UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEXITIES OF TRANSIT SAFETY--POST COVID-19

In January 2012, I published an article with the above title in the industry magazine, Mass Transit. In that article, I shared with transit leaders that it was necessary to understand transit safety's complexity to develop and implement a sustainable safety culture. The report focuses on transit leaders examining safety culture at the system level and the many different sub-systems levels. I based the article on my experience in the transit industry for well over 37 years and my humble beginning as a transit bus operator. 

Transit systems are tightly coupled technologically complex organizations. These systems consist of multiple sub-systems that are interdependent and yet interrelated. The synergy, interdependence, and interrelationships needed between systems and sub-systems and the organizational culture and the many different sub-cultures are things that transit leaders should understand (McElveen, 2012) in an effort to develop and implement a sustainable safety culture.

In her book "Engineering a Safer World," Dr. Nancy Levinson cites, "Systems are broken into distinct parts so that the parts can be examined separately." Transit leaders must examine systems and sub-systems independently to ensure synergy between them because they work independently and in conjunction with one another. When sub-systems operate in sync with one another, it is the result of many factors at work. Patterns of safety behavior are influenced by cultural change and processes in place.

The impact of synergy is an operating system that works at or near-optimal efficiency levels, even during a crisis. Therefore, operating systems with synergy will reflect a change in employee’s safety behavior and attitude and more excellent service performance. When systems and sub-systems are in alignment, the result is a safer transit system. Safe transit systems reflect how well safety has been ingrained into the structures' fabric and multiple sub-systems. When transit systems are not properly aligned, these systems and sub-systems will reach their safety limits, leading to catastrophic events.

So, why visit an article written in 2012, and what is relevant in 2020?  Coronavirus (COVID 19)! COVID-19 will change the future of safety culture and Occupational Safety and Health Professionals roles in the transit industry forever. Transit leaders will have to conduct a top-to-bottom review of operating systems practices, and principles in the future and examine culture and sub-culture. Transit safety culture must become more transparent, compassionate, inclusive, resilient, and attentive to employees' and customers’ concerns and vulnerabilities in the future.

Transit safety culture will require a new safety standard. This new safety standard must pay respect and homage to those transit professionals who gave their lives during the pandemic and those suffering from COVID-19. As transit professionals and especially safety professionals, our role, duty, responsibility, authority, and accountability for the new normal in transit safety culture and safety behaviors extend into every part of the external service delivery market is paramount.  

Based on my 45 years of transit experience at the local, state, and Federal, traveling across more than 30 states that oversee over 44 rail transit properties, performing safety and security audits, and safety and security readiness reviews on new start projects and my travel on two international transit study missions, (Mediterranean Region 2003 and Asia 2017), here are five strategic actions transit leaders should embrace to implement new safety norms critical in developing a vibrant and sustainable safety culture post-COVID-19.

Collective Responsibility

Collectivism is defined as a political or economic theory advocating collective control, especially over production and distribution (Webster). Collectivism is a value, or a principle characterized by an emphasis on cohesiveness among individuals and prioritizing the group over the self. Individuals and groups that subscribe to a collectivist theory find common values and goals as particularly salient and demonstrate a more significant commitment to a system. Collective responsibility is needed in transit when society faces unprecedented disruption and upheaval, especially when public tax dollars are requested to support transit systems' solvency and liquidity.   

Malcolm Kenton’s article “Pandemic Panacea” gives a past and future reflection of America's transit system. He cites, “the rail transit industry was facing multiple long-term challenges before the pandemic. Ridership was down, federal funding for capital projects and new starts was drying up, competition for urban mobility, mismanagement, delays, and cost overrun on high profile construction projects”. COVID-19 has impacted the essence of what transit does, and the consequent economic slowdown leaves transit agencies with large gaps in their budget. Transit safety culture will never be the same because trust between transit frontline workers and leadership has declined. After all, numerous frontline workers died, and thousands became infected with the virus. 

