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Report: Improve inspections of subway platform saftey
Photo credit: Urbanite
The MTA needs a sharper ruler in determining what constitutes a safe platform edge, an analysis found.
A report released yesterday found that NYC Transit overlooked safety defects in subway rubbing boards at 16 of the 23 stations surveyed by MTA inspector general’s office.
“We found that this (repair) plan was simply not effective,” said Inspector General Barry Kluger.
The MTA has pledged to fix all of the system’s 1,120 wood and plastic rubbing boards by December. But Kluger questioned whether the agency was detecting all the weak platform edges, which can cause injuries to passengers. Last year, a Q train nearly hit a 14-year-old Brooklyn boy who fell onto the tracks when a wooden board gave way.
Among stations surveyed last year, investigators found:- A transit supervisor decided that a rubbing board hanging off the platform at 116th Street on the C train didn’t need emergency repair
- An edge at the Newkirk Avenue station on the No. 2 line was evaluated as “OK,” “loose” and “in need of repair” by different inspectors, but no one fixed it during the 19-day period.
MTA officials agreed that their approach suffered from “weaknesses,” including a safety requirement that inspectors stand more than two feet away from the platform when assessing the edges.
Going forward, maintenance personnel will examine the rubbing boards up close and from the track level before issuing a report, Transit President Howard Roberts wrote in his response.
“We are developing a process to ensure Stations staff has knowledge of the proper definitions, reporting and notification procedures for platform edge defects,” the MTA said in a statement Tuesday.
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