FTA Continues Push to Improve Transit Worker Safety

In late September, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued a Request for Information (RFI) concerning two areas of transit worker safety. The RFI seeks input on potential transit worker safety mitigations, including potential minimum safety requirements for Roadway Worker Protection (RWP) programs and transit worker assault prevention.

FTA Acting Associate Administrator for Transit Safety and Oversight and Chief Safety Officer Gail Lyssy says safety is the top priority of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and FTA.

“It really is so important to make sure that our systems are safe across the country,” said Lyssy. “FTA has implemented a safety risk management process to identify, assess and mitigate risks and hazards and to make sure we're working towards reducing injuries and fatalities across the industry.”

She continued, “FTA is exploring mitigations for transit worker safety, including potential minimum safety requirements for Roadway Worker Protection programs, as well as transit worker assault prevention – two areas that are really important to the transit industry right now – making sure we're protecting our transit workers across the country.”

Why ‘Now’ is Important for These Challenges

Lyssy explains transit worker assault prevention and RWP were identified as top concerns within the industry.

“Roadway Worker Protection was identified by both the [National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)], as well as FTA’s own Transit Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS) as areas of interest, and both recommended that FTA take action to address these issues. In fact, NTSB did include improving rail worker safety as part of its 2021 to 2022 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety improvements,” said Lyssy.

NTSB’s Most Wanted List recognized that RWP regulations have been in place at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) since 1997. These regulations govern the passenger rail operations that connect to the national network. Similar regulations for light rail and heavy rail systems that fall under FTA jurisdiction have not been established.

TRACS issued a final report on RWP in July 2021 with eight recommendations, including requiring secondary warning systems, funding new research, developing RWP safety technology reliability criteria, fatigue management, behavior-based safety systems and more.

“We wanted to make sure we are examining [RWP], as well as examining transit worker assaults, which are on the rise,” said Lyssy.

Lyssy noted the rate of security events reported to the National Transit Database (NTD) increased 17 percent on average annually between 2010 and 2020. That number includes an increase in transit worker assaults, which have increased approximately fourfold since 2009.

“FTA has observed that transit agencies have worked to improve transit worker safety on both the safety concern areas with the implementation of new technologies, as well as increased training and the establishment of new rules and procedures within transit agencies. Through this RFI, we're looking forward to gathering that information to evaluate potential actions that can be taken at the federal level to further reduce the safety risk to transit workers,” said Lyssy.

A Collaborative Effort

Data from NTD and recommendations from NTSB and TRACS provide valuable input within the two safety areas covered by the RFI, but feedback provided by the industry will add another key avenue of input as FTA evaluates what future mitigation actions may be needed.

FTA realizes safety impacts affect transit workers in their daily lives. Lyssy explains that hearing how the transit industry is currently addressing RWP and transit worker assault prevention, as well as experiences, recommendations and guidance provided as feedback through the RFI, is viewed by FTA as a chance to improve transit safety.

“FTA also really appreciates the importance of the transit agency perspective on what may or may not work as part of their operations and maintenance, as well as the development of their infrastructure and purchase of vehicles,” said Lyssy. “We hope that the scope of this request for information shows our commitment to improving worker safety by listening to workers, as well as the industry and others who may have information to share on these topics.”

The collaborative effort on these two topics will turn inward at USDOT, as well.

“As part of FTA’s safety risk management process, we are looking at existing practices at the federal, state and local level, including FRA. FTA analyzes what's successful and what needs improvements,” explained Lyssy. “Our role in transit is unique, so it's important for us to learn from a variety of existing programs to contribute to our strategy of building a national safety culture. During FTA’s initial safety risk assessment for roadway worker protection, we did work with our partners from FRA to identify the safety concern, understand the totality of the risk and learn about best practices when taking actions to address RWP.”

Lyssy notes there are differences in the programs and organizations that are overseen by FTA and FRA, but the foundational challenge of RWP is similar, which makes FRA a valued partner in FTA’s own quest to improve transit worker safety.

“We're fortunate to have a close working relationship across all federal transportation modal administrations, and when it comes to safety, there really is no hesitancy to help one another. We've had a lot of good dialogue with our partners across DOT,” said Lyssy.

The feedback provided by the transit industry through the RFI will also help FTA in other related safety initiatives, such as the Enhanced Transit Safety and Crime Prevention initiative.

“[It is] important to make sure that we are complementing our existing initiatives, as well as seeing where we can continue to improve safety,” said Lyssy. “The goal of FTA’s Enhanced Transit Safety and Crime Prevention initiative is to provide information and resources to help transit agencies address and prevent crime on their systems and protect workers and riders. The results from this RFI, particularly the information shared regarding the specific types of interactions that lead to assaults and recommendations for actions that could limit or prevent those assaults, will really help FTA inform this initiative.”

Submitting Input

FTA developed the RFI to focus on the procedures and training being implemented by the transit industry to mitigate transit worker safety and RWP risk, as well as identifying physical protections.

“Through this information collection process, we're really hoping to receive new information about new technologies that may protect workers through awareness, as well as warning and even capabilities to slow and stop trains before those accidents occur. The same holds true for the transit worker assaults,” said Lyssy. “We have to remember a transit worker assault is not just the driver. It's also the station manager and the folks who are working within the transit industry. We need to make sure we're considering all transit workers and not just the operators. We’re casting a broad net in terms of both data and potential solutions on both fronts for transit worker assault, as well as RWP to address these important challenges.”

Feedback on the RFI can be submitted to the FTA by Nov. 23, 2021. FTA held a webinar on the RFI on Oct. 12 and the presentation is available online at the FTA’s website.

“FTA is going to use the information received through the process to evaluate any potential actions to mitigate these safety risks for transit workers and then help to identify steps that can be taken to prevent transit worker assaults,” said Lyssy. “ We are looking forward to reviewing the responses to the questions included in the RFI, to hear from others [on] what the steps are they've taken to improve safety of their workers and help find ways to continue to improve transit safety across the industry.”