Establishes on-track safety standards for New York city transit authority employees; establishes responsibilities for on-track safety; lays out instructions for train operators; relates to third rail safety and illumination.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
397
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 7, 2009
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JOHN, ABBATE -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to establishing on-track
safety standards for New York city transit authority employees
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative purpose. The purpose of this act is to prevent
2 accidents and fatalities to New York city transit authority employees
3 and other people on or adjacent to the trackway. This act shall consti-
4 tute a minimum standard to be used in establishing protection for such
5 employees. This act shall not restrict the New York city transit author-
6 ity from adopting additional or more stringent requirements not incon-
7 sistent with this act.
8 § 2. The labor law is amended by adding a new article 27-A to read as
9 follows:
10 ARTICLE 27-A
11 NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY
12 ON-TRACK SAFETY STANDARDS
13 Section 871-a. On-track safety program.
14 871-b. Training and qualification.
15 871-c. Procedures for protecting trackway workers.
16 871-d. Pairs and small groups moving from point to point.
17 871-e. Responsibilities for on-track safety.
18 871-f. Lights, flags, equipment and procedure.
19 871-g. Instructions to train operators.
20 871-h. New York city transit authority rules.
21 871-i. Third rail safety.
22 871-j. Illumination.
23 871-k. Good faith challenges.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02524-01-9
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1 § 871-a. On-track safety program. 1. The New York city transit author-
2 ity shall adopt and implement a program that shall provide on-track
3 safety to all trackway workers. Such program shall include at least the
4 minimum level of protection required by this article. The on-track
5 safety program adopted to comply with this act shall detail the proce-
6 dures used by the authority for monitoring compliance with this article.
7 2. The authority shall provide to the public employee safety and
8 health bureau within the department and to all unions that represent
9 workers of the authority a copy of its proposed program within thirty
10 days of the effective date of this article. Upon receipt of the proposed
11 program, the public employee safety and health bureau shall conduct a
12 formal review to confirm compliance with this article.
13 3. The authority shall maintain all of the rules and operating proce-
14 dures governing track occupancy and protection in one manual that shall
15 be readily available to all employees of the authority.
16 4. For the purposes of this article, "authority" shall mean the New
17 York city transit authority and its subsidiary, Manhattan and Bronx
18 surface transit operating authority, and any other agency that may come
19 under the control of the New York city transit authority, or within its
20 custody and control.
21 § 871-b. Training and qualification. 1. The authority shall not
22 assign, or allow to be assigned, any person to enter upon any trackway
23 or perform any duties on or adjacent to the trackway unless that person
24 has received training in the on-track safety program established by this
25 article.
26 2. The authority shall provide all persons whose duties include enter-
27 ing upon the trackway or adjacent to the trackway, recurrent training in
28 the on-track safety program established by this article at least once
29 every calendar year.
30 3. The authority shall maintain written or electronic records of
31 trackway worker training qualifications. Each record shall include the
32 name of the person, type of training and the most recent date of quali-
33 fication. Such records shall be kept available for inspection for a
34 period of not less than five years.
35 The training shall include as a minimum the following: the recogni-
36 tion and understanding of trackways including switches; detection and
37 recognition of on-coming trains; effective warning of trackway workers
38 of the approach of trains; safe procedures for performing work on or
39 near energized and de-energized third rail and associated cables,
40 circuit breakers or other electric apparatus including electric contact
41 shoes; and the content and application of the on-track safety program
42 rules adopted by the authority.
43 4. The training and qualification of persons who operate trackway
44 maintenance and construction machines shall include procedures to
45 prevent a person from being struck by the machine, from being struck by
46 a train or other equipment on the track, procedures to provide for stop-
47 ping the machine short of other machines or obstructions on the track,
48 and methods to determine safe operating procedures for each machine that
49 a person is expected to operate.
50 § 871-c. Procedures for protecting trackway workers. 1. Groups of four
51 or more persons working on or about the trackway shall be protected from
52 traffic through the establishment of working limits.
