WASHINGTON — The Federal Transit Administration has released a proposal requiring transit agencies to assess risk to their workers and identify strategies to improve worker safety.
The proposed general directive, published today in the Federal Register, is open to comment through Feb. 20, 2024.
“Assaults on transit workers are unacceptable,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a press release, “and I look forward to working with leaders across the transit industry on ways to further enhance the safety of these essential workers.”
The directive also requires transit agencies in large urban areas to use a safety committee composed equally of management and labor representatives to identify and recommend safety-risk mitigation moves, and requires agencies to inform the FTA of their moves to identify, address, and monitor safety risks within 60 days of the issuance of the final directive.
“Each day, transit workers nationwide are responsible for moving millions of Americans to their jobs, schools, and other daily activities, and we must ensure that their safety remains a top priority,” FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez said. “This proposed General Directive is part of FTA’s ongoing comprehensive efforts to improve transit worker safety.”
The Transport Workers Union, which represents more than 150,000 workers in the transit, railroad, airline, and service industries, heralded the move in a statement as “an unprecedented and clear directive from the federal government that transit agencies must do much more to protect bus operators, conductors, and other transit workers. … While this directive is a positive development, it’s a national shame that this is the first real action the FTA has taken to prevent assaults like this eight years after Congress first directed them to set minimum protection standards for transit workers. This is the first step to ending this threat. The FTA must quickly build on this by completing a strong rule that protects every transit worker across the country from assault.”
— Updated Dec. 21 at 7:30 a.m. CST with statement from Transport Workers Union.
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