The Greek Philosopher Heraclitus once quoted, "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river, and he's not the same man." Everything in the transit environment has changed post-COVID-19, including leadership approaches to these changes. For example, safety is no longer the safety department; instead, the transit system (all employees) is responsible for safety. Safety is everything we do in a transit environment, and everyone must be held accountable for safety. Transit leaders must lead the transit system with safety as a core value by embedding safety into its culture, vision, mission, and purpose. However, all employees must be trained to understand and know their duty, responsibility, authority, and accountability for safety; if not, the goal of developing, implementing, and sustaining a transit safety culture remains a severe challenge.

Now more than ever, the rail transit industry needs bold, visionary, and persistent leadership to weather the COVID-19 pandemic. The transit industry needs leaders who can address the day-to-day challenges and earn respect and cooperation from the rank and file in all departments and trade unions while addressing communities as to why transit is vital to cities and regions and must be a key component of local and national recovery strategies. Transit systems in cooperation with their labor union, contractors must develop detailed plans moving forward, given the level of resources that will be available, which determines levels of services and or staffing needs. This will require collective responsibility.

Transit safety culture development and implementation must begin with transit leadership understanding the organization’s culture and core value and having a clear vision for developing and implementing a sustainable safety culture within the culture. Transit leaders must understand how employees are impacted by the virus and must take drastic actions to demonstrate compassion around employees' value. Employees value is significant because the value will show how the system prioritize, make decisions, and reconcile conflicts. Value also determines what gets sacrificed during a crisis. 

There is a severe need for changes in the transit industry. These changes include clear transparency, diversity and inclusion, education and training, and a clear purpose around the transit system principles, value, risks, governance, controls in place, and the need to balance the narrative around sustainable performance. To achieve this, all regulatory bodies to include CEOs, Boards, local, state, and the Federal government, must embrace transit safety new norms. The new safety norm must include collective responsibility in the interest of employees, customers, and communities. 

Diversity and Inclusion

As the damaging and dehumanizing effects of systemic racism have grown impossible to deny, transit system leaders must step up and address the issue of race and racism head-on. Yet improving racial dynamics in the transit workplace setting--such as fixing bias in hiring, discrimination in procurement and contracting, supporting minority employees, and promoting authentic racial identity--can be and will be challenging for even the most skilled and well-intentioned transit leaders because of engrained systemic racism practices. To truly make headway on these challenges, transit leaders must begin to understand and address the significant impact racism has on African Americans and people of color. Racism is a form of trauma, racism hurts.

According to Dr. Frank Douglas, “Racism is a virus that replicates and integrates prejudices into the host's mindset. In this manner, racism becomes systemic or institutional and directs the host to practices behaviors and actions, consciously or unconsciously, that make the intended recipient defenseless against the enslavement of spirit and deed. One can either attack systemic racism in the host or enable the victim to defend against the attacks”.

Structural racism in America is a public health issue. Systemic racism is ingrained in white America, and as a result, it will require a consistent and persistent effort to reduce and ultimately eradicate its presence in the body politic. Many efforts to combat systemic racism focus on obvious manifestations, such as the structural and institutional barriers to educational, health, and leadership opportunities.  While this is necessary, it is not sufficient because it potentially leaves many African Americans and people of color languishing in entry and middle-level positions in America (Douglas 2020). 

Angela Neal-Barnett cites, “At its core, racial trauma is racism. Racism takes three forms, each of which is a chronic stressor. System racism is when ideologies, institutions, and policies operate to produce racial and ethnic inequality. Interpersonal racism involves two or more people and can manifest through bigotry, bias, prejudice, and microaggressions. Internalized racism is the acceptance of negative stereotypes and societal beliefs about one's racial group”.

Derrick Albert Bell Jr was an American lawyer, professor, and civil rights, activist. In 1971, he became the first tenured African American professor of law at Harvard Law School. Attorney Bell cites in his book "Faces at the Bottom of the Well" that every African American, regardless of who you are, will experience racism in America. Racism is an integral and permanent part of American society.