53 2. Working limits on authority trackways may be established only in
54 the following manner:
55 (a) The use of flagging protection on trackways to be worked on or
56 obstructed (full flagging), or
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1 (b) The suspension of traffic in work areas (general order).
2 3. Flagging protection shall conform with the following arrangements:
3 (a) The flaggers' stations shall be a minimum of two hundred feet from
4 the beginning and end of a work area.
5 (b) Each work area protected pursuant to this subdivision shall
6 utilize a flagger in both directions each with a portable tripper. Two
7 yellow lights and/or yellow flags must be displayed at a point not less
8 than five hundred feet, nor more than seven hundred feet in approach to
9 points selected by supervision as the flaggers' stations.
10 (c) When a flagger's view of caution lights or flags is limited or
11 obscured by reason of curves or otherwise, an auxiliary flagger or flag-
12 gers must be assigned. When assigned, the auxiliary flagger must be
13 stationed at the farthest point away from the point of work or
14 obstruction, while remaining visible to the primary flagger. When an
15 auxiliary is utilized, the primary flagger's caution lights or flags
16 must be repositioned and displayed not less than five hundred feet nor
17 more than seven hundred feet in approach of the auxiliary flagger's
18 location. If the auxiliary flagger cannot see the caution lights or
19 flags from his position, additional auxiliary flaggers must be assigned
20 until the caution lights or flags are visible to an auxiliary flagger
21 from a minimum distance of five hundred feet. Auxiliary flaggers must
22 be equipped with a whistle or air horn, a yellow light/flag, a red
23 light/flag and a portable tripper, which must be used. Auxiliary flag-
24 gers will not remove the portable tripper until the approaching train
25 has come to a complete stop, unless it is safe to do so. Auxiliary flag-
26 gers will then give the train operator a proceed very slowly signal with
27 their yellow light/flag. The primary flagger at the point of work or
28 obstruction will not remove the portable tripper until the approaching
29 train has come to a complete stop, unless it is safe to do so.
30 (d) When workers or equipment have the potential to encroach within
31 five feet of the field side of the near running rail on any adjacent
32 track, flagging protection must be established in accordance with this
33 subdivision.
34 (e) Whenever any work is performed on a station platform within five
35 feet from the trackway or workers are engaged in work on ladders on
36 station platforms within a distance equal to or less than the height of
37 the ladder, the supervisor in charge of the work must ensure that flag-
38 ging protection is established in accordance with this subdivision.
39 (f) On express tracks or where there is a long descending grade or at
40 any point where track conditions or train schedules permit train speeds
41 of thirty-five or more miles per hour, two additional yellow lights
42 and/or two yellow flags must be displayed at a point three hundred feet
43 farther in the directions from which trains approach.
44 (g) When a train operator's view of a primary flagger's two yellow
45 caution lights or flags is limited by reason of curves or otherwise, two
46 additional yellow caution lights or flags must be displayed at a point
47 three hundred feet farther in the directions from which trains approach.
48 (h) On any track where lights or flags are displayed, one green light
49 and/or one green flag must be displayed seven hundred feet beyond the
50 farthest point of work at each end of a jobsite. Wherever turnouts or
51 crossovers within areas protected by caution lights or flags allow
52 diverging train movements to an adjacent track which is not already
53 flagged, one green light and/or flag must be displayed on such track the
54 same distance as that displayed on the other track.
55 (i) Caution lights or flags shall not be displayed within the limits
56 of station platform.
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1 (j) Whenever work on a track within a protected area requires workers
2 to be working at separate points in close proximity to each other in
3 such a manner that one flagger cannot safely protect all the workers so
4 engaged, one or more intermediate flaggers must be stationed at suitable
5 successive points within that area so that each intermediate flagger
6 directly preceding him or her in the anticipated direction of train
7 traffic can be seen. Each intermediate flagger must be equipped with a
8 red light or flag, a yellow light or flag, a whistle or air horn and a
9 portable tripper. The supervisor of the work area must ensure that all
10 workers, in all groups, are in the clear before he or she signals the
11 primary flagger closest to the last work group to allow the train to
12 proceed.
