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About the Precursor Safety Data Program

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Overview

Image of workers climbing stairs on an oil platform.The Precursor Safety Data Program, managed by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Office of Safety Data and Analysis, aims to improve safety within industries that include daily operational risk. The program accomplishes this by collecting and protecting data on close call safety events (also known as near misses) and providing analyses of aggregated data to identify trends and root causes of these incidents, helping participants develop preventative measures to avoid future accidents.

Program Origin

The Precursor Safety Data Program began forming in 2002, when Federal Railroad Association (FRA) formed a Planning Committee representing stakeholders from industry, labor organizations, and government that was inspired by the success of the close call system in the aviation industry. The committee's purpose was to determine how best to introduce the importance of studying close calls to the railroad industry. In 2006, the FRA sponsored a pilot project supported by BTS called the Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS), which tested a voluntary and confidential close call reporting system in the railroad industry. The pilot program determined that it is possible to change punishment-based work cultures to more trusting environments in which close call data can be reported without fear of retaliation.

Current Focus Areas

In 2013, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) implemented a close call reporting system in partnership with BTS. In 2015, BTS partnered with the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to develop a similar program for the oil and gas industry operating on the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, called SafeOCS. In 2024, the Precursor Safety Data Program published a report on a pilot program with the USDOT’s Maritime Administration to establish a close call reporting program for the maritime transportation system, called SafeMTS. The WMATA Close Calls, SafeOCS, and SafeMTS programs are ongoing and now represent the focus areas of Transit, Offshore Energy, and Maritime, respectively. Learn more about:

The Value of Confidentiality

BTS protects the confidentiality of information provided by participants of sub-programs within the Precursor Safety Data Program. BTS is authorized by law, 49 U.S.C. 111(c)(2), to collect transportation information for its programs. The BTS confidentiality statute, 49 U.S.C. 111(i), and CIPSEA protect the information BTS collects. These laws require BTS to ensure that any identifying, sensitive, or proprietary information collected is not released to unauthorized persons or organizations. Learn more about data confidentiality at BTS.