The MTA’s inspector basic stated Thursday that he was “deeply concerned” in regards to the poor situation of emergency exits within the subway system, as detailed in a report launched by his workplace.
“I saw firsthand some of the issues highlighted in our audit during site visits,” MTA IG Daniel Cort stated in a press release. “I am deeply concerned about the poor conditions we observed.”
Investigators with the Workplace of the MTA Inspector Basic (OIG) inspected 65 of the subway system’s 549 emergency exit stairwells between October and December of final yr, and located 35 of them to have “serious defects,” based on the report.
Many handrails have been noticed to be both disconnected, unsupported or each all through the elevated monitor system. (MTA / OIG)
Of these, 18 exits — 28% of these inspected by the IG — “should not be considered adequate for safe egress or access,” based on the report. The opposite 17 emergency exits “require repair in the short-to-medium term.”
Investigators discovered one of many underground escape route’s hatches wouldn’t open from the within, and cited “several others” as being tough to open.
Different emergency egresses, investigators wrote, “had inadequate lighting or no lighting at all; OIG and NYC Transit staff had to navigate these facilities by flashlight because no backup lighting was in place.”
The inspections additionally turned up cracked concrete, corrosion and different structural deficiencies, based on the report.
At left, a light-weight fixture is pictured severely broken resulting from water infiltration; momentary lighting with uncovered wiring was additionally current. At proper, entrance lighting at monitor degree was inoperable. (MTA / OIG)
The IG’s workplace additionally inspected tunnel benchwalls resulting in emergency exits, and emergency walkways alongside elevated traces, assessing 163 MTA property in whole. Investigators wrote that 41% of those had defects that required instant or near-term consideration.
Scattered at common intervals all through the system’s roughly 440 miles of underground monitor, emergency exit stairwells present a last-ditch technique of getting passengers stranded on a subway out of the system and onto the road.
OIG questioned this severe structural situation, above, which was not listed in inspection reviews. After OIG recognized this defect through the website go to, MoW-Engineering inspected and deemed it protected. (MTA / OIG)
No less than one emergency exit was used final week, when the MTA evacuated some 3,500 passengers caught on two stranded F trains after a transformer explosion took out third-rail energy in downtown Brooklyn.
“Three thousand five hundred customers were just evacuated last week, and it was done safely,” NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow informed reporters Thursday. “Our goal, obviously, is to keep our customers on trains. But if the unfortunate event comes that we have to evacuate, we’re confident that we can do it safely.”
“We’re really attentive to emergency exits,” stated MTA Chairman Janno Lieber. “We’re absolutely committed [to them], not just because it’s the law and the code, but it’s a practical matter: Our riders need them and our employees need them.”
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber is pictured in Brooklyn on Friday, April 5, 2024. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Each day Information)
The OIG report states that some defects have been addressed by upkeep groups on the spot through the investigators’ go to. Different circumstances obtained “prompt repair” after being known as in.
The report calls on the MTA to revise a slew of practices round inspections, reporting and repairs, solely a few of which have been accepted by the transit company.
Transit officers agreed to repair the remaining extreme points recognized by OIG, and accepted a number of suggestions to overtake the best way inspections are carried out, plus make modifications to inspection schedules to permit extra time for repairs.
The MTA, although, rejected a suggestion that it alter its staffing to satisfy spot-repair wants, as a substitute saying staffing can be guided by the company’s yearly monetary plan.
Structural cracks may be seen in a column adjoining to a steel ladder under an emergency-exit hatch. (MTA / OIG)
The MTA additionally rejected the advice that it ought to higher monitor the situation of lighting across the emergency exits, countering that transit employees’ flashlights have been enough in an emergency.
“[A]dequate emergency egress lighting is comprised of both lighting fixtures and employees’ PPE [personal protective equipment], which includes flashlights,” the MTA responded. “To that end, existing policies concerning emergency evacuations within the system require employees to use their flashlights to illuminate the path of egress.”
Initially Revealed: December 19, 2024 at 7:12 PM EST
