OIG: FRA lacks needed oversight of fatigue management

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently found that the Federal Railroad Administration needs to improve its oversight of procedures related to railroad hours of service (HOS) copliance and railroad fatigue management requirements.

The OIG issued its report following an assessment of the FRA's oversight of HOS compliance, pursuit of civil penalties for HOS violations and oversight of passenger railroad compliance with fatigue management requirements.

The OIG found that the FRA’s oversight processes and analyses are not fully documented and there is no evidence of risk-based planning. In addition, the OIG found that the FRA also lacks guidance for many HOS violation penalty amounts as well as procedures for producing accurate annual enforcement reports.

As a result, the FRA does not have the procedures and accurate data necessary to effectively target its limited resources to the highest risk areas or adequately oversee different railroad types, the OIG concluded.

The FRA concurred with all 19 of the OIG recommendations to improve its oversight of HOS and fatigue management and provided appropriate actions and completion dates, according to the article. The OIG considers the recommendations resolved but open, pending completion of planned actions. Read the OCI's report on its findings here.