A new federal audit slams the MTA for safety shortfalls that last year contributed to a 58% surge from 2022 in “near-miss events” involving transit workers.
The probe into “an escalating pattern” of safety failures at MTA New York City Transit was launched after a D train fatally struck rookie track worker Hilarion Joseph near the 34th Street-Herald Square station in November 2023 while he was on flagging duties for a cleaning crew.
In its report, released Wednesday as two directives, the Federal Transit Administration said the death of the 57-year-old Gulf War veteran was among 38 “Potential Employee Contact” events in 2023 — up from 24 the previous year and 23 in 2021.
“This is just an affirmation of what the [Transport Workers Union] has been criticizing MTA over for years and it’s only gotten worse,” John Samuelsen, international president of the TWU, told THE CITY. “There’s a constant tension between on-time train performance and worker safety and that pressure has increased dramatically.”
New York City Transit defines a near-miss event as any incident “involving potential employee contact with trains,” which, according to the FTA, most commonly involves improper flagging — the safety practice in which workers use flags and lights to alert workers on the tracks to the presence of trains.
The close calls also occur when subway trains enter work areas at excessive speeds or operators do not sound horns when passing through flagging areas.
The FTA’s audit identified improper flagging as a “potential contributing factor” in the death of Joseph, as well as in a June 6, 2024 incident in which a 64-year-old track worker was struck by an out-of-service F train by the Hoyt-Schermerhorn stop in Brooklyn.
Federal investigators also found that New York City Transit last year experienced 228 near-miss safety events that did not involve transit workers, a 3% increase from 222 the previous year and 46% more than the 156 in 2021.
“Based on this data, FTA identified an escalating pattern of safety incidents and concerns in [New York City Transit’s Roadway Protection] program and of non-compliant with NYCT key safety rules designed to protect workers and passengers,” FTA officials wrote.
In a response letter to the FTA, Demetrius Crichlow, interim president of New York City Transit, touted the agency’s own 99.97% “safety efficiency rate” on the tracks and said the agency intends to appeal the findings.
“In short, we strongly dispute FTA’s view that NYCT has somehow been negligent when it comes to addressing the safety of track workers, one of our most essential priorities,” Crichlow wrote. “The agency has extensive safety protocols covering the more than 1.5 million work tours that take place along the Right-of-Way during active service in our 24/7 subway system.”
The letter also points out that the two incidents at the core of the FTA special directives remain under active investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
State Oversight Questioned
According to the FTA, Joseph’s 2023 death was the first on-the job-death related to the roadway protection program since September 2020, when a car cleaner fell at a Bronx subway yard and came into contact with the third rail.
But it’s not the first time the MTA has been rapped for safety lapses. THE CITY reported last year that the Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau of the state Labor Department hit the transit agency with “serious” violations in 2022 for failing to provide annual training to subway employees on how to use NH15 hoods during nuclear, biological or chemical events.
The state inquiry into New York City Transit’s respiratory protection program followed the March 2020 fire that killed a No. 2 train motorman when a shopping cart burst into flames at the Central Park North-110th Street station.
Half of the close calls last year, the feds reported, stemmed from workers failing to comply with established flagging procedures. Others involved improper communications and radio use, lack of supervision and improper access to the tracks.
The FTA cited New York City Transit for failing to use its own “safety risk-management process” to review track safety incidents, even as “near-miss” events rose last year.
The feds also took aim at the state public transportation safety board for lax oversight. The audit points out how the FTA gave the board $22.4 million between 2013 and 2024 to conduct rail transit safety oversight, but $8.1 million has yet to be spent.
Union leader Samuelsen used the report to call for changes to the very structure of the state oversight board, whose members are appointed by Gov. Kathy Hochul and members of the two houses of the state legislature.
“Kathy Hochul has shown she’s incapable of running a safe subway system. It’s unconscionable that she should have the power to oversee both the operations of New York’s subways and the independent agency responsible for safety,” Samuelsen said in a statement.
The directive from the FTA instructs the state public transportation safety board to expand its work to oversee New York City Transit’s Roadway Protection Program. The oversight body must also provide monthly reports to the feds on what steps the MTA is taking to curb safety risks to subway workers.
