A New York City Transit investigation into the death of one of two track workers struck by subways in November has concluded that a supervisor was at fault for asking the victim to interrupt his work as a flagger of oncoming trains. þþThe finding, in a report released Tuesday, comes after an extensive review and several changes in safety procedures for subway workers. The investigation focused on the death of Joy Antony, 41, a signal maintainer who was struck Nov. 21 on the tracks near the 96th Street station on the No. 3 line. þþThe other worker, Kurien Baby, 57, a lighting technician, was struck and killed the next day by an E train near the Canal Street station. That event remains under investigation by the transit agency.þþAmong its conclusions in the case of Mr. Antony, which were disclosed yesterday in The Daily News, the transit agency said his supervisor on the day he was killed, Deanroy Cox, violated safety rules. The report said ÿappropriate actionÿ should be taken against him. þþPaul Fleuranger, a spokesman for the transit agency, said that Mr. Cox had been placed on modified duty and that a disciplinary hearing would be held later in April. þþLocal 100 of the Transport Workers Union sharply criticized the decision to single out Mr. Cox and said transit officials were trying to make one supervisor a scapegoat for senior management's broad failure to provide adequate safety precautions.þþUnion officials said that the problem was in staffing levels and that Mr. Antony's death would have been prevented if an additional worker had been assigned to his crew. It said Mr. Cox pulled him away from his flagging assignment because he was needed to work on a subway signal.þþMr. Cox ÿbasically had to chose between flagging protection and getting his work done,ÿ said John Samuelsen, a spokesman for Local 100. ÿHe's a symptom of a much larger problem and is now being used by management as a scapegoat.ÿþþMr. Samuelsen said the union would defend Mr. Cox against dismissal even though, as a supervisor, he is not a member of the union.þþThe deaths of two subway workers in November prompted a wide review of safety measures and several changes, some stemming from discussions with union officials.þþOne result has been greater use of a warning system known as full flagging, in which workers place several blinking warning lights along the tracks, post someone as a lookout and install an emergency device on the tracks to stop a train if it runs past the signals.þþTransit officials have not agreed to an arbitrary minimum number of workers assigned to jobs like the one Mr. Antony was on when he died. Mr. Antony was one of two workers supervised by Mr. Cox, and union officials maintain that there should have been at least three in Mr. Cox's crew.þþThe agency report said the ÿprimary causal factor was on the part of Mr. Cox, who asked Mr. Antony to perform other duties while he was flagging and failed to ensure that proper flagging was established.ÿ þþþ
Source: NY Times
