WASHINGTON聽 鈥� After Carol Glover died on a smoke-filled train, a track problem was ignored that led to a derailment, repeated red signal violations and other safety issues. Now, Metro鈥檚 new chief safety officer Patrick Lavin is facing a big task that he believes begins with understanding what Metro鈥檚 problems really are.
鈥淲MATA is very good at telling you what happened. (We) need to work on the why,鈥� Lavin said of what he has found in his first week on the job.
Lavin has more than 30 years of experience, beginning as a signal maintainer and working his way up to lead investigator in New York City. He promises to provide Metro with the resources needed to help turn around the agency鈥檚 long languishing safety culture.
It’s a promise that’s been made by a number of other Metro leaders in the past.
鈥淚 understand maintenance testing and practices from the standpoint of somebody who has dirt under their fingernails doing it,鈥� Lavin said.
He sees delays around the arcing insulators as 鈥渁 relatively minor issue鈥� in most cases, even if it is something that 鈥渋s not a good scenario,鈥� but believes the key to cutting down on them is to look for an overall plan.
鈥淵ou cannot oversimplify the condition by going 鈥榳e had an arcing insulator,’ because an arcing insulator can result from a lot of things: you could have it from water intrusion, you could have it from a poor maintenance program, you can have it from a piece of equipment that has outlived its useful lifespan, so you don鈥檛 want to fall into the trap of thinking that there鈥檚 a single solution for the same problem. You have to diagnose what the problem is at each location and come up with a holistic plan on how to address it overall,鈥� he said Thursday.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 give you any value to have a blame game. What you need to do is identify the resources you need, commit to getting those resources, implement effective programs, and that鈥檚 how you turn the tide,鈥� he said of overall fixes to the system.
Lavin does believe Metro can be fixed, given that when he started in New York City, there was a derailment about once a month.
鈥淪o you can imagine what it would take to turn a system like that around, which we did through capital investment, which we did through intelligent leadership, which we did through developing effective maintenance and permanent maintenance programs. I have that experience, and I鈥檇 like to translate it to the WMATA environment,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think you have as great a problem in my mind that is so insurmountable that it can鈥檛 be addressed with good, effective leadership,” he said.
Lavin started his career in New York after getting electrician training at a vocational high school. He said it was a natural place to find a job, since he had both friends and family working on the city鈥檚 transit system.
Now, with some family members in Virginia, Lavin sees the move to the D.C. area as 鈥渁 great opportunity to improve the safety culture,鈥� and his career.
As a lead investigator in New York, he worked closely with federal transportation officials and said he had a good relationship with them.
There has been significant tension between the Federal Transit Administration and Metro over a series of safety directives and the order of major 24/7 track work that is expected to begin next month.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a great thing to have friction among the agencies; it makes both agencies perform better. I welcome independent scrutiny because it holds our feet to the fire, and I think it鈥檚 a great thing,鈥� Lavin said.
In addition to attending the National Transportation Safety Board meeting that outlined the serious problems exposed by Carol Glover鈥檚 death outside L鈥橢nfant Plaza last year, Lavin has already sat in on meetings with the FTA.
He cautions against backlash against Metro workers.
鈥淭he role of safety is not discipline, or to get people in trouble, we don鈥檛 come down with a hammer, we鈥檙e here to fix the problems,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he perception at a lot of organizations is that you should get rid of your employees because 鈥榣ook at the state of the system,’ and that is a genuine opinion 鈥�. however, you need to get beyond that because if you鈥檙e not giving your employees the chance to have track access to get on the track and make those repairs, then is it really that employee鈥檚 fault? Is that the person you should get rid of, or should you fix the track access issues, get on the track, make repairs, and move to a better place?鈥� he said.
That track access is set to be expanded through the additional weekslong work zones and the end of late-night service on weekends.
In order to really figure out what it will take to bring Metro up to a point where only regular maintenance is needed, Lavin will survey the conditions of equipment across the entire system to sort out how long the equipment will last.
Lavin also wants to play a role in quality assurance, so that all the work that is done holds up.
Despite U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx鈥檚 statement that he was considering a safety shutdown of the Metro system, Lavin says that 鈥渞iders can feel comfortable.鈥�
鈥淵ou can say you can shut the system down, [but] anytime you get on a highway and drive in your car, you鈥檙e in a much more dangerous situation than you are riding a train anywhere in the country, so my my view is the system is safe. There are things we need to do to improve performance, and the thing you do to do that is you identify the problems and you fix them, which I have full confidence that that is what is being done here to address the problems,鈥� Lavin said.
