SAFETY IS A VALUE (my ass)
TRIMET management has alienated essential safety staff so badly that the crossing arm at 185th (willow creek)MAX crossing has been broken for THREE DAYS NOW because nobody will work overtime to fix it!
(and Trimet's $155k man Sapporta is no where to be found)
6 comments:
President Bruce Hansen, ATU:
A Crossing Arm reported inoperable @ 185th for three days--this is a major safety violation and clearly risks the safety of rail operators, the public, and MOW.
What the hell is going on and where the hell are you??
You are demanding answers from the wrong person. Demand it from management of MOW.
I work Monday through Friday 7-330pm. The new night shift works 10pm -6am M-F. Anything before or after is overtime. Overtime is not required and heavily frowned upon by our management. That is why there is a night shift now.
No members have done anything wrong.We have been reduced to their level of thinking now.
My understanding is that TriMet is still accountable to ODOT for rail operations, so if a gate is not in repair all trains are required to stop and flag the crossing. Given that it's 185th Avenue, that's a pretty significant crossing...
http://cms.oregon.gov/ODOT/RAIL/Pages/contact_us.aspx
Crossing Safety & Employee Safety Section Manager Richard Shankle 503-986-4273
Rail Safety Section Manager John Johnson 503-986-4094
A gate crossing arm on a three-day b/0 status is very concerning. Stop & Proceed TO's are standard response to protect system safety only until MOW responders arrive to repair. There is negative impact to train OTP and 185th is considered risky as it is a high use/acessible area.
The fact that you have day/night shifts only reinforces our grave concern for system safety and proper maintenance by MOW crews. Trains run on weekends, after 10p, before 7a. Are the current shift crews properly staffed to cover the entire alignment?
Finally..with a system as fluid with heavy headways, why on earth would critical MOW shifts be so limiting in structure? Do you have a Safety or Maintenance Director that knows anything about rail operations???
There are only 11 journeyman signal technicians spread over two shifts 5 on days and 6 on nights. It takes that many to cover 1 shift properly from Gresham to Hillsboro, Yellow line, Green line and Portland Street Car. There is also monthly routine maintenance and safety checks that need to be done in addition to trouble calls such as gates knocked off by vehicles and any number of other issues. There are not enough people to cover this operation 24/7 without working overtime.
The answer to the last question is no. Bus or train shop maintenance practices don't work in MOW. The rest of the answers are in past blogs on this site.
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