The feds ordered the MBTA to take immediate action to address right-of-way violations that led to five near-misses where employees were nearly struck by trains, and one incident that left a worker “seriously injured” in the past month.

In a letter sent to MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng, the Federal Transit Administration stated that it “remains deeply concerned regarding MBTA’s implementation of its right-of-way access procedures and practices,” and revealed that two additional safety incidents involving employees occurred last week.

“Given recent events, the results of FTA’s on-site inspections, reports from DPU, and the MBTA’s backlog of maintenance work which necessitates continued track access for work crews, FTA finds that a combination of unsafe conditions and practices exist such that there is a substantial risk of death or personal injury,” FTA Associate Administrator Joe DeLorenzo wrote.

DeLorenzo cited similar concerns raised by the T’s state safety oversight authority, the Department of Public Utilities, which ordered the MBTA to conduct a “safety stand-down” following three near-misses that occurred between March 13-24.

Despite action by both the DPU and MBTA to reinforce employee and contractor understanding of safety rules protecting them on the right of way, another near-miss occurred on April 7, DeLorenzo wrote.

MBTA Chief Safety Officer Ron Ester reported these four near-misses to a safety subcommittee last Thursday, saying that they were caused by a breakdown in safety communication between construction workers, their supervisors and subway dispatchers.

Ester did not disclose, however, that an employee was seriously injured on the morning of his report, April 13. The employee was working on the right-of-way “where access had not been requested or granted — a major violation of MBTA’s ROW safety procedures,” DeLorenzo wrote.

The following morning, April 14, the MBTA experienced its fifth near-miss in just over a month, DeLorenzo wrote.

He added that federal inspectors tasked with ensuring the T’s compliance with directives issued as part of last year’s safety management inspection continue to observe deficiencies in implementation of right-of-way safety rules, “significant gaps” in ROW safety oversight and training, and lack of clarity in authorities, accountabilities and responsibilities for worker safety there.

In this letter, the FTA outlined a series of steps the MBTA must take, warning that right-of-way access could be prohibited if deadlines are missed for the requested actions by a series of dates, April 20 and 24, May 5 and June 15.

Katie Choe, the T’s chief of quality, compliance and oversight, said her office is working with the FTA to “formulate a response plan” to its letter, which calls for action in three areas: monitoring right-of-way access procedures and compliance, evaluating right-of-way access capacity, and accelerating ROW training updates.

“We share the FTA’s concern with the recent near-misses, and we will comply with the intent of the FTA’s letter,” Choe said. “The work required by the immediate action letter is in line with the work already underway at the MBTA, and we have incorporated the near-miss events and new requirements into our global performance initiative.”