A Maryland labor safety agency has cited Metro for workplace safety violations in the January deaths of two of its track workers, ordered to improve communications and dead zones in its radio network.
The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health office issued two citations containing four violations against the transit agency for the Jan. 26 deaths of Jeff Garrard, 49, and Sung Oh, 68. Three of the violations were considered “serious.”
The veteran track workers had been replacing faulty track equipment overnight along the Red Line in Montgomery County when a high-rail truck equipped to travel on the tracks struck them as it ran backward in the work zone.
The Maryland workplace safety agency’s investigation revealed that Metro had departed from its own safety rules.
Metro failed to provide a constant lookout for the workers, plus the truck lacked a clear view behind it and a working alarm for backing up, the reports show. Workers also used different radio frequencies and sometimes even their personal cell phones to communicate even as shifts changed, the report shows.
The agency did not fine Metro but recommended the transit agency improve its communications system and eliminate dead zones.
Such dead zones underground caused problems last month when a fire on a Dupont Circle station escalator caused confusion for riders trying to evacuate from a partially barricaded exit. No one was reported hurt.
Metro contested the recent Maryland safety citations on Friday, said Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein. Otherwise, Metro would have been required to fix the problems by last Thursday, MOSH records show.
The transit agency is also contesting a $7,000 fine for a “serious” violation of workplace safety in the Aug. 9 death of another track worker, Michael Nash, who was hit by a machine spreading gravel near the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metro station, said Virginia Department of Labor and Industry policy analyst Eric Delia. The Virginia workplace safety watchdog found that the windshield on the equipment that killed him was covered in “significant amounts of dust,” limiting visibility to less than 15 feet, records show.
The National Transportation Safety Board also has been investigating the three deaths as part of three ongoing investigations into Metro accidents. The independent federal agency last week wrapped up a fourth probe into last summer’s deadly Fort Totten crash, finding that the agency’s “anemic” safety culture led to nine deaths in the Red Line train crash.
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