13 (k) In instances where two or more groups of workers, whether from the
14 same or different sections, are engaged in work on or adjacent to or
15 obstructing a track at such locations that the flagging protection for
16 one group would overlap that of another group, the supervisors in charge
17 of each group must arrange between themselves to provide the necessary
18 protection in accordance with the aforementioned rules, including the
19 assignment of primary flaggers at both ends of the entire work area. The
20 flaggers protecting each group of workers must be equipped with a yellow
21 light or flag, a red light or flag, a whistle or air horn and a portable
22 tripper.
23 4. The protection of trackway workers by the issuance of a general
24 order suspending traffic shall conform to the following minimum require-
25 ments:
26 (a) The geographical limits of a general order shall be barricaded
27 with a temporary bumper block to physically prevent unauthorized traffic
28 from entering.
29 (b) Switch and signal levers must be tagged and blocked and the
30 switches must be blocked and clamped in such position that trains cannot
31 enter said track in either direction.
32 (c) Each work group within the limits of a general order must be
33 protected by a flagger with a red light or flag and a portable tripper
34 placed not less than two hundred feet from each end of the work area.
35 Where two or more groups are working within seven hundred feet of each
36 other and are able to visually and verbally communicate, the supervisors
37 of each work group shall coordinate the flagging.
38 (d) Flagging on tracks adjacent to the track under a general order
39 shall be established by supervision in accordance with paragraph (d) of
40 subdivision three of this section.
41 (e) There shall not be unmanned portable trippers on the trackway.
42 Supervision shall assign a flagger or flaggers to accompany each port-
43 able tripper utilized pursuant to this subdivision.
44 § 871-d. Pairs and small groups moving from point to point. 1. Author-
45 ity employees only, performing work of a non-engrossing manner on or
46 adjacent to the trackway while moving from point to point shall be
47 protected from traffic in the following manner:
48 (a) Whenever a pair or group of three or less authority employees are
49 assigned to work on the trackway, supervision shall assign one employee
50 of such pair or group to be watchman to warn and protect the employee or
51 employees at work.
52 (b) While moving along the trackway from point to point, the watchman
53 must remain a minimum of fifty feet in advance of the employee or
54 employees he or she is protecting. If the employee stops moving from
55 point to point along the trackway and/or pauses to work in one location,
56 a flashing yellow light must be displayed on the trackway a minimum of
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1 six hundred fifty feet in approach to the beginning of the work area. If
2 the flashing yellow light is not visible to the watchman while still
3 being able to see and communicate with the employee or employees he or
4 she is protecting, the full flagging protection is required. Outdoors
5 between sunrise and sunset, a fluorescent orange flag must be utilized
6 instead of a flashing yellow light.
7 (c) If an employee or employees must perform work of a non-engrossing
8 nature between two tracks, properly equipped watchmen must be assigned
9 to both tracks, adhering to paragraph (a) of this subdivision.
10 (d) On lead tracks, loop tracks, middle tracks on the mainline or
11 wherever it is not uncommon for trains to operate in either direction,
12 supervision must assign properly equipped watchmen to warn of approach-
13 ing trains in both directions.
14 (e) Anytime an employee is assigned to enter the trackway he or she
15 must be equipped with an approved light. Additionally, he or she must be
16 accompanied by a second employee with an approved light. Employees
17 entering onto a trackway already protected by a general order or flag-
18 ging need not have an approved flagging light but must be equipped with
19 a flashlight.
20 (f) Approved flagging lights must meet the following criteria:
21 (i) The beam must provide a minimum of five hundred foot candles of
22 illumination, measured at five feet from the source; and
23 (ii) The lens of the approved light must be a minimum of four inches
24 in width.
25 2. Protection against train traffic by the use of a watchman and/or
26 point to point flagging is allowable only in the following situations:
27 (a) The work must be of a non-engrossing nature (ex. visual
28 inspections, quick and/or minor adjustments, carrying small tools to a
29 work area). Work of a non-engrossing nature is work which can be
30 suspended immediately, allowing employees to immediately clear up. If
31 the work is such that employees must first "safe up" tools or bags of
32 debris, etc. to prevent interfering with train traffic, then full flag-
33 ging protection is required in accordance with this section.
