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NTSB cites ‘ineffective inspection and maintenance practices’ as causes of fatal 2015 Metro smoke...
Source: Washington Post
NTSB cites ‘ineffective inspection and maintenance practices’ as causes of fatal 2015 Metro smoke incident
By Paul Duggan and Lori Aratani May 3 at 2:10 PM
The probable cause for Metro’s fatal Jan. 12, 2015 L’Enfant Plaza smoke incident was “a prolonged short circuit that consumed power system components” resulting from the transit agency’s “ineffective inspection and maintenance practices,” the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.
Those ineffective practices persisted as a result of the failure of senior Metro management to “proactively assess and mitigate foreseeable risk,” the panel said. Contributing were inadequate safety oversight by the Tri-State Oversight Committee and the Federal Transit Administration, along with Metro’s failure to follow established procedures and D.C.’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department’s “being unprepared to respond to a mass casualty event” in the subway.
Throughout Metro’s 40-year history, the National Transportation Safety Board has repeatedly raised questions about the agency’s safety culture that have not been adequately addressed, its three-jurisdiction governance model has proven “uniquely dysfunctional” and the federal agency that sought safety oversight of the transit agency-- FTA-- has made recommendations that are “non-enforceable.”
That summary, from NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart, came during his opening statement Tuesday at the meeting where the panel presented its findings about the probable cause of the Jan. 12, 2015, smoke crisis in a Yellow Line tunnel near Metro’s L’Enfant Plaza station.
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By Paul Duggan and Lori Aratani May 3 at 2:10 PM
The probable cause for Metro’s fatal Jan. 12, 2015 L’Enfant Plaza smoke incident was “a prolonged short circuit that consumed power system components” resulting from the transit agency’s “ineffective inspection and maintenance practices,” the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.
Those ineffective practices persisted as a result of the failure of senior Metro management to “proactively assess and mitigate foreseeable risk,” the panel said. Contributing were inadequate safety oversight by the Tri-State Oversight Committee and the Federal Transit Administration, along with Metro’s failure to follow established procedures and D.C.’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department’s “being unprepared to respond to a mass casualty event” in the subway.
Throughout Metro’s 40-year history, the National Transportation Safety Board has repeatedly raised questions about the agency’s safety culture that have not been adequately addressed, its three-jurisdiction governance model has proven “uniquely dysfunctional” and the federal agency that sought safety oversight of the transit agency-- FTA-- has made recommendations that are “non-enforceable.”
That summary, from NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart, came during his opening statement Tuesday at the meeting where the panel presented its findings about the probable cause of the Jan. 12, 2015, smoke crisis in a Yellow Line tunnel near Metro’s L’Enfant Plaza station.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/ntsb-report-on-fatal-2015-metro-smoke-incident-is-said-to-criticize-metro-first-responders-and-others/2016/05/02/a414f3d2-107e-11e6-8967-7ac733c56f12_story.html