Metro News Release
For immediate release: December 26, 2008
Metro plans to honor safest employees
Night of the Stars event co-sponsored by vendors
Metro plans to honor safest employees
Night of the Stars event co-sponsored by vendors
About 65 Metro employees will be honored next month as the transit agency presents awards to its safest employees during an evening ceremony billed as a “Night of the Stars.”
Since Metro General Manager John Catoe’s arrival in 2007, he has insisted that his top priority is to ensure that the transit agency’s commitment to safety becomes embedded into the everyday fabric of the agency. When Catoe arrived at Metro, there were five bus fatalities that first year. He also arrived two months after two employees were fatally struck by a train.
The “Night of the Stars” event on January 31, 2009, will recognize the accomplishments of Metro’s front-line employees “who have reached significant milestones in the safe operation of the Metro transit system,” Catoe said. “These are the employees who are entrusted with safely transporting up to 1.2 million customers a day, and they live up to that trust.”
The honorees will include members of the “Million Mile Club” who have driven a bus for more than one million miles without a preventable accident. The event will also recognize safe rail operators. Recipients of the awards include employees who have been nominated by their colleagues for their commitment to safety.
Since Mr. Catoe’s arrival, Metro has initiated several safety-related changes and initiatives. One major initiative that began in mid-2007 was the start of a five-year program to help create a safer worker environment for its employees and reduce workers compensation costs.
Other safety initiatives are numerous. On the bus side, some of the initiatives include the establishment of a mentor program; expanded operator service observations to evening with instructors randomly riding at night to observe and correct driver performance; installation of reflective tabs on bus shelters; installation of collision avoidance system as a pilot; purchase of radar guns to monitor bus speeds; testing of new operator seat belts, and installation of flashing amber lights atop 100 Metrobuses in the District of Columbia to help pedestrians spot the buses from a distance at night.
On the rail side, some of the new safety initiatives include implementation of a new Track Inspector Certification Program; the purchase of a new piece of track equipment that measures the lateral forces on its tracks; installation of red lights along platform edges; ordering a customized “rail geometry vehicle” that can identify when the track is out of alignment.
To cover costs associated with the safety recognition event, Metro asked its vendors to co-sponsor this event and their generous donations to date have already funded more than 60 percent of the cost. The remainder of the cost will come from revenue collected from the food and beverage vending machines at Metro’s headquarters and field locations. “In these tough economic times, we decided to be creative in the way we funded this initiative so that we could reward people for their commitment to safety,” Catoe said.
News release issued at 1:28 pm, December 26, 2008.