SEPTA appoints Ronald Keele as chief safety officer

SEPTA has appointed Ronald Keele as the authority’s chief safety officer (CSO). Keele will report to SEPTA General Manager and CEO Leslie S. Richards.

The chief safety officer leads the development, monitoring, and necessary adjustment of SEPTA’s plan to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all employees, riders and community members. Keele will develop methods to measure the authority’s safety performance and establish programs to routinely involve executive leadership in safety planning.

Keele comes to SEPTA from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), where he served as CSO. At WMATA, Keele oversaw the authority’s Department of System Safety and Risk Management, which includes passenger, vehicle and fire life safety, environmental safety and health, safety training and the workers’ compensation and quality assurance offices.

“Ron’s experience makes him the ideal candidate to take on this role,” Richards said. “Under his leadership, we will enhance our system and occupational safety standards, ensuring the best environment for our employees and riders.”

Keele brings more than 35 years of experience in the safety field, with 29 years in mass transit safety. Before being appointed as WMATA’s CSO, he was the executive director of safety, quality assurance and risk management for the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), where he managed the investigation of all accidents involving fatalities or serious injuries and reported unsafe acts, unacceptable hazardous conditions, derailments and collisions. He also managed the system safety design review of all of MTA’s new facilities and equipment, system safety certification, fire protection engineering and fire life safety code requirements.

Keele also worked as the system safety manager of space shuttle operations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, served as the director of safety and security for the Federal Transit Administration and served as the director of passenger, vehicle, fire life safety and emergency management for WMATA.

Keele earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Virginia Tech, a master’s degree in business administration from the George Washington University and a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Maryland. He is also a registered professional engineer and certified safety professional.