Each transit agency must establish and implement a Safety Management System under this part. A transit agency Safety Management System must be appropriately scaled to the size, scope and complexity of the transit agency and include the following elements:

(a) Safety Management Policy as described in § 673.23;

(b) Safety Risk Management as described in § 673.25;

(c) Safety Assurance as described in § 673.27; and

(d) Safety Promotion as described in § 673.29.

(a) A transit agency must establish its organizational accountabilities and responsibilities and have a written statement of Safety Management Policy that includes the transit agency's safety objectives and a description of the transit agency's Safety Committee or approach to cooperation with frontline transit worker representatives.

(b) A transit agency must establish and implement a process that allows transit workers to report safety concerns, including assaults on transit workers, near-misses, and unsafe acts and conditions to senior management, includes protections for transit workers who report, and includes a description of transit worker behaviors that may result in disciplinary action.

(c) The Safety Management Policy must be communicated throughout the transit agency's organization.

(d) The transit agency must establish the necessary authorities, accountabilities, and responsibilities for the management of safety amongst the following individuals or groups within its organization, as they relate to the development and management of the transit agency's SMS:

(1) Accountable Executive. The transit agency must identify an Accountable Executive. The Accountable Executive is accountable for ensuring that the transit agency's SMS is effectively implemented throughout the transit agency's public transportation system. The Accountable Executive is accountable for ensuring action is taken, as necessary, to address substandard performance in the transit agency's SMS. The Accountable Executive may delegate specific responsibilities, but the ultimate accountability for the transit agency's safety performance cannot be delegated and always rests with the Accountable Executive.

(i) The Accountable Executive of a large urbanized area provider must implement safety risk mitigations for the safety risk reduction program that are included in the Agency Safety Plan under § 673.11(a)(7)(iv).

(ii) The Accountable Executive of a large urbanized area provider receives and must consider all other safety risk mitigations recommended by the Safety Committee, consistent with requirements in §§ 673.19(d) and 673.25(d)(6).

(2) Chief Safety Officer or Safety Management System (SMS) Executive. The Accountable Executive must designate a Chief Safety Officer or SMS Executive who has the authority and responsibility for day-to-day implementation and operation of a transit agency's SMS. The Chief Safety Officer or SMS Executive must hold a direct line of reporting to the Accountable Executive. A transit agency may allow the Accountable Executive to also serve as the Chief Safety Officer or SMS Executive.

(3) Safety Committee. A large urbanized area provider must establish a joint labor-management Safety Committee that meets the requirements of § 673.19.

(4) Transit agency leadership and executive management. A transit agency must identify those members of its leadership or executive management, other than an Accountable Executive, Chief Safety Officer, or SMS Executive, who have authorities or responsibilities for day-to-day implementation and operation of a transit agency's SMS.

(5) Key staff. A transit agency may designate key staff, groups of staff, or committees to support the Accountable Executive, Chief Safety Officer, Safety Committee, or SMS Executive in developing, implementing, and operating the transit agency's SMS.

(a) Safety Risk Management process. A transit agency must develop and implement a Safety Risk Management process for all elements of its public transportation system. The Safety Risk Management process must be comprised of the following activities: hazard identification, safety risk assessment, and safety risk mitigation.

(b) Hazard identification. (1) A transit agency must establish methods or processes to identify hazards and potential consequences of the hazards.

(2) A transit agency must consider, as a source for hazard identification:

(i) Data and information provided by an oversight authority, including but not limited to FTA, the State, or as applicable, the State Safety Oversight Agency having jurisdiction;

(ii) Data and information regarding exposure to infectious disease provided by the CDC or a State health authority; and

(iii) Safety concerns identified through Safety Assurance activities carried out under § 673.27.

(c) Safety risk assessment. (1) A transit agency must establish methods or processes to assess the safety risk associated with identified hazards.

(2) A safety risk assessment includes an assessment of the likelihood and severity of the potential consequences of identified hazards, taking into account existing safety risk mitigations, to determine if safety risk mitigation is necessary and to inform prioritization of safety risk mitigations.

(d) Safety risk mitigation. (1) A transit agency must establish methods or processes to identify safety risk mitigations or strategies necessary as a result of the transit agency's safety risk assessment to reduce the likelihood and severity of the potential consequences. For large urbanized area providers, these methods or processes must address the role of the transit agency's Safety Committee.

(2) A transit agency must consider, as a source for safety risk mitigation:

(i) Guidance provided by an oversight authority, if applicable, and FTA; and

(ii) Guidelines to prevent or control exposure to infectious diseases provided by the CDC or a State health authority.

(3) When identifying safety risk mitigations for the safety risk reduction program related to vehicular and pedestrian safety events involving transit vehicles, including to address a missed safety performance target set by the Safety Committee under § 673.19(d)(2), each large urbanized area provider and its Safety Committee must consider mitigations to reduce visibility impairments for transit vehicle operators that contribute to accidents, including retrofits to vehicles in revenue service and specifications for future procurements that reduce visibility impairments.