Systemic racism is, in my opinion, the most critical issue challenging our democracy in the United States today. African Americans and people of color find Systemic racism in nearly every aspect of life as they move through society in the body politics and practices at institutions, such as banks, schools, private companies, government agencies, law enforcement, and yes, transit systems across the nation. 

The transit industry must confront racism at the systemic level addressing everything from the racial structural policies injustice, economic injustice, employment injustice, environmental injustice, mental health injustice, and the social mechanics' injustice of service delivery. The public execution of George Floyd and COVID-19 has awakened the nation to the inequities and iniquities of systemic racism. Much work is to be done by transit industry leaders to eradicate these social injustices that have plagued the transit industry for decades. Transit leaders to include transit CEO, Board Members, Elected Officials at all levels, must take immediate actions on these injustices and must become vocal regarding racism in service delivery and diversity and inclusion.

Transit leaders must realize that racism impacts transit safety culture in every manner and will continue to impact safety culture because safety touches everything in a transit environment.  To move toward racial equity, transit leaders must prioritize humanity and address the industry's social ills, primarily systemic racism. Transit leaders must understand that employees need to work with the dignity of having their history acknowledge and their life experience valued. Only then will transit leaders at all levels be able to recruit and retain the diverse workforce that is so much needed to take the transit industry into the next century.

Alexandra Kalev and Frank Dobbin cite, "Systemic racism often hides behind neutral, seemingly color-blind management routines. Addressing systemic racism means recruiting at historically Black colleges, not just majority-white colleges. It means creating formal programs to ensure that every employee is offered a mentor rather than supporting a "natural" mentoring relationship, which typically leaves people of color out in the cold. It means inviting all employees to sign up for skill and management training rather than letting bosses hand-pick their favorite workers. It means getting line managers involved in looking deeply at the problem of equity, brainstorming for a solution, and putting those solutions into action, rather than leaving the issue to outside consultants who have no authority to change things".

While many organizations have sought to improve diversity and inclusion because of systemic racism, authentic safety culture of health and well-being cannot be achieved without focusing on equity. A culture of equity and well-being requires systems to provide the necessary tools and education for preventing or managing the chronic conditions that disproportionately impact Black Americans, and people of color can go a long way in protecting the current and future health of the workforce (Maybank, 2020).

Transit leaders must create psychologically safe workspaces where frontline workers and professionals can benefit from a leadership approach to include diversity and inclusion while exploring and creating situation-specific solutions to create collective responsibility. Again, collective responsibility is much needed at a time when our society faces unprecedented disruption upheaval. Public tax dollars are being used to support public institutions' solvency and liquidity like transit systems that have practiced systemic racism for generations.

Workplace Mental Health and Wellbeing:

As transit workplaces begin reopening and returning to average service level, employee well-being should be the driving force of return-to-workplace plan. For transit systems to provide excellent customer service delivery and continue to grow and thrive, transit employees' health, well-being, and safety needs must be at the foundation of transit safety culture.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed deep-seated inequities in health care for communities of color and frontline workers. It amplifies social and economic factors that contribute to poor health outcomes tied directly to the workplace.  Recent news reports indicate that the pandemic disproportionately impacts communities of color, compounding longstanding racial disparities. Today, transit frontline employees are struggling; they are stressing; they are afraid; they worry about their health, and they are concerned about current and future health conditions and risk factors in the workplace. These mental health issues need examination, effective policy action, and effective leadership to lead them through this crisis.

While mental health issues have existed in the transit workplace for a long time, these issues have exacerbated due to COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has focused the nation's attention on the essential role essential workers to include transit workers, play in families and communities' lives, and exposed the severe racial inequalities and inequities that continue to plague the transit industry frontline workers. For example, over 100 transit employees died, and over 6,000 contracted COVID-19 at the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority because of leadership failure to promptly distribute Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) (N.Y. Times,2020).  

