(The following article by Curtis L. Taylor appeared in Newsday online on February 7.)
NEW YORK — Union officials pressed for closer oversight of New York City Transit yesterday, charging that management laxity contributed to a string of five transit-worker deaths on the job in the past year and a half, and 21 since 1980.
Appearing in front of the transportation committee, which is chaired by Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), union officials maintained that most of the deaths in the past 23 years could have been prevented. They singled out the death of track worker Joy Antony in November, 2002, saying it could have been avoided if the Transit Authority more consistently and vigorously enforced its own safety rules.
John Samuelson, of Transport Workers Local 100, said that just a month before Antony was struck and killed by a southbound No. 3 train while he was working on a track crew, the system safety office at NYC Transit issued a directive mandating safer working practices.
“The incident showed that the Transit Authority is incapable of regulating itself,” Samuelson said. “The directive was just a piece of paper that everybody ignored.”
Cheryl Kennedy, vice president for system safety for New York City Transit, countered the union’s claims, saying riders’ injuries have fallen 42 percent since 1990, while there has been a 64 percent reduction in accidents in which employees were injured and could not report to work.
“These gains did not just happen,” said Kennedy, crediting key safety programs implemented by management. “At the same time, we looked at our existing flagging rules … to remove any ambiguity, and clarified how and when flagging is required.” Flagging lights warn train drivers about the presence of workers on the tracks.
Motorman David Tutt, a 23-year veteran of the transit system, told the committee that, as a train operator, he survived numerous close calls due to what he called inconsistent flagging regulations.
“I need time to brake my train down … you are talking about 400 tons of metal,” Tutt said. “The problem is there is no consistency. It should not be a minimal standard when we are dealing with people’s lives. It should not be adequate. It should be what’s necessary.”
Samuelson testified that a loophole allows the New York City Transit Authority, as an inter-city agency, to avoid federal oversight. Operating largely on its own, the agency is too lax in enforcing its own safety rules, he said, adding that the City Council needs to implement legislation to require compliance.