Fwd: HOW MTA NEGLIGENCE ELECTROCUTED TRACK WORKER DANNY BOGGS
The Infamous Vinnie Gangbox
from the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:
Exclusive
Alarm boxes failed in subway worker's death
BY PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Posted Wednesday, May 2nd 2007, 4:00 AM
Danny Boggs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frantic track workers could not cut power to the third rail after a worker was struck by a subway train last week because the emergency equipment was broken, the Daily News has learned.
Members of Danny Boggs' work crew pulled the lever at a nearby emergency alarm box, which should have cut off the high voltage coursing through the rail, several sources said.
But the lever failed to work - as did at least one other alarm box that the desperate crew members tried to activate, workers have told investigators, the sources said.
Boggs' colleagues were forced to run to
the nearest token booth at the Columbus Circle hub to call the control center to request that the power be cut, sources said.
Boggs, 41, died shortly after being run over by the southbound No. 3 train on April 24. Track workers were outraged to learn that the safety equipment, which was installed in part to prevent the electrocution of both workers and riders, had not been maintained.
"A working alarm box is a matter of lifeand death," said veteran track worker John Samuelsen, a former transit workers union official.
Samuelsen alleged that the number of workers whose duties include repairing emergency equipment has been reduced over the past five years. He also said a team of eight workers that had been dedicated to servicing the alarm boxes has been merged into the larger workforce. "It's another case of a smart, production-minded boss playing Russian roulette with our lives," Samuelsen said.
NYC Transit
spokesman Paul Fleuranges said the condition of the emergency equipment is under investigation.
The NYC Transit supervisor in charge of Boggs' crew has been assigned to desk duty pending the outcome of the investigation, sources said.
Boggs appears to be the victim of bad communication, transit workers said. A local train that had been rerouted to the express track caught the crew off guard. They believed trains had been barred from that stretch of track for the repair project.
Five days after Boggs' death, another track worker died after being hit by a train on the G line in Brooklyn.
The supervisor directing Marvin Franklin and his co-workers also has been put on modified assignment pending the outcome of a separate probe, sources said.
pdon...@nydailynews.com
from the NEW YORK POST:
'TRANSIT TRAGEDY' FIX DONE
By GINGER
ADAMS OTIS
May 13, 2007 -- NYC Transit has finally fixed the broken alarm boxes that failed to shut down the third rail the night a track worker was electrocuted in a horrific subway accident - 338 days after the problem was first reported, The Post has learned.
A repair order was issued on June 13, 2006, for at least one of the emergency alarms at the Columbus Circle subway station. That's where Daniel Boggs, 42, was struck by a train and pushed against the third rail last month, on April 24. Witnesses said his body was smoldering by the time the power was turned off.
Last Sunday, a repair crew replaced the burned-out communications cable that had knocked out six alarm boxes along a stretch of track. The same faulty cable had rendered at least two emergency phones useless.
It's not known whether Boggs died upon impact or after coming in contact with the 600-volt third rail. Afterward, the agency admitted that 70
emergency alarm boxes were out of service and said crews were working to catch up with the glut of repair tickets.
But documents obtained by The Post showed that 188 emergency boxes - more than double the NYC Transit estimate - were out.
Each of the bright red boxes features a simple lever that, when pulled, immediately cuts power to the third rail in a 1,000- foot radius. Workers then have three minutes to find an emergency telephone and contact command control before the juice is restored. There are 2,300 boxes system-wide.
go...@nypost.com
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