INDIANAPOLIS – IndyGo was recently announced as the 2022 Certificate of Merit Winner for the Safety Excellence Awards at the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Mobility Conference in Columbus, Ohio, making it the only U.S. transit agency recognized in the safety category. APTA’s Bus and Rail Safety & Security Excellence Awards recognize public transit providers for their innovative and proactive safety and security programs.
IndyGo has developed a systematic, proactive approach to provide a safe and reliable transportation service to customers and Indianapolis residents, in addition to safe and healthy working conditions for employees. IndyGo and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) have adopted the principles and methods of Safety Management Systems (SMS) as the basis for enhancing the safety of public transportation.
Safety is emphasized in IndyGo’s mission statement and permeates through the organization from frontline employees to the board of directors. The agency continues to positively change safety culture, making it a number one priority through the following measures:
- Implementing safety engineering, which resulted in a reduction of collisions for the first of three Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines.
- Implementing the IndyGo anonymous near-miss safety reporting line.
- Continuing to promote and recognize bus operators for their safe driving practices.
- Implementing driver assault barriers on all fixed-route and BRT buses.
- Designing and building a mobile command vehicle in-house from a retired 40-foot bus.
- Installing UV-C light air filtrations systems in IndyGo buildings and all transportation modes of service.
- Creating two new safety committees for engagement from a top-down and bottom-up approach.
- Establishing a new Emergency Response Team for education, planning, training, drills and evaluation of safety practices.
“At IndyGo, we’re proud of how we put safety first and strive to continually take our safety culture and practices from good to great,” said IndyGo President and CEO Inez Evans. “We’re thrilled to be a national leader in safety and to share some of our successes with transit agencies across the country.”
“The Safety Management System is much more to IndyGo than a required practice or philosophy,” said IndyGo Risk and Safety Director Brian Clem. “It means positive change in how safety is viewed for everything. Every IndyGo employee and contractor is held accountable for their safe practices. Employees reporting hazards and being engaged in providing feedback has been a key to IndyGo’s success.”
The 2022 Safety & Security Excellence Awards help to build the industry by benchmarking successful initiatives so other systems can implement and fine-tune their programs based on their peers’ findings.
Nominations are evaluated on four criteria: effectiveness, benefit level, innovation and transferability. A Certificate of Merit is given to organizations in recognition of exceptional achievement in safety or security.
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