(4) When identifying safety risk mitigations for the safety risk reduction program related to assaults on transit workers, including to address a missed safety performance target set by the Safety Committee under § 673.19(d)(2), each large urbanized area provider and its Safety Committee must consider deployment of assault mitigation infrastructure and technology on transit vehicles and in transit facilities. Assault mitigation infrastructure and technology includes barriers to restrict the unwanted entry of individuals and objects into the workstations of bus operators.

(5) When a large urbanized area provider's Safety Committee, as part of the transit agency's safety risk reduction program, identifies and recommends under § 673.19(c)(6) safety risk mitigations, including mitigations relating to vehicular and pedestrian safety events involving transit vehicles or assaults on transit workers, based on a safety risk assessment conducted under § 673.25(c), the transit agency must include or incorporate by reference these safety risk mitigations in its ASP pursuant to § 673.11(a)(7)(iv).

(6) When a large urbanized area provider's Safety Committee recommends a safety risk mitigation unrelated to the safety risk reduction program, and the Accountable Executive decides not to implement the safety risk mitigation, the Accountable Executive must prepare a written statement explaining their decision, pursuant to recordkeeping requirements at § 673.31. The Accountable Executive must submit and present this explanation to the transit agency's Safety Committee and Board of Directors or equivalent entity.

(a) Safety Assurance process. A transit agency must develop and implement a Safety Assurance process, consistent with this subpart. A rail fixed guideway public transportation system, and a recipient or subrecipient of Federal financial assistance under 49 U.S.C. chapter 53 that operates more than one hundred vehicles in peak revenue service, must include in its Safety Assurance process each of the requirements in paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this section. A small public transportation provider only must include in its Safety Assurance process the requirements in paragraphs (b) and (d) of this section.

(b) Safety performance monitoring and measurement. A transit agency must establish activities to:

(1) Monitor its system for compliance with, and sufficiency of, the transit agency's procedures for operations and maintenance;

(2) Monitor its operations to identify any safety risk mitigations that may be ineffective, inappropriate, or were not implemented as intended. For large urbanized area providers, these activities must address the role of the transit agency's Safety Committee;

(3) Conduct investigations of safety events to identify causal factors; and

(4) Monitor information reported through any internal safety reporting programs.

(c) Management of change. (1) A transit agency must establish a process for identifying and assessing changes that may introduce new hazards or impact the transit agency's safety performance.

(2) If a transit agency determines that a change may impact its safety performance, then the transit agency must evaluate the proposed change through its Safety Risk Management process.

(d) Continuous improvement. (1) A transit agency must establish a process to assess its safety performance annually.

(i) This process must include the identification of deficiencies in the transit agency's SMS and deficiencies in the transit agency's performance against safety performance targets required in § 673.11(a)(3).

(ii) For large urbanized area providers, this process must also address the role of the transit agency's Safety Committee, and include the identification of deficiencies in the transit agency's performance against annual safety performance targets set by the Safety Committee under § 673.19(d)(2) for the safety risk reduction program required in § 673.11(a)(7).

(iii) Rail transit agencies must also address any specific internal safety review requirements established by their State Safety Oversight Agency.

(2) A large urbanized area provider must monitor safety performance against annual safety performance targets set by the Safety Committee under § 673.19(d)(2) for the safety risk reduction program in § 673.11(a)(7).

(3) A large urbanized area provider that does not meet an established annual safety performance target set by the Safety Committee under § 673.19(d)(2) for the safety risk reduction program in § 673.11(a)(7) must:

(i) Assess associated safety risk, using the methods or processes established under § 673.25(c);

(ii) Mitigate associated safety risk based on the results of a safety risk assessment using the methods or processes established under § 673.25(d). The transit agency must include these mitigations in the plan described at § 673.27(d)(4) and in the Agency Safety Plan as described in § 673.25(d)(5); and

(iii) Allocate its safety set-aside in the following fiscal year to safety-related projects eligible under 49 U.S.C. 5307 that are reasonably likely to assist the transit agency in meeting the safety performance target in the future.

(4) A transit agency must develop and carry out, under the direction of the Accountable Executive, a plan to address any deficiencies identified through the safety performance assessment as described in this section.

(a) Competencies and training. (1) A transit agency must establish and implement a comprehensive safety training program that includes de-escalation training, safety concern identification and reporting training, and refresher training for all operations transit workers and transit workers directly responsible for safety in the transit agency's public transportation system. The training program must include refresher training, as necessary.

(2) Large urbanized area providers must include maintenance transit workers in the safety training program.

(b) Safety communication. A transit agency must communicate safety and safety performance information throughout the transit agency's organization that, at a minimum, conveys information on hazards and safety risk relevant to transit workers' roles and responsibilities and informs transit workers of safety actions taken in response to reports submitted through a transit worker safety reporting program. A transit agency must also communicate the results of cooperation with frontline transit worker representatives as described at § 673.17(b) or the Safety Committee activities described in § 673.19.