February 2023

The Federal Transit Administration’s Transit Safety and Oversight Spotlight is a monthly newsletter about safety and oversight topics, events, training and guidance that affect the public transportation industry.

TRACS Kick-Off Meeting Summary

On January 31, Transit Advisory Committe for Safety (TRACS) conducted a virtual kick-off meeting to commence activities under its 2022–2024 charter. During the meeting, Administrator Nuria Fernandez welcomed attendees and TSO Associate Administrator and TRACS Designated Federal Officer Joe DeLorenzo highlighted the ways in which previous TRACS recommendations have shaped current FTA safety initiatives. TRACS members in attendance introduced themselves and discussed their transit safety experience. In addition, FTA announced Jim Keane as the TRACS Chairperson and Lisa Staes as the TRACS Vice Chairperson. 

Visit the TRACS webpage for the latest information. If you have any questions about TRACS, contact TRACS program manager Bridget Zamperini.

Recent FTA Webinars and Resources

Recordings of the webinars and other resources are available publicly anytime.

• Human Trafficking Prevention in Tribal Communities Webinar — As part of Human Trafficking Prevention Month, FTA hosted this webinar that explored how human trafficking impacts American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) The webinar discussed the role transportation and public transit plays in trafficking, how transit agencies can prevent trafficking and how drivers and other front-line transit employees can intervene if trafficking is identified. 
• PTASP Webinar: Making the Most of Your Employee Safety Reporting Program — Provided an overview of Employee Safety Reporting Programs (ESRPs) and featured transit leaders’ experiences with implementing and promoting their ESRPs. To learn more about ESRPs, read part 1, part 2 and part 3 of the ESRP article series.
• Suicide Prevention Signage on Public Transit Webinar — Intended to help transit agencies implement the recommendations included in Safety Advisory 22-4: Suicide Prevention Signage on Public Transit. The webinar included an overview of current suicide trends, the impact on the transit industry and the use of signage as a countermeasure to mitigate suicide-related events on public transit.

Causal Factors in Safety Investigations (Part 1): Causal Factors and Safety Management Systems

The Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) regulation (49 CFR part 673) states that each transit agency must establish activities to “conduct investigations of safety events to identify causal factors” (§ 673.27(b)(3)). As defined in the PTASP regulation, an investigation is “the process of determining the causal and contributing factors of an accident, incident or hazard, for the purpose of preventing recurrence and mitigating risk” (§ 673.5). Investigations are an essential part of an agency’s Safety Management System (SMS), particularly for Safety Risk Management (SRM), Safety Assurance (SA) and Safety Promotion processes.

Available Safety Training and Resources

Safety training plays an important role in creating safer transit systems across America. The following list summarizes available safety training and resources offered through FTA and its partners. Training resources include:

• FTA Safety Training Page — outlines training requirements and available training courses.
• FTA-Sponsored Training Courses — provides information on FTA-sponsored FY2023 training delivered by the Transportation Safety Institute (TSI).
• TSI Course Schedule — includes TSI safety training courses for transit personnel to support FTA grantees subject to the Public Transportation Safety Certification Training Program (PTSCTP) regulation with initial training and refresher training requirements. In addition to PTSCTP bus and rail courses, trainings include courses for bus, rail, general transit safety and transit crime prevention and emergency management.
• Enhanced Transit Safety and Crime Prevention Initiative Related Trainings — offers virtual Assault Awareness and Prevention (AAP) and Violence in the Transit Workplace (VTW) courses, provided by the National Transit Institute (NTI). The AAP and VTW courses support the FTA Enhanced Transit Safety and Crime Prevention Initiative.

Data Spotlight: Transit-Related Fatalities, January 2016–August 2022

The national safety data presented in this spotlight aims to help transit agencies analyze safety hazards in their systems, as well as establish safety performance targets as a part of an Agency Safety Plan. This month’s spotlight provides National Transit Database (NTD) fatality data from Full Reporter transit agencies under FTA safety jurisdiction from January 2016 to August 2022.

Upcoming Events and Webinars

Teamster Passenger Transport Conference
Thursday |March 2, 2023 | Las Vegas, NV

APTA Legislative Conference
March 12–14, 2023 | Washington, DC

Drug and Alcohol Program National Conference
March 14–16, 2023 | San Diego, CA

Drug & Alcohol Testing Industry Association Annual Meeting
March 22–25, 2023 | Las Vegas, NV

PTASP Webinar: Identifying Causal Factors in Safety Event Investigations
Wednesday, March 29, 2023 | 2:00pm-3:30pm ET | Virtual (Registration Coming Soon)

Lifesavers Conference
April 2–4, 2023 | Seattle, WA

Save the Date: SSO Quarterly Calls

May 17, 2023 | 3:00–4:30 pm ET | Virtual

August 16, 2023 | 3:00–4:30 pm ET | Virtual

November 15, 2023 | 3:00–4:30 pm ET | Virtual