Metro workers are slipping, straining their backs and then filing workers’ compensation claims for those and other injuries more than a national benchmark, according to the transit agency. And some divisions of the transit system are filing claims at more than double the national rate.
Metro’s approximately 11,000-person strong work force posted an average injury rate of 6.21 incidents per 100 employees in the first 10 months of the year, according to a Metro safety report.
That’s slightly higher than the national benchmark of 6.1 injuries per 100 employees over the course of a typical working year, said Metro’s safety chief James Dougherty.
But those statistics include all the workers who sit at desks in administrative positions, not just the ones who are lifting equipment, fixing escalators and running trains who may be more prone to getting hurt on the job.
When the transit agency looked at the top 10 divisions with the highest claim rates, they found more than triple the national benchmark of reported injuries at the Southern Avenue bus garage in Southeast with 19.24 injuries per 100 employees.
Those workers filed 43 claims for the year through October, including 11 stemming from collisions, nine strains, four cases of workers slipping and falling and one bitten by an insect, according to Metro records. Dougherty said he did not have additional information about the insect bite.
The Landover Bus division in Maryland had a rate of 14.87 injuries that led to worker’s compensation claims, with 39 claims filed through October.
Throughout the system, strains were the most common claims filed among bus, rail and escalators workers. Slipping and falling, plus injuries from collisions involving bus operators were the next most frequent.
Metro board members asked about the context of such injuries at a recent committee meeting and how the transit agency compares with other systems. It was not immediately clear how much the claims are costing the transit agency.
The transit agency has been trying to improve its safety record after a spate of deadly incidents involving workers in the past two years. Four track workers have been killed in three separate train incidents in the past 18 months and one contractor was electrocuted.
