The MTA’s most necessary and costly items of apparatus – subway trains – are saved in yards that lack satisfactory fireplace safety measures, an MTA watchdog reported Friday.
The MTA’s Workplace of the Inspector Normal discovered that fireside alarm techniques, which must be in seen public areas, have been saved in closets or storage rooms. It additionally discovered that common inspections of fireplace safety gear weren’t being carried out. And far of the hearth suppression gear was made a long time in the past, which means that many alternative components are not obtainable, in line with the probe.
“We acknowledge more work needs to be done; that is why we are currently expanding our fire safety checklists, updating our policies, protocols, and instructions, and evaluating our use of vendors,” New York Metropolis Transit President Richard Davey wrote in response to the findings.
The inspector common’s workplace visited a number of train yards in 2020 to look at fireplace alarms and suppression gear. Inspectors discovered sufficient issues that they launched an audit of 35 services the place trains, upkeep gear and electrical relays are saved, together with the 207th Road Yard, Corona Yard, Coney Island Yard, Westchester Yard and two electrical substations.
Inspectors discovered that solely 4 out of 31 fireplace alarm techniques mechanically contacted the Fire Division. And 21 of the techniques have been positioned in “unoccupied rooms such as closets, storage rooms, or electrical rooms and were not immediately visible,” the report famous. Throughout inspections, 10 of the alarms have been actively signaling “trouble conditions,” however nobody on-site was conscious the alarms have been triggered, in line with the report.
“Transit yards are the workhorses of the system, and while critical, these facilities are very old,” the MTA’s Appearing Inspector Normal Elizabeth Keating wrote in a press release. “Fire safety training and testing is essential to keeping NYCT’s sprawling system operating and employees safe.”
Like a lot of the subway system constructed over 100 years in the past, the train yards have been constructed in a special period, with completely different requirements. For instance, the 207th Road yard was constructed within the 1900s. Water strain from the standpipes there complies with necessities from that point – however doesn’t meet trendy requirements.
The inspector common’s workplace made 13 suggestions to the MTA. The company agreed with 9 of them and mentioned the 4 different suggestions have been already in place. Many of the solutions contain coaching employees or sustaining fireplace safety checklists which might be usually reviewed. The company agreed to implement the suggestions this yr.