34 (b) Each employee must have a designated clear up space within fifteen
35 feet of where they are working. There must be a sufficient number of
36 clear up spaces to match the number of employees.
37 (c) This type of flagging protection shall not be utilized between
38 6:00AM and 9:00AM or between 4:00PM and 7:00PM, Monday through Friday or
39 any high traffic periods.
40 (d) This type of flagging protection shall not be utilized in under
41 river tunnels except by agreement with the affected bargaining unit or
42 units.
43 (e) Whereas point to point flagging with a watchman provides a lesser
44 level of protection than the protection of a general order or full flag-
45 ging, if questions should arise about the type of protection to be
46 utilized, the safer course should always be taken.
47 § 871-e. Responsibilities for on-track safety. 1. Prior to assigning
48 employees to work under any of the allowable methods of trackway worker
49 protection (general order, full flagging or point to point) the supervi-
50 sor in charge of the assignment shall hold a pre-job meeting to outline
51 the job; discuss the type of flagging protection to be utilized; discuss
52 the clearing up procedures and areas which will be utilized at the work
53 area; to designate the flagger or flaggers and to provide an opportunity
54 for employees to discuss their concerns and/or object to the type of
55 protection proposed by the supervisor.
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1 2. The supervisor shall give detailed and specific instructions
2 regarding the placement of the caution lights, and the placement of the
3 red light and portable tripper to the designated flagger or flaggers.
4 The supervisor shall station the flagger in a well illuminated area, not
5 adjacent to an energized third rail, if possible.
6 3. The supervisor must assign another qualified flagger to accompany
7 the primary flagger in setting up and removing caution lights and/or
8 flags.
9 4. The supervisor in charge of the work to be performed must provide
10 for and ensure that the required flagging protection is established and
11 maintained, for the safety of employees and the safe passage of trains.
12 5. Until the supervisor in charge of the work knows that proper flag-
13 ging protection is established, he or she must not permit any persons
14 for whom the trackway protection is intended to obstruct the track in
15 any way.
16 6. Whenever an employee of an employer other than the authority enters
17 the trackway of the system, a designated representative of the rapid
18 transit operations division must provide and maintain appropriate flag-
19 ging protection in accordance with this section. In cases where work is
20 being performed in rooms (i.e. electrical distribution rooms, pump
21 rooms, manholes) which can be accessed off the end of the station plat-
22 form, and without entering the trackway one flagger, designated by
23 supervision, must escort the workers to and from the room while equipped
24 with a red light or flag. Such escort must be done after the passage of
25 a train.
26 § 871-f. Lights, flags, equipment and procedure. 1. Caution lights
27 and/or flags shall be utilized in the following manner:
28 (a) Underground: illuminated lights of the prescribed color and type
29 must be used pursuant to this section.
30 (b) Outdoors: flags (at least 23" x 29" in dimension) of the
31 prescribed color must be used between sunrise and sunset, except that,
32 when flags cannot be plainly seen, illuminated caution lights in addi-
33 tion to flags must be used. Between sunset and sunrise illuminated
34 lights of the prescribed color must be used pursuant to this section.
35 2. Flagging signal colors have the following meanings:
36 (a) Red notifies the train operator to stop;
37 (b) Yellow notifies the train operator to proceed at a speed not to
38 exceed ten miles per one-half the range of vision;
39 (c) Orange (fluorescent flag) notifies the train operator to proceed
40 at a speed not to exceed ten miles per hour, and to be prepared to stop
41 within one-half the range of vision;
42 (d) Green notifies the train operator to resume normal speed; and
43 (e) White notifies the train operator to proceed.
44 3. Supervision must provide flaggers with the required equipment as
45 follows:
46 (a) The necessary lights and/or flags of prescribed color and in work-
47 ing condition, to perform the type of flagging protection assigned by
48 supervision;
49 (b) A whistle or air horn;
50 (c) A portable tripper; and
51 (d) A length of stout cord, at least four but not more than six feet,
52 for tying the red light or flag to the stop arm of the portable tripper.
