Metro’s workers are getting hurt on the job more often than their counterparts at other transit agencies, and it’s costing the agency millions. Metro paid out $22.4 million in worker’s compensation claims in fiscal 2010, according to the agency’s records.
It is now on target to pay out the same amount this year, having spent $11.2 million in the first six months of the budget year.
Part of the problem is the frequency of the injuries. In 2010, Metro averaged 6.17 injuries per 200,000 hours of work, which is above the national transit industry standard of 5.0 injuries, according to Metro Chief Safety Officer James Dougherty.
But it’s even worse in some sectors of Metro that have nearly four times the national rate. At the Southern Bus Garage, for example, 52 workers had injuries that merited a claim during the calendar year. That translated to 19.79 workers injured per 200,000 work hours.
Not all transit systems have such high figures. Metro’s rate is more than twice that of the New York City subway system, which was 3.09 in 2010.
NYC Transit used to have an injury rate comparable to Metro’s until the mid-1990s, with an average of more than six injuries per 200,000 work hours every year, according to Metropolitan Transit Authority spokesman Charles Seaton.
It was able to halve the rate after starting an “All the Way to Zero” program, he said.
Metro says it’s trying to reduce its claims, too.
“In an effort to reduce worker’s compensation claims, we have focused on preventing injuries by improving adherence to safe work practices,” Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said in an e-mail.
She said the agency also has been identifying workers who can perform other work even while injured, assigning them to “light duty” tasks.
But Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 President Jackie Jeter said there aren’t enough of those jobs to go around.
The agency is also paying out money to help keep the larger cost of an injury at bay. Metro has two safety recognition programs, awarding workers for going 200 days accident-free and for being “champions of safety.” In the past fiscal year, it awarded 815 cash awards, ranging from about $50 to $2,000. It has awarded 617 workers this budget year, Farbstein said. – Kytja Weir
