Did a MAX controller commit a safety violation?

Noticed by @trimetwatcher on Twitter

On February 23rd near 6 PM, there were some issues with signals between NE 60th and 82nd Avenues necessitating that maintainers be on the tracks, as well as operators follow special procedures through the area.

Operators were required to stop and get permission to proceed upon arriving in the area from the controller, who in turn would contact the crew doing the work and make sure that they and the tracks were ready for a train to go through.

However it appears that the controller failed to notify and check with the workers on the ground and instead authorized a train to proceed himself.

At 17:50:11, after an operator change on another train was handled, a train advised that they were at the beginning of the work zone.

At 17:51:02, in response, the controller took the information needed to allow the train to proceed through the area (by bypassing a signal), and immediately told the operator that they were clear to proceed.  The operator then asked for a refresher on the steps needed to complete the process that needed to be done.

At 17:52:48. a different controller came on the air and guided the operator through that process.

At 17:54:11, the original controller took a call from a supervisor on an unrelated matter.

At 17:55:38, the maintainer on the tracks reported an unexpected train coming through their work area, and not having authorized the movement.  The controller responded by saying that the train was cleared to proceed.

At 17:55:57, the operator of the train said that they would stop.

At 17:56:14, the maintainer again said that they didn't recall authorizing the train. The controller responded that the train was cleared at 17:54:13.

 However, as can be seen, the radio call at that time regarded an unrelated issue.

Following this, at 17:56:40 and 17:56:58, the train operator, controller and maintainer properly reached agreement for the train to continue.

As noted in this TriMet safety video, employees working on tracks or crossing gates can face injury or death when a train moves unexpectedly, either by getting hit by a train itself, or having a hand get caught when a switch or gate mechanism activates.

It should be noted that the recording software can occasionally miss calls, however that does not seem to have happened here.