As with all training, safety is most reliably achieved when labor and management work together in safety partnerships. It is only when frontline workers are engaged in a process where their real world experiences are heard, taken seriously and incorporated into applicable training that a culture shift toward a consistent safety culture is possible. The Center is committed to creating the safest environment for public transportation workers and the riding public and is dedicating the month of February to a series of articles focused on this important topic.
Safety Series Installment I:
TCRP releases Report on Improving Safety Culture in Public Transportation
 The Center was part of the research team that produced the Transit Cooperative Research Program's (TCRP) new Report 174: Improving Safety Culture in Public Transportation. This study presents a working definition of safety culture within public transportation, presents methods and tools for assessing safety culture, and provides strategies and guidelines that public transportation agencies and unions can use to build programs for improving safety culture. Researchers and experts from six groups including the Transportation Learning Center conducted extensive research incorporating a stakeholder survey, mini-case studies over a dozen agencies and in-depth case studies of four.
The report finds that the key components of transit safety culture include:
* Strong leadership, management, and organizational commitment to safety
* Employee/union shared ownership and participation
* Effective safety communication
* Proactive use of safety data, key indicators, and benchmarking
* Organizational learning
* Consistent safety reporting and investigation for prevention
* Employee recognition and rewards
* High level of organizational trust
For more information download the report or contact the Center's Director of Research Xinge Wang.
|
APTA - February 2, 2015
"Transportation is the economic backbone of our country. The transportation infrastructure investments that were made by previous generations created a great country built on economic opportunity. On behalf of the 1,500 American Public Transportation Association (APTA) members, I applaud President Obama for highlighting the importance of investing in our country's transportation so that economic prosperity and global competitiveness continue. Maintaining the status quo would be a step backwards and a grave mistake.
|
|
In an effort to step up security and safety measures, transit agencies increasingly are taking on the challenge of what to do with people who loiter, sleep or panhandle in rail stations, on platforms or trains. Some agencies - the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in San Francisco and Societe de transport de Montreal (STM) in Montreal, Quebec, for example - are trying to connect homeless individuals with community services that can help them improve their lives.
|
Just as Stephanie Pollack prepared to take over as the state's transportation czar, Massachusetts was hit by one of the biggest snowstorms in state history. But instead of sitting the storm out, the new secretary of transportation was front and center as Governor Charlie Baker held press conferences on a travel ban that would shut down the T for one day.
|
MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) last week opened the Mid-Suffolk Train Yard Information Center at the Ronkonkoma Station so riders and the public can learn about the railroad's proposal to enlarge its Ronkonkoma yard.
|
A long-held dream to build an intermodal transportation center that would be a hub for local buses and rapid transit, Amtrak trains and Greyhound service is inching closer to reality.
|
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced last night that it was sending a team to investigate a fatal crash that occurred in Westchester County, N.Y., yesterday between a MTA Metro-North Railroad train and a sports utility vehicle (SUV). Seven people, including six passengers and the SUV driver, were killed.
|
A new report shows serious crime in the Metro system was down last year after significant reductions in thefts of smartphones and bicycles. The transit agency released a 2014 crime report Friday. It shows overall crime on Metro was down 27 percent last year compared to 2013. The reduction in serious crime was driven in part by a 52 percent reduction in thefts of smartphone and mobile devices.
|
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 president Jackie Jeter says Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has "woefully neglected its commitment to a safety culture" and called on the agency to take specific steps "to truly create a safety culture."
|
Two of the most commonly cited reasons for the lack of more liberal policymaking in the United States are the decline in unions and the rising class bias in voter turnout.
|
Unions and environmental groups called on Congress to provide more funds for passenger rail and transit systems in a report released today. The Environmental Law and Policy Center and BlueGreen Alliance released the report, "Passenger Rail & Transit Rail Manufacturing in the U.S.," which examined the impact and opportunities the passenger rail and transit industry presents to the national economy.
|
|
Building Transportation Infrastructure
|
Anyone who's been stuck on BART in the Transbay Tube waiting for a train to inch forward assumes that a second tube could help prevent those annoying delays. Public officials and riders have talked for years about building a second Transbay Tube - someday. Now, with BART's ridership soaring, trains more crowded than ever and the economy booming, the idea is getting serious attention.
|
New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (NORTA) and city officials kicked off construction on a new 1.6-mile North Rampart Street/St. Claude Avenue Streetcar project. The new line will connect the French Quarter and Treme to Canal Street and Loyola Avenue via the network of streetcar lines in the city.
|
