February 3, 2011

On January 25^th, Member Sumwalt participated in a Transportation Research Board panel at the TRB’s 90^th Annual Meeting.  The panel, entitled “Creating Safety Culture and Management Systems in Public Transportation Agencies,” delved into examples of major transportation accidents in which the absence of an effective organizational safety culture played a role.  Member Sumwalt spoke specifically on the NTSB’s processes for investigating organizational accidents in the rail transit mode, using WMATA’s June 2009 Fort Totten accident and the July 2006 derailment of a Chicago Transit Authority train as examples. Member Sumwalt noted how NTSB investigative staff used a systems approach to their investigations of these accidents; rather than simply identifying the human error leading to the final end point failure, staff conducted an exhaustive analysis of the safety culture present (or absent) at every level of the organizations.  Joining Member Sumwalt on the TRB panel was WMATA’s newly-installed General Manager and CEO, Richard Sarles, who discussed the numerous steps taken by WMATA since the Fort Totten accident – in direct response to NTSB recommendations – to create a robust safety culture throughout the organization, from front-line employees to its Board of Directors.