53 4. As soon as an approaching train is visible to a flagger, the flag-
54 ger shall warn the group being protected. As soon as the trackway worker
55 is aware of an approaching train he must begin to clear up.
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1 5. The flagger must not signal the train to proceed until an all clear
2 signal is received from the authority employee designated by super-
3 vision.
4 6. Caution lights and/or flags must not be displayed on station plat-
5 forms. If an intervening station platform interferes with a flagger's
6 ability to see and/or communicate with the workers being protected, the
7 supervisor in charge must assign intermediate flaggers on the station
8 platform as needed. The intermediate flagger or flaggers must be able to
9 see the primary flagger and the work gang at all times.
10 § 871-g. Instructions to train operators. 1. Upon encountering caution
11 lights or flags on the trackway on which they are operating, train oper-
12 ators must immediately adjust the speed of their trains to not more than
13 ten miles per hour, sound two long blasts of their train horn or whistle
14 as a warning to workers and be prepared to stop within one-half the
15 range of vision.
16 2. Train operators observing a flashing yellow light or fluorescent
17 orange flag must immediately adjust the speed of their trains to not
18 more than ten miles per hour, sound two long blasts of their horn or
19 whistle and be prepared to stop at one-half the range of vision, expect-
20 ing to find workers on the trackway.
21 3. Train operators must stop their train at least one car length from
22 flaggers, red lights or flags.
23 4. If a proceed signal is given with a yellow light or flag, train
24 operators must expect to encounter another flagger on the trackway.
25 § 871-h. New York city transit authority rules. 1. Existing authority
26 rules which do not conflict with this article shall not be required to
27 be modified.
28 2. Any future on-track safety rules promulgated by the authority shall
29 comply with this article.
30 § 871-i. Third rail safety. 1. A third rail system used to transmit
31 electricity for the purpose of powering rail transit vehicles or other
32 railroad equipment, including its associated cables, circuit breakers
33 and other electrical apparatus is an electrical transmission and
34 distribution line.
35 (a) The United States occupational safety and health act of 1970 and
36 other regulations, standards and requirements, including those promul-
37 gated by the public employee safety and health bureau, applicable to
38 crane operations near electrical transmission and distribution lines are
39 applicable to crane operations near a third rail. The United States
40 occupational safety and health act of 1970 and other regulations, stand-
41 ards and requirements, including those promulgated by the public employ-
42 ee safety and health bureau, applicable to crane operations near an
43 overhead wire are applicable to crane operations near a third rail.
44 (b) Crane operations in proximity to a third rail are governed, in
45 part, by the provision of 29 CFR 1926.550(A)(15) and 20 CFR
46 1910.333(C)(1), (2) and (3). If and when these standards are revised,
47 updated or redesignated, this paragraph shall be revised or redesignated
48 to correspond.
49 2. When working on trackways where the third rail is de-energized it
50 is the responsibility of the supervisor in charge of the work to verify
51 "Power Off".
52 3. When working on trackways where the third rail is de-energized, a
53 third rail "Power Indicator Alarm Box" and a red bank of lights must be
54 used to warn trackway workers if third rail power is accidentally
55 restored.
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1 4. A third rail protection mat must be used while working on trackways
2 within five feet of a third rail.
3 § 871-j. Illumination. 1. Work areas on authority trackways shall be
4 illuminated to a minimum of thirty foot candles.
5 2. The degree of illumination shall be measured by a standard light
6 meter, with the illumination sample measured at the work area.
7 3. Flaggers' stations on all trackways are work areas and shall meet
8 the requirements of this section.
9 § 871-k. Good faith challenges. Authority employees shall have the
10 absolute right to challenge in good faith any work order or the assign-
11 ment of any task which violates any provision of this article, or other
12 applicable law, or an authority safety rule. Procedures for such chal-
13 lenges shall be included in the authority's on-track safety program.
14 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
15 it shall have become a law, except that any rules and regulations neces-
16 sary for the timely implementation of this act on its effective date
17 shall be promulgated on or before such date.
