commission notes that Metrorail is inadequately staffed, so assigning 12-hour shifts and declining to fill some shifts. The April 26 event was not an isolated incident. The commission says Metrorail again powered the third rail in an active work zone along the Red Line without following all the necessary procedures on May 6 of this year.

And then again a week later, on May 14, Metrorail failed to follow procedures when Metro transit police officers had entered the roadway at the Columbia Heights station to respond to an emergency. 

In a statement sent to DCist/WAMU, a WMATA said it has a desire to address these safety issues rapidly and conclusively.” “Upon discovery of the near-miss incident Metro took immediate actions to assure procedural compliance and has drafted revisions to our previous corrective action plans to address the procedural escapes and organizational failures that led to the incident,” the statement continues. “We are reviewing our actions against the WMSC findings and order to ensure full alignment. The process of cultural change is neither swift nor simple and this incident compels us to continue to expand our transformation efforts into areas of the organization that intersect with the [Rail Operations Control Center].” 

By way of background, the Power Desk absorbed more power after the commission revealed in September 2020 that Rail Operations Control Center management systematically failed to follow safety procedures. The audit of the center revealed that management created a “toxic workplace” riddled with “racial and sexual comments, harassment, and other unprofessional behavior,” endangering both workers and riders. After repeatedly missing deadlines — due to “Metrorail’s ineffective planning,” per the commission’s latest report — the Power Desk’s new procedures were implemented earlier this year. After investigating the new procedures, the commission found that Metrorail again was shortcutting procedures and putting their workers at serious risk. 

“Metrorail’s culture that accepts noncompliance continues to permit procedural shortcutting,” the commission’s report says. “Without cultural change, no amount of training will be sufficient. For designed checks and balances to be effective, the culture must respect these redundancies as enhancing safety – not view them as extraneous time consumers.” 


https://dcist.com/story/22/05/17/metro-safety-report-third-rail/

Why is this news? It's been known since the collision on the Red Line back in 2009. And absolutely nothing has changed since then in regards to safety.

Weidfield the GM who was going to retire 6-30 resigned today

What a mess!

Posted from iPhone

I heard that Wiedefeld has earned the coveted "Salesman of the Year" award from the Washington Area Automobile Dealers Association.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

Affirmative Action and politicization at their finest.  No meritocracy here!