"According to Cal/OSHA's citation for the 2024 incident, one manager believed crews were permitted to perform track work without clearance, while another said he allowed the job to continue after workers told him they were fine with proceeding. In its appeal of the citation, BART argues the situation resulted from the independent action of unnamed employees."
"BART employee Tony Velasquez, who spoke to NBC Bay Area about the incident, said he was in charge of a crew replacing a 40-foot section of corroded track beside the tunnel's 1,000-volt third rail that day. Velasquez said he followed BART protocol by requesting safe clearance from operations before work began, confirming the third rail was deactivated."
"When operations told him there was a delay in granting clearance, he said he instructed the crew not to start work. I told everybody on the job site that we don't have safe clearance, so no work, he said. But two workers later left with a pair of BART managers who had arrived at the site and began the job anyway."
BART has allocated over $500,000 to address citations for violations dating back to 2019. Cal/OSHA is considering imposing fines exceeding $200,000 for a 2024 incident in the Berkeley-Orinda Hills tunnel where crews performed track replacement work on a live track without proper clearance. No injuries occurred, though the incident echoes a 2013 tragedy where two BART engineers were killed. According to Cal/OSHA's citation, managers allowed work to proceed despite lacking clearance authorization. BART's appeal attributes the situation to independent employee actions. Employee Tony Velasquez stated he properly requested safe clearance and instructed crews not to work when clearance was delayed, but managers proceeded anyway with two workers.
#bart-safety-violations #calosha-fines #workplace-safety #track-work-incidents #management-accountability
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