Transit Security Grant Program FY 2013
The Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP) is one of the grant programs that directly support transportation infrastructure security activities. TSGP is one tool in the comprehensive set of measures authorized by Congress and implemented by the Administration to strengthen the Nation’s critical infrastructure against risks associated with potential terrorist attacks. TSGP provides funds to owners and operators of transit systems (which include intra-city bus, commuter bus, ferries, and all forms of passenger rail) to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from acts of terrorism and to increase the resilience of transit infrastructure.
Standard Form 424 due:
Monday June 17, 2013 (www.grants.gov)
Completed application packets due:
Monday June 24, 2013 via FEMA’s ND Grants system (portal.fema.gov) no later than 11:59 PM EDT
Visit http://www.tsa.gov/stakeholders/transit-security-grant-program-3 for an overview of highlights and key changes for this year’s program.
Bus Procurement Workshop – Seattle, WA – May 21-22, 2013
The National Transit Institute (NTI) is pleased to announce the availability of a Bus Procurement Workshop to assist FTA grantees in complying with FTA bus procurement requirements.
Webinar: NTD Safety & Security Reporting
On Friday, May 17, 2012, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, the National Transit Institute (NTI), in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), is offering a free webinar to present training on the National Transit Database (NTD) Major Incident Reporting Module.
2013 CalACT Spring Conference & EXPO
May 14 to 17, 2013 – Ritz Carlton, Lake Tahoe, California
2013 CASTA Spring Training Conference
The Colorado Association of Transit Agencies (CASTA) is holding its annual spring training conference from May 14 – 17, 2013 at the Ameristar Resort & Spa, Black Hawk, Colorado.
URSTA Spring 2013 Conference
The Utah Urban Rural and Specialized Transportation Association (URSTA) Conference is being held May 9-10, 2013 at the Greenwell Inn & Convention Center in Price, Utah
MBTA launches campaign to protect T employees from assaults
boston.com Posted by Matt Rocheleau May 6, 2013
The MBTA is launching a new campaign to warn riders not to assault T employees.
“Think twice before putting your hands on T staff. We will find you, arrest you and prosecute you,” Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan says in a recorded public service announcement that will soon air in all T stations.
“Your safety is our top priority,” MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott says during the recording. “Please do your part to ensure the safety of our operators and T customers.”
Along with the audio messages, the T will also hang signs – including “car cards” and seat-back decals – inside buses that show two arms in handcuffs and a message saying “Don’t touch the driver.”
During the first four months of 2012, there were 24 reported assaults on MBTA employees, During the first four months of 2013, there were 28 reported assaults on MBTA employees, including one particularly alarming incident in Marchwhen between 15 and 20 teenagers punched an MBTA bus driver and tried to pull him from the driver’s side window while the bus was picking up passengers in Dorchester, authorities said. Two arrests have since been made.
Scott cited that incident in a letter to T employees in April, saying that the driver continued to recover and that: “Our public cares and we appreciate their support in helping to identify and apprehend these assailants. But this incident reminds us that we must proactively inform our customers that an assault on a T employee is against the law, and that offenders will be prosecuted. Front-line MBTA employees are particularly vulnerable to such attacks.”
Scott wrote that the T’s management and employee union are committed to working together to solve the problem.
“I want you to know how deeply troubled I am by several recent brazen attacks on our employees in the course of them doing their jobs, and to let you know that we will not sit by idly and let these egregious acts go unanswered,” she wrote. “Certainly, getting assaulted is not part of any T employee’s job.”
She said that an “Employee Safety Program” will roll out in the coming weeks “to reduce the potential for attacks.”
The T will continue to add surveillance cameras inside buses “to deter and record attacks;” expand employee training for how to try to deescalate potentially violence situations and how to protect themselves; and the agency will also “assess the feasibility of installing partitions to separate drivers from passengers.”
Along with the print and audio ads that will appear system-wide, T officials will continue to push for state legislation that would “strengthen the law for assaulting an operator,” Scott wrote.
“One of our mantras at the T is ‘Safety is our number 1 priority,’” she wrote. “Foremost, this includes the safety of our customers and all our employees, from the front lines to the garages. So, let’s work together to make sure the public understands that we stand together in this endeavor and that we mean what we say.”
FTA Substance Abuse Training Session in Salem, Oregon
Wednesday, May 8, 2013 – 8 AM to 5 PM – Best Western Plus Mill Creek Inn, Salem, Oregon
Increased Near-Miss Reporting Results in Improved Safety Performance
Source: ehstoday.com Published May 3, 2013 Author: Sandy Smith
Companies that focus on leading indicators, such as near miss reporting, show improved organizational safety performance.
How do you measure what did not occur? A near-miss incident on job sites traditionally is defined as one that leaves no injuries, no property or equipment damages and little or no evidence that it even occurred. As a result, companies often ignore near-miss incidents.
However, companies that experience world-class safety performance know that when reported and acted upon, near misses enable early intervention, and are great opportunities to improve organizational safety performance.
“Near Miss Reporting – a Missing Link in Safety Culture,” a peer-reviewed feature in the May issue of Professional Safety, examines several studies that have shown that near misses greatly outnumber serious accidents involving fatality, injury or property damage. For example, a 1993 study by Health and Safety Executive researchers found that for every lost time injury more than three days in length there were 189 non-injury cases.
However, many organizations and their employees remain resistant to near-miss reporting, mostly because there is no universal definition of a near miss, there’s fear of punishment or retaliation for a near-miss report, peer pressure, concern about record and reputation, the inconvenience of filling out a near-miss report and the desire of some employers to maintain the status quo.
“We want to develop a culture that doesn’t wait until someone is injured, but identifies the risk before it happens,” explained the article’s author Mike Williamsen, Ph.D., CSP who added that it is important to develop a safety culture that engages all employees. “We have to engage people on the front line to eliminate personal risks.”
Referring to near-miss reporting as a “personal risk assessment,” Williamsen offers several solutions to overcoming the barriers to reporting near-misses in his article that can be put into place to achieve what he calls a culture-based safety system:
- Define expectations that all employees report unsafe conditions or perceived risks
- Provide employees with safety training
- Provide measurement for how near-miss reporting has improved safety performance
- Recognize and reward employees and crews for pro-active safety actions.
2013 APTA Bus & Paratransit Conference
The 2013 Bus & Paratransit Conference is scheduled for May 5-8, 2013, at the JW Marriott Hotel in Indianapolis, Indiana.