MBTA Issues 3-Year Safety Improvement Plan
April 18, 2023
Written by Glen Berkowitz, Project Manager
On April 3, the MBTA published a three-year Safety Improvement Plan. This plan provides comprehensive overview of the MBTA's recent efforts to develop more robust safety protocols and embed a more rigorous culture of safety within its diverse workforce of some 5,600 current employees across all transportation modes.
This new Safety Improvement Plan is separate from the Federal Transit Administration's Safety Management Inspection report produced in 2022. The FTA SMI included a review of the T's rail transit operations control center, training, vehicle maintenance, signals and train control, and track access. The FTA issued eight Special Directives to which MBTA developed 38 Corrective Action Plans that include some 545 discrete action items. Previously, It has not been easy to comprehend nor track this complex interplay between federal oversight and local response, and the new Safety Improvement Plan includes a useful summary outline of this important oversight and response work.
The Safety Improvement Plan includes a five-page Executive Summary that provides useful details on the T's recent safety challenges, how the authority intends to build a renewed focus on safety, and the safety objectives and safety performance targets it will use to help it move forward.
The MBTA submitted this Safety Improvement Plan to the Joint Committee on Transportation of the Massachusetts legislature as required by the state's Transportation Bond Bill enacted into law in 2022. That law requires the MBTA to update this plan annually.
For more information on the MBTA's efforts to improve its safety performance, please contact Glen Berkowitz.
