MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak (center) and deputy GM Jeff Gonneville (left) huddled with crews at the JFK/UMass Station on June 14, 2019, ahead of a press conference to discuss the investigation into the June 11 Red Line derailment. Photo by Chris Lisinski | State House News Service

The MBTA will develop a formal plan over the next few months to address deficiencies in safety culture highlighted by an independent panel of experts, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said Monday.

Poftak told the T’s Fiscal and Management Control Board that he planned to present a “formal work plan” in March with corrective actions aimed at implementing dozens of recommendations the panel made in a report last week. Some steps are underway, he said, such as renewed communication with staff and development of a safety training to be conducted next month with managers on capital delivery projects.

T leaders already met with senior staff to discuss the report’s findings and will mail a hard-copy letter to every single employee – many of whom do not have workplace email addresses – across the agency, Poftak said.

One of the report’s key sections found poor communication between employees at the MBTA.

“This is something that we have worked very hard to share with the entire workforce, the findings of this report,” Poftak said.

The trio of experts, hired to review the T after a string of derailments this summer, concluded that “safety is not the priority at the T” because of fiscal belt-tightening, fear of retribution and frequent turnover in leadership, among other factors.