Mental health issues can affect a worker's safety, even if no actual illness is diagnosed. Why? Because the mind drives the activity of the body. Larry Masotti, director of strategic relationships for Workplace Safety & Prevention Services, cites, "We've seemed movements all around the world on mindfulness-people being aware of what they're doing and present in the moment. To work safely, people need to be mindful of what they are doing, which is part of mental health conversation. 

Therefore, transit leaders must approach mental health with compassion, honesty, and openness. Transit leaders must be open and transparent, be flexible in addressing their employees' needs, stay abreast with communications from the experts, share their own and their family stories with mental health struggles, demonstrate supportive listening, and be consistent with the mental health conversations.

To remove mental health barriers from the workplace, transit leaders must develop and implement a sustainable safety culture of equity and well-being. Why? Because, in strong safety culture and safe space, workers are trained to know what to do to remove barriers to safe work, and employees will never hesitate to take the necessary steps to do so.

Innovation

In the movie Ford vs. Ferrari, Henry Ford II went on to the factory floor and stop production. He asked the employees to listen to the silence. Angrily, he stated the silence is Ford going out of business. He told employees the story of his father walked to and from work every day, and one day he came up with the idea to invent the car that would eliminate the walk. He further told the employees to go home and come back to his office with ideas on saving Ford or do not return.  

Transit industry leaders should also look to the example set by their counterparts in countries that have managed this pandemic more effectively than the U.S. I offered this suggestion to the transit industry before COVID-19. In July 2019, I published an article titled Transit Strategic Safety Culture Paradigm (TSSCP), introducing a new safety model to the transit industry. The TSSCP is a tool designed to enhance the U.S. transit industry's safety culture process by developing and implementing a sustainable safety culture to reduce accidents and incidents, improve service delivery and quality of life for customers and employees. Based on Asian Railway Safety Excellence, this model is a unique approach to establishing a sustainable safety culture in the transit industry that currently does not exist. It is also reflective of the William E. Deming Total Quality Management (TQM) process, which originated in Japan in 1954 and introduced to the U.S. industrial sector as the 14 points TQM (Deming, 2017) during 1960 and 1970. 

The need to introduce an innovative safety model to the transit industry is long over-due, which assures passenger and employee safety. Advancing TSSCP provides a roadmap for developing and implementing a sustainable safety culture in the transit industry. This model offers a critical new way of thinking, conceptualizing, and operationalizing a safety culture that is thought to be far more essential than safety climate (Zohar, 1980) regarding safety values, behaviors, and attitudes industry employees in reducing accidents and incidents.  

Resilience

A resilient transit system structures its business to ensure that it can meet its minimum needs to survive when a disaster strikes. Such a cultural shift can only succeed if it gets the full support of the CEO, board, senior management, middle management, and, most important, frontline employees. Transit resilience and continuity are not new concepts in the transit industry. While most transit systems have Continuity of Operation Plans (COOP), Emergency Operations Plans (EOP), and Annex Plans; however, lack of continuity planning can result in a cascade of failures as employers attempt to address challenges of COVID-19 with insufficient resources and workers who might not be adequately trained for jobs they may have to perform under pandemic conditions.

The only certainty is uncertainty. However, it is hard for many leaders to see that far ahead with uncertainty and resilience. Resilience is a way of being. Resilience management should learn to ask themselves what we have learned from the crisis that we can incorporate into the new normal? What silos exist, and what is the process for breaking them down and rebuilding into a permanent structure? What activities did we found that our operating model was unable to manage during the crisis, and how do we fix those challenges? What other changes do we need to make to the business model due to the situation?

The mindset shift from today to tomorrow is perhaps the most crucial factor in building transit resilience post-COVID-19. Transit leaders will be required to shift their team mindset from "today" to "tomorrow," which involves several changes that have important implications for recovery. The most crucial is the focus of leadership. The leadership focus expands from a very inward focus on employee safety and operational continuity, including embracing a return to service level posture. Transit leaders should envision the destination in terms of desired stakeholder outcomes, not internal processes and make an attitude adjustment within the system (Deloitte, 2020).

Trust is a crucial part of resilience. Trust is a building block for stability. Frontline workers' trust in senior leaders also contributes to resilience. Loving what you do, regardless of your ability, is a key to resilience. So, what is resilience, and why is it so important? ADP Research defines resilience as an individual's capacity to withstand, bounce back from, and work through challenging circumstances or events at work. Transit systems should build a culture of preparedness in which resilience is a crucial component.

Transit leaders should take full advantage of the opportunity presented to them by the COVID-19 experience; that is, they must ensure that the lessons learned during the pandemic are not lost. Transit leaders must develop different working methods to survive, including future resilience and business continuity strategies. COVID-19 will require leaders to place stability and continuity at the forefront of transit leadership agendas at all levels and the realization that ways of doing things will and must change (FM Global, 2020).

                                                           Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the ways transit systems operate today and well into the future. As transit systems respond to COVID-19 recommendations and circumstances from the regulatory bodies to include school closings, workplace closures, and social distancing, there will be unintended challenges for essential aspects of emotional well-being such as social connectedness and social support.

Developing and implementing a sustainable safety culture is critical in building a resilience and continuity culture to meet the new safety challenges. This new normal must consist of creating different ways of working as a strategy for resilience and continuity. Transit leadership must foster resilience and continuity strategies as part of the safety culture, and the policy action must begin at the leadership level.

Transit leaders should understand that whether employees are going to work or working from home, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way they work. Fear and anxiety about this new disease and other stressors can be overwhelming, and workplace stress can lead to mental health concerns.  How transit leaders address these emotions and stressors can and will affect employees' well-being, the well-being of the employees you should care about, your workplace, and the communities the system serves.

During and post this pandemic, transit leaders must develop safety strategies around collective responsibility, diversity and inclusion, mental health and workplace well-being, resilience, and sustainability. The inequalities and the inequities that have plagued the transit industry for so long must and should be recognized and addressed by transit leaders. Diversity and inclusion are a must moving forward if transit is to remain a viable infrastructure moving forward.

Transit leaders must provide safety cultural competence training for all transit professionals to focus on skills and knowledge that value diversity, understand, respond to cultural differences, and increase awareness of the many challenges in transit and transit cultural norms. Safety culture training can provide pertinent facts about safety culture challenges and include more complex interventions such as intercultural communication skills training, exploration of potential barriers to diversity, and institutional policies insensitive to transit workers' needs from culturally and linguistically diverse.

REFERENCES

Bell, A, (1992) Faces at the Bottom of the Well, The Permanence of Racism, Basic Book, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers

Forbes, (2020), The Essence Of Resilient Leadership: Business Recovery From COVID-19, www.forbes.com/sites/deloitte/2020/05/07/the essence-of-resilient-leadership-business-recovery-from-covid-19

Heraclitus, https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/heraclitus_107157, retrieved on May 16, 2019

FM Global, (2020) Why Business Resilience Must Begin with a Cultural Shift https://hbr.org/sponsored/2020/10/why-business-resilience-must-begin-with-a-cultural-shift

Kalev, A., Dobbin, F. (2020) Companies Need to Think Bigger Than Diversity Training, www.hbr.org.

Kenton, M. (2020), Pandemic Panacea, www.trainsMag.com, September 2020

Levinson, N. (2004), Engineering a Safer World, Systems Thinking Applied to Safety,

 MIT Press

Masotti, L. Workplace Safety & Prevention, https://safestemployers.com/methodology/judging-panel/9-winners-2018/223-nita-chhinzer

Maybank, A. (2020), The Intersection of Wellbeing and Diversity in the Workplace, Virgin Pulse

McElveen, L. (2020), Understanding the Complexity of Transit Safety, Metro.org

Neal-Barnett, A. (2020) How Organizations Can Support the Mental Health of Black Employees, Harvard Business Review, June 10, 2020, www.hbr.org