BART's now-banned
"simple approval" practice was the probable cause of an accident that
killed two track workers in Contra Costa County in 2013, the National
Transportation Safety Board said in a report issued this week.
The NTSB adopted its
report Monday in the case of Christopher Sheppard, 58, of Hayward, and Laurence
Daniels, 66, of Fair Oaks, who were struck and killed on Oct. 19, 2013, while
inspecting a dip in the tracks between BART's Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill
stations.
The northbound train
had no passengers on board and was being used for training of management employees
to work as substitute operators and system maintenance workers during a strike
by BART's two largest unions.
The "simple
approval" practice had track workers get authorization from BART's control
center to enter the trackway "with no additional protective measures or
restrictions provided," the NTSB report said.
BART Fined $210,000 After 2
Worker Deaths: Cal-OSHA
The state agency
that oversees workplace safety cited BART on Thursday for willful serious
safety violations that resulted in two workers being killed by a fast-moving
train in Walnut Creek last October during the height of a contentious BART
strike. Jodi Hernandez reports. (Published Thursday, Apr 17, 2014)
"Under simple
approval, roadway workers were required to be aware of train and equipment
movements and provide their own protection," the report said.
Workers were
prohibited from entering the BART right of way without a "watchman"
whose sole responsibility was to watch for approaching trains, according to the
NTSB report.
When the minor
defect was found on the tracks near Walnut Creek, Sheppard, a BART manager, and
Daniels, a contractor working with the agency, went out to take measurements,
the NTSB report said.
The train that hit
the workers left the Walnut Creek station and was traveling at 68 mph within 28
seconds. At 1:44 p.m., the operator trainee on board repeatedly hit the red
emergency stop button and shouted, "Look out!" and "No, no,
no!" but the train hit the workers 4.7 seconds later, the NTSB report
said.
2 Dead BART Workers in Charge
of Own Safety: NTSB
National
Transportation Safety Board investigators say under Bay Area Rapid Transit
rules, the two track workers who were killed in an accident Saturday were
responsible for their own safety. Terry McSweeney reports. (Published Tuesday,
Oct 22, 2013)
The day after the
deaths, BART issued a memorandum suspending the practice of simple approvals
and said trains in work areas must slow down to a maximum speed of 27 mph.
Simple approvals were permanently banned by the agency later that October.
A month after the
death, the NTSB made urgent safety recommendations to the Federal Transit
Administration to require "redundant protection" for track workers,
such as a safety monitoring system known as positive train control or secondary
warning devices.
In April 2014, the
California Division of Occupational Safety and Health fined BART $210,000 for
safety violations in the incident.
BART general manager
Grace Crunican said in a statement today that the agency "wishes to thank
the NTSB for its meticulous investigation."
Crunican said BART,
in coordination with the California Public Utilities Commission, has "made
significant changes to its trackside procedures in order to provide additional
safety measures for our workers."
Along with the
reduction to 27 mph for trains in work areas, all BART employees who routinely
work on or near the trackway undergo at least 32 hours of safety training every
two years, among other changes, according to Crunican.
In fiscal year 2015,
the district invested an additional $5.3 million in trackway worker safety
initiatives, including the hiring of 40 additional staff members, she said.
However, members of
BART's unions said more still needs to be done and that changes often are made
without adequate input from workers.
Amalgamated Transit
Union Local 1555 president Chris Finn said the NTSB report "focuses on one
procedure, but really we need to focus on the culture as a whole at BART."
Finn said, "We
need to incorporate the workers who understand the procedures and the risks
involved in any decisions on technology or practices they're considering
doing."
He said BART has a
"culture of not reaching out and not valuing the work of those
people."