Under the final rule, announced Oct. 29 and to be published in the Federal Register on Thursday, Oct. 31, rail transit agencies nationwide will have one year to create and receive State Safety Oversight Agency (SSOA) approval for a roadway worker protection program that is focused on employees who work on or around the tracks. Transit agencies are also required to implement comprehensive training for workers and ensure that unsafe acts and conditions are reported.
Unsafe practices and conditions place rail transit workers at risk of being killed or seriously injured, FTA noted. According to data reported in the National Transit Database, between January 1, 2008, and June 30, 2024, 29 transit workers were killed and 144 were seriously injured performing track work. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and FTA’s Transit Advisory Committee for Safety both have recommended regulatory action to address rail transit worker safety.
Under the final rule, rail transit agencies must:
- “Adopt and implement an SSOA-approved Roadway Worker Protection Program (RWP) to improve worker safety, consistent with Federal and state safety requirements. “Roadway” is a term describing the area on and along the tracks.
- “Establish minimum RWP program elements, including job safety briefings and lone worker protection.
- “Create or update safety manuals to document RWP programs and include a track access guide.
- “Establish a training program that addresses all transit workers responsible for on-track safety by position.”
The final rule requires SSOAs to “review and approve worker protection program elements, monitor implementation, and conduct annual audits to ensure compliance,” according to FTA.
In March 2024, FTA issued the Rail Transit Roadway Worker Protection Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register, seeking public comment. In response to the NPRM, FTA received more than 7,000 comments.
This final rule, FTA says, builds upon previous steps by the Biden-Harris Administration to strengthen transit worker safety, including:
- 2021: Request for Information on Transit Worker Safety and the safety risk related to assaults on transit workers.
- 2022: Special Directives on Required Actions Regarding Transit Worker Assault issued to nine transit agencies, accounting for 79% of all assaults on transit workers.
- 2024: Updated the Public Transportation Agency Safety Plans (PTASP) regulation to strengthen transit worker safety, including new measures to assess the risk of assaults and involving joint labor-management safety committees to develop mitigations and strategies, and issued a general directive on required actions regarding assaults on transit workers.
“Today’s action provides greater protection for workers on our nation’s subway, light rail, and trolley systems. The final rule protects workers who access the rail tracks and promotes a safe work environment for all employees of rail transit systems,” said FTA Deputy Administrator Veronica Vanterpool. “This final rule will save lives and ensure that our transit workers, who work tirelessly to maintain our rail transit systems nationwide, get home safely each day to their families and loved ones.”
NTSB Responds
NTSB on Oct. 29 applauded the new FTA final rule, which it says may address as many as six safety recommendations previously issued to the Administration.
“The NTSB has been sounding the alarm on roadway worker safety for years,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said. “While we still have to fully analyze the final rule, it appears to be a strong effort aimed at implementing multiple NTSB safety recommendations. This new rule is a critical step in protecting roadway worker safety and saving lives.”
Rail transit roadway workers are subject to on-the-job risks that include moving trains and other equipment as well as falls, electrocution and natural hazards, according to NTSB, which, since 2020, has investigated four accidents involving roadway workers on FTA regulated properties. On Oct. 19, the NTSB launched a team of investigators to Atlanta, where a Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) employee was struck and severely injured by a rail transit vehicle.
“Improving rail worker safety means making sure that roadway workers have the training, equipment, rest, and layers of protection they need while working on or around tracks, said NTSB board member Tom Chapman. “FTA’s new rule represents important progress.”
NTSB says it has “long made recommendations to improve the safety of roadway workers.” In 2014 the NTSB issued a special investigative report on railroad and rail transit roadway worker protections. That report included a recommendation to the FTA to establish roadway worker protection rules.
After a full analysis by NTSB staff, the five presidentially appointed members of the NTSB board will determine whether the new FTA rule “satisfies any open safety recommendations.”
