Photo by Josh Bassett

Metro has been without a permanent chief safety officer since James Dougherty stepped down in September in the wake of a derailment incident. Even the acting chief safety officer said he was resigning at the end of this month. But a new man is finally stepping into the hot seat: Patrick Lavin.

WMATA General Manager Paul Wiedefeld announced the hire today, saying “I look forward to Pat joining our team and to his leadership on Metro’s safety culture improvements.”

Lavin comes to Metro from New York City Transit, where he held the number two job at the Office of System Safety. In three decades at NYCT, he worked on both safety investigations and rail maintenance and operations, according to a release.

An overview of the CSO’s job description includes providing “strategic leadership to ensure the day to day safety of the system, its employees and customers.” Safety components include: “occupational health and environmental policies… risk and hazard