Metro News Release
For immediate release: August 9, 2010
Metro Board of Directors commits to implementing NTSB recommendations
Initiatives to address recommendations already underway
Metro Board Chairman Peter Benjamin made the following remarks at a joint meeting between the Metro Board of Directors and the National Transportation Safety Board at Metro headquarters on Monday, August 9: 
Safety is the top priority at Metro, for the Board, for Metro management, for all of our staff from top to bottom. This Board intends to ensure that, to the best of our ability, each and every National Transportation Safety Board recommendation to Metro associated with its review of the June 22, 2009 accident is implemented.
As part of that process, the Board of Directors will recreate a Board Safety Committee and will revise Metro’s mission statement and Board procedures to underscore the authority’s commitment to safety.
In addition, Metro has already taken steps to address NTSB recommendations. In July, the Board approved a contract to replace the 1000 series rail cars.
Metro has stabilized and strengthened the Office of Safety with a Chief Safety Officer reporting directly to the General Manager and augmented staff.
The Board of Directors is receiving monthly reports from the Chief Safety Officer and quarterly reports from the Tri-State Oversight Committee (TOC).
We have directed Metro’s independent Inspector General to review regularly internal and external safety reports and progress that has been made in carrying out recommendations, and to report any delays or concerns directly to the Board.
In January, we requested assistance from the U.S. Department of Transportation, AFL-CIO and the American Public Transportation Association in changing Metro’s safety culture. They suggested experts in transportation safety to assist Metro in enhancing its safety culture. That external safety panel is hard at work, will make recommendations on how to create a true culture of safety in which safety is an inherent aspect of all activities, and will help us to implement those changes.
Metro has conducted a staff-wide survey of how safety is viewed by its own employees and what difficulties employees have in enhancing safety, with 97 percent response by employees.
A safety hot line has been established for employees to report safety concerns.
The Board also strengthened Metro’s whistleblower protection policy to encourage employees to report safety concerns or near misses without punitive consequences.
A new Safety Management System is being developed that tracks safety concerns identified by staff and actions taken to deal with the issues raised, provides a comprehensive view of all safety-related incidents, tracks the progress of incident investigations and monitors the status of corrective actions.
An internal task force has been established, which has reviewed and revised operating procedures to ensure that they stress safety while allowing the job to get done.
The Board approved a multi-year capital budget, which focuses on safety, rehabilitation of facilities and replacement of equipment to ensure that the Metrorail and Metrobus systems are in a state of good repair.
We welcome this opportunity to improve our understanding of critical issues, which can improve the Board’s actions to enhance the safety of our passengers, our employees and the general public.
News release issued at 7:42 pm, August 9, 2010.