[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 8, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1425-1426]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-00076]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

[Safety Advisory 14-1]


Right-of-Way Worker Protection

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of Safety Advisory.

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SUMMARY: On December 31, 2013, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) 
issued Safety Advisory 14-1 to provide guidance to State Safety 
Oversight Agencies (SSOAs) and rail fixed guideway public 
transportation agencies on redundant protections for roadway workers in 
the rail transit industry, and review and revision of rules and 
procedures to protect roadway workers from trains and moving equipment. 
FTA

[[Page 1426]]

issued this guidance in response to a number of recent accidents in the 
industry, and two urgent recommendations by the National Transportation 
Safety Board (NTSB). FTA's Safety Advisory 14-1, ``Right-of-Way Worker 
Protection,'' is available in its entirety on the agency's public Web 
site (http://www.fta.dot.gov/tso.html). Further, FTA has asked each 
SSOA to coordinate with every rail transit agency within its 
jurisdiction to complete and submit Appendix 1 to Safety Advisory 14-1, 
``Right-of-Way Worker Protection Assessment Checklist,'' and to conduct 
formal hazard analyses regarding the presence of workers in rail 
transit rights-of-way.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For program matters, Thomas Littleton, 
Associate Administrator for Safety and Oversight, telephone (202) 366-
9239 or [email protected]. For legal matters, Scott Biehl, 
Senior Counsel, telephone (202) 366-0826 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 19, 2013, the NTSB issued two 
urgent safety recommendations to FTA. The first, R-13-39, recommends 
that all rail transit agencies be required to provide redundant 
protection for their roadway workers, such as positive train control, 
secondary warning devices, or shunting devices on track. The second, R-
13-40, recommends that all rail transit agencies be required to review 
their rules and procedures for wayside workers and revise them, as 
necessary, to eliminate any authorization for worker access to transit 
rights-of-way in which the workers are dependent solely upon themselves 
to provide protection from trains and moving equipment. These two NTSB 
recommendations follow an October 19, 2013 accident in which two 
workers inspecting a dip in track on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) 
system were killed when both their backs were turned to a train 
traveling more than sixty miles per hour. The workers had access to the 
BART right-of-way under a procedure called ``simple approval,'' which 
required mere notification to the agency's operations control center--
there were no other protections in place for their safety.
    The two recommendations are not limited to the BART accident, 
however. R-13-39 and R-13-40 reflect the results of recent NTSB 
investigations into fatalities and serious injuries to track workers on 
the rail transit systems in Boston, Chicago, Houston, Miami, New York, 
Sacramento, and Washington, DC. October 2013 was one of the deadliest 
months on record for the nation's rail transit workers. Three workers 
were killed and two were seriously injured in two separate accidents on 
the rail transit right-of-way (ROW). Since 2002, 28 rail transit 
workers have lost their lives while working to maintain the nation's 
rail transit infrastructure.
    We at the FTA and the U.S. Department of Transportation appreciate 
the urgency of the NTSB's findings, and the critical safety challenge 
in front of us. Over the last decade, 28 workers have been killed in 
accidents on the rail transit right-of-way and the systems, rules and 
procedures put in place to protect transit workers failed each time. We 
agree, wholeheartedly, with the NTSB's observation that ``all rail 
transit systems are at risk for roadway worker fatalities and 
injuries.'' In response, specifically, to R-13-39 and R-13-40, FTA is 
issuing Safety Advisory 14-1: Right-of-Way Worker Protection, to both 
the agencies that own and operate rail fixed guideway systems and the 
SSOAs that oversee the safety of those systems. Safety Advisory 14-1 is 
designed to support a comprehensive review of the Right-of-Way Worker 
Protection (``RWP'') programs already in place at rail transit 
agencies. It offers options and tools to enhance those programs. The 
guidance identifies available resources, current industry activities to 
improve RWPs, and a compilation of lessons learned from right-of-way 
worker accidents over the last decade, all of which are framed to help 
rail transit agencies assess their programs within the context of the 
broader national experience. Safety Advisory 14-1 is available in full 
on the Transit Safety and Oversight Web page of the FTA public Web site 
at http://www.fta.dot.gov/tso.html, together with the Federal Transit 
Administrator's Dear Colleague letter of December 31, 2013, and a 
letter of that same date from the FTA Associate Administrator for 
Safety and Oversight addressed to the SSOAs and the chief safety 
officers of rail transit agencies.
    Additionally, FTA has asked each SSOA, in coordination with every 
rail transit agency within its jurisdiction, to complete and submit 
Appendix 1 to Safety Advisory 14-1, the ``Right-of-Way Worker 
Protection Assessment Checklist,'' no later than February 28, 2014, and 
to oblige every rail transit agency to conduct a formal hazard analysis 
for the presence of workers on its rail transit right-of-way, no later 
than May 16, 2014. FTA will use the data and information from the 
assessment checklists in conducting a broader analysis for a response 
to NTSB recommendation R-13-39. FTA will use the results of the formal 
hazard analyses in developing a full response to NTSB recommendation R-
13-40. FTA has asked that the formal hazard analyses address the 
``simple approval'' procedure at issue in the BART accident, as 
appropriate, as well as emergency and scheduled access in work zones 
and procedures for moving crews, both under traffic and in exclusive 
occupancy. Also, FTA has stated its interest in how SSOAs and rail 
transit agencies view the benefits of ``lock outs'' and various other 
redundant protections, such as positive train control, secondary 
warning devices, and shunting devices attached to track. Please see the 
summaries at http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/recletters/2013/R-13-039-040.pdf.
    FTA's issuance of Safety Advisory 14-1 is in accordance with the 
Federal Transit Administrator's authority to ``investigate public 
transportation accidents and incidents and provide guidance to 
recipients regarding prevention of accidents and incidents.'' 49 U.S.C. 
5329(f)(5). The requests for information and data from the SSOAs and 
the rail transit agencies within their jurisdiction are based on FTA's 
authority to request program information pertinent to rail transit 
safety under the State Safety Oversight rule, 49 CFR 659.39(d).

    Issued in Washington, DC this 2nd day of January, 2014.
Peter Rogoff,
Federal Transit Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2014-00076 Filed 1-7-14; 8:45 am]
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