Safety Standards

MOSCOW -- Russian aviation boasts some of the world's smallest airlines, dirtiest planes, best pilots, worst weather conditions, remotest airports, most confusing bureaucracy, and best-trained but overstretched safety inspectors.Added up, it means that Russia meets international safety standards -- but barely -- according to a joint U.S.-Russian air safety report released yesterday.It means that flying in Russia is not quite so dangerous as some organizations, such as the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, had suggested.

The director of Baltimore's police training academy didn't know that instructors were holding exercises at an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Owings Mills. There were no supervisors on site. A police service weapon somehow got mixed up with a practice paint-cartridge pistol. The gun was pointed at a trainee. Many of the missteps surrounding the exercise at which a University of Maryland police recruit was critically wounded last week ran afoul of nationally recognized training safety standards, according to law enforcement experts and a review of past incidents from around the country.

WASHINGTON -- Before June's deadly subway crash, no federal agency stepped in to ensure that the Metro commuter rail system found and fixed the electrical circuits now suspected of contributing to the worst accident in the system's history. That's because none is authorized to. Although the federal government regulates the safe operation of buses, Amtrak, airplanes and even ferries, it cedes primary oversight of subway safety to local panels - in the case of Metro, the little-known Tri-State Oversight Committee.

The state will consider adopting voluntary safety standards rather than an all-out ban on bumper pads that line the inside of cribs and have been determined a hazard to babies. The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has been pushing regulations that would make it the first state to ban the sale of bumper pads, but said Friday it will hold hearings to look at voluntary safety standards adopted by the manufacturers. Studies have found that the bumper pads, often included as part of bedding sets, can suffocate or strangle babies.

BWI has received a $12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help pay for the repaving of its longest runway, members of Maryland's congressional delegation announced Wednesday. Work on Runway 10-28, the 10,502-foot asphalt strip that extends east to west, will begin in late August and is set to be completed before the Thanksgiving travel rush. The runway repaving is expected to cost $40.3 million and support more than 500 jobs. "This is a big project and those federal dollars are really important.

The director of Baltimore's police training academy didn't know that instructors were holding exercises at an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Owings Mills. There were no supervisors on site. A police service weapon somehow got mixed up with a practice paint-cartridge pistol. The gun was pointed at a trainee. Many of the missteps surrounding the exercise at which a University of Maryland police recruit was critically wounded last week ran afoul of nationally recognized training safety standards, according to law enforcement experts and a review of past incidents from around the country.

Mayor Sheila Dixon said yesterday that she plans to make additional changes in the leadership of the city's Fire Department after a state agency charged that the department made "willful" violations of safety standards during a fatal training exercise. "There are a lot of changes that need to take place," she said. "Some of those changes have already begun." On Tuesday, the state's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation concluded that the department had violated 33 safety standards during a live-burn training exercise in which a fire cadet was killed.

A Fire Department panel has recommended that two more city firefighters be dismissed from their jobs because of their roles in the Feb. 9 training burn in a Southwest Baltimore rowhouse that killed a recruit and injured two others. One of the two, Lt. Barry Broyles, responded yesterday by saying that the Fire Department never followed safety standards during live burns and that it should not have hired the recruit who died. Broyles and Lt. Joseph Crest have been suspended without pay since the February blaze that killed cadet Racheal M. Wilson, 29, a mother of two. Mayor Sheila Dixon fired Kenneth Hyde Sr., the chief of the Fire Academy, about two weeks after the fire.

The former director of the Baltimore Fire Department's training academy used a rowhouse for a live-fire exercise in which a recruit died even though he had earlier expressed reservations about the suitability of the building, according to e-mails obtained by The Sun. Kenneth Hyde Sr., who was fired because safety rules were violated during the fire, had rejected a suggestion that he burn a rowhouse on a city housing department list of buildings that...

WASHINGTON -- The Transportation Department said yesterday that more than 4.5 million General Motors pickup trucks on the road today have a severe design defect capable of killing drivers and passengers.Transportation Secretary Federico F. Pena said the department will hold a public hearing Dec. 6 in Washington to determine whether to order GM to recall its C/K pickup trucks, built %J between 1973 and 1987 with side-mounted fuel tanks.Mr. Pena said the government, through research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has determined that about 150 people have been killed because of the faulty design since the trucks were introduced.

BWI has received a $12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help pay for the repaving of its longest runway, members of Maryland's congressional delegation announced Wednesday. Work on Runway 10-28, the 10,502-foot asphalt strip that extends east to west, will begin in late August and is set to be completed before the Thanksgiving travel rush. The runway repaving is expected to cost $40.3 million and support more than 500 jobs. "This is a big project and those federal dollars are really important.

HBO's horse-racing series Luck, starring Dustin Hoffman, came to an abrupt end Wednesday after the death of a third horse during filming earlier in the week. Here's the statement issued by HBO: It is with heartbreak that executive producers David Milch and Michael Mann together with HBO have decided to cease all future production on the series LUCK.   Safety is always of paramount concern.  We maintained the highest safety standards throughout production, higher in fact than any protocols existing in horseracing anywhere with many fewer incidents than occur in racing or than befall horses normally in barns at night or pastures.  While we maintained the highest safety standards possible, accidents unfortunately happen and it is impossible to guarantee they won't in the future.  Accordingly, we have reached this difficult decision.    We are immensely proud of this series, the writing, the acting, the filmmaking, the celebration of the culture of horses, and everyone involved in its creation.    Quote from Michael Mann and David Milch:  “The two of us loved this series, loved the cast, crew and writers.  This has been a tremendous collaboration and one that we plan to continue in the future.” When asked for clarification via email, an HBO spokeswoman said this is the end of "Luck.

A Maryland doctors' group is pushing legislation to bolster the state's child safety seat laws, a move designed to better protect toddlers from head, neck and spinal injuries during accidents. The Maryland State Medical Society, also known as MedChi, wants the state to adopt recommendations made last year by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The recommendations include lengthening the amount of time young children have to stay in seats facing the rear of the car and raising the age that children should have to sit in the back seat.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last week released the latest statistics on highway deaths and injuries with no small measure of pride. In 2009, the U.S. had its safest year on the roads with the fewest deaths since 1950 and the lowest death rate per miles traveled recorded since motor vehicles were mass produced in this country. Mr. LaHood and others in Washington were quick to credit their own safety initiatives. But they might also have expressed gratitude for the recession: Historically, traffic fatalities decline in period of economic decline (fewer jobs mean less commuting, fewer deliveries, etc.)

WASHINGTON -- Before June's deadly subway crash, no federal agency stepped in to ensure that the Metro commuter rail system found and fixed the electrical circuits now suspected of contributing to the worst accident in the system's history. That's because none is authorized to. Although the federal government regulates the safe operation of buses, Amtrak, airplanes and even ferries, it cedes primary oversight of subway safety to local panels - in the case of Metro, the little-known Tri-State Oversight Committee.

Baltimore's fire chief defended his beleaguered department yesterday after an independent investigation concluded that a recruit who was killed in a training exercise had been poorly trained and outfitted. But Mayor Sheila Dixon said her "confidence level" in the chief's leadership "is very questionable." Dixon said she also had concerns about the judgments made by firefighters who were at the Feb. 9 fire in a vacant rowhouse on South Calverton Road that killed cadet Racheal M. Wilson and indicated more discipline could be meted out in the coming days.

HBO's horse-racing series Luck, starring Dustin Hoffman, came to an abrupt end Wednesday after the death of a third horse during filming earlier in the week. Here's the statement issued by HBO: It is with heartbreak that executive producers David Milch and Michael Mann together with HBO have decided to cease all future production on the series LUCK.   Safety is always of paramount concern.  We maintained the highest safety standards throughout production, higher in fact than any protocols existing in horseracing anywhere with many fewer incidents than occur in racing or than befall horses normally in barns at night or pastures.  While we maintained the highest safety standards possible, accidents unfortunately happen and it is impossible to guarantee they won't in the future.  Accordingly, we have reached this difficult decision.    We are immensely proud of this series, the writing, the acting, the filmmaking, the celebration of the culture of horses, and everyone involved in its creation.    Quote from Michael Mann and David Milch:  “The two of us loved this series, loved the cast, crew and writers.  This has been a tremendous collaboration and one that we plan to continue in the future.” When asked for clarification via email, an HBO spokeswoman said this is the end of "Luck.

ORLANDO, Fla. - For Orlando's famed attractions, finding a balance between excitement and safety is critical. The death of 4-year-old Daudi Bamuwamye on Monday after a ride on Mission: Space at Walt Disney World's Epcot immediately raised questions not only about the ride's safety, but also about how to judge what thrills are right for young visitors. Amusement-industry experts say that Disney, Universal Orlando and other parks spend years developing and testing rides, designing equipment that seldom causes problems.

Safety has a cost, and it's a cost worth paying. If American companies are going to continue to sell Chinese goods, they must do far more to ensure the safety of those goods. That could mean investing in the Chinese factories where products are made, or instituting strict guidelines with on-site inspections, paid for by the U.S. distributor. Late last week, even as Fisher-Price toys were being pulled off shelves in Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Canada and the United States, American and Chinese government officials announced that they had agreed to cooperate on food and product safety.

Mayor Sheila Dixon said yesterday that she plans to make additional changes in the leadership of the city's Fire Department after a state agency charged that the department made "willful" violations of safety standards during a fatal training exercise. "There are a lot of changes that need to take place," she said. "Some of those changes have already begun." On Tuesday, the state's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation concluded that the department had violated 33 safety standards during a live-burn training exercise in which a fire cadet was killed.