Meeting_Body
REVISED
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
SEPTEMBER 21, 2023
Preamble
Motion by:
DIRECTORS BASS, HORVATH, KREKORIAN, NAJARIAN, SOLIS, AND HAHN
Ancillary Areas
As Los Angeles County’s homelessness and addiction crises have worsened, Metro has experienced a rise in people trespassing in the ancillary spaces of its system. Within Metro underground stations, primarily on the B (Red) & D (Purple) Lines, there are 97 ancillary corridors and rooms designed for use by Metro personnel and closed to the public except for emergency evacuations. Ancillary areas are also found on the E (Expo), K (Crenshaw/LAX), and Regional Connector Lines. Metro personnel use these corridors to access specific equipment rooms to support operations, including traction power rooms, train control and communications rooms, ventilation dampers, and elevator machinery rooms. Many of these ancillary corridors are monitored but unlocked per Fire/Life Safety design to allow for alternate emergency exit pathways.
In May 2023, Metro commissioned an industrial hygienist to study the condition of these areas and provide recommendations as to any steps Metro needed to take to properly clean the ancillary areas and protect employees from associated hazards. The study discovered trace levels of biohazards, such as drug residue and human waste. It concluded that Metro needed to adjust cleaning methods and require the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure the safety of employees who clean and perform maintenance in these areas.
In June 2023, in response to the findings of the environmental study, Corporate Safety developed standard operating procedures outlining the cleaning protocols, decontamination process, and waste disposal process. Based on these recommendations, a new 2-step process was introduced to clean and secure the ancillary areas.
Step 1: Armed security officers inspect the ancillary areas for the presence of trespassers. Once secured, the custodians presoak the ancillary areas with a cleaning agent called Apple Meth Remover, which has been proven more effective in significantly reducing contamination than the previous cleaning agent MonoFoil M. The cleaning agent needs to soak for four hours.
Step 2: After the required time has passed, the ancillary areas are re-inspected to ensure no trespassers are present; then, custodians re-enter to remove any debris left behind by trespassers and conduct a deep cleaning of the site.
Since August, all ancillary areas on the 16 B & D-Line stations are considered “hot spots” and are cleaned and decontaminated with this two-step process every other week (twice a month).
Additionally, System Security and Law Enforcement (SSLE), has developed a plan to deploy contract security officers (security team) at every B & D-Line station to actively patrol and conduct three inspections of every ancillary area per shift, two shifts per day. To maintain accountability, each security team will contact the Metro Security Operations Center before and after each inspection. In the event a trespasser is identified, they will be detained and removed from the ancillary areas by the security team. As frequently as possible, the Los Angeles Police Department will be contacted to arrest the individual for trespassing. Should the trespasser be arrested three times, SSLE will work with Transit Court to get the trespasser banned from the system for a period of time.
Local audible alarms at the B, D, & E-Line Station ancillary areas operate as follows when the badge reader is not used before opening the emergency exit doors:
• Alarm sounds when the door is opened and continues until the door closes, and no motion is detected behind the door.
• Alarm switches off when the door is closed OR when the door stays open, and motion is detected behind the door.
The alarms on the K-Line & Regional Connector stay activated when the door is opened and is only deactivated with a SSLE activated key.
As Metro continues to improve the ancillary areas' cleanliness and safety and address the environmental study findings, the Board should receive regular status updates on this crucial issue.
Subject
SUBJECT: ANCILLARY AREAS MOTION
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RECOMMENDATION
Title
APPROVE Motion by Directors Bass, Horvath, Krekorian, Najarian, Solis, and Hahn that the Board direct the Chief Executive Officer to:
A. Provide the Board with a current update on the status of the ancillary areas and their cleaning status;
B. Develop a detailed plan to conduct daily inspections and cleaning of the ancillary areas across the Metro rail system. This plan is to include methods Metro will take to ensure the areas have been serviced by Metro staff;
C. Ensure that once an ancillary area alarm has been activated, the audible notification continues until manually deactivated by Metro staff;
D. Evaluate options to further secure these areas for their intended use while maintaining emergency access; and
E. Report back to the Board in October and quarterly thereafter on the status of all the above, including an updated industrial hygienist audit within 12 months.
A.