| 
iStock photo
The MBTA for years failed to conduct key maintenance and inspections, apply industry-wide safety standards or ensure accountability on its core transit, an independent panel concluded in a report released Monday.
The three outside experts tapped to review the T after a string of derailments this summer concluded the MBTA’s approach to safety is “questionable,” they wrote in an executive summary of their findings. As a result, many existing safety issues likely go unreported, they found.
“In almost every area we examined, deficiencies in policies, application of safety standards or industry best practices, and accountability were apparent,” the safety review panel wrote. “The foundation for safety is also not obvious as the agency has not identified or adopted a comprehensive vision, mission, values or set of strategies and goals to guide the agency’s actions to achieve a safe work environment and to deliver quality service.”
The trio – former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, former acting administrator of the Federal Transit Administration Carolyn Flowers and former New York City Transit President Carmen Bianco – identified several factors contributing to the faulty culture.
Employees refrain from reporting possible safety issues because they “lack trust in their leadership or fear retribution,” the panel wrote, and the experts determined that frequent turnover in the T’s top general manager post may be the “overarching reason” for safety deficiency.
Gov. Charlie Baker discussed the report’s findings at a morning press conference Monday alongside Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak and Fiscal and Management Control Board Chair Joseph Aiello and and Vice Chair Monica Tibbits-Nutt.
Over the weekend weekend, the MBTA’s top manager also said officials are taking a “hard look” at Orange Line service problems and locomotive failures on the commuter rail system.
“We need to learn something from every one of these incidents,” MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak told WCVB’s “On the Record,” citing the two areas as focal points.
The service problems were exposed as public officials last week urged people use public transit and stay off the roads during a snowstorm.
“We are taking a hard look at the number of in-service failures we have had this week,” he said. “We obviously have not met our standards or our customers’ standards in terms of service on the Orange Line. And we’re going to take a hard look at those failures. There’s no common thread between all of them.”
While frustrated by the T’s opening act this winter, Poftak also expressed confidence.
“We’ll be ready for the rest of the winter,” he said.
Poftak also delved into problems that caused the T to pull brand new Orange Line cars out of service, describing the problems as “not atypical for the vehicle acceptance process.”
