FTA requiring transit agencies to address assaults against workers

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced a directive aimed at keeping transit workers safe.

General Directive 24-1: Required Actions Regarding Assaults on Transit Workers — issued last month —  will require more than 700 transit agencies nationwide to take action to protect frontline transit workers from the risk of assaults.

"Frontline transit workers keep our nation moving every day, and the Biden-Harris Administration is making sure they have the safe workplace they deserve," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "The General Directive we are announcing today will build on previous actions we have taken to address the unacceptable level of assaults on transit workers and further protect these essential employees as they perform their important jobs."

General Directive 24-1 requires every transit agency subject to FTA's Public Transportation Agency Safety Plans (PTASP) regulation to do the following:

• Conduct a risk assessment of assaults on the agency’s transit workers, specifically on transit vehicles and facilities, using the Safety Management System processes outlined in its Agency Safety Plan. 
• If a transit agency has determined it has an unacceptable level of risk of assaults on transit workers, it must identify strategies to mitigate that risk and improve transit worker safety.  
• Every transit agency serving a large, urbanized area (with a population of more than 200,000 people) must comply with PTASP requirements to involve the joint labor-management Safety Committee when identifying safety risk mitigations and strategies.
• Finally, each transit agency must provide information to FTA within 90 days on the risk level identified in its system, how it is mitigating those risks, and how it is monitoring the safety risk associated with assaults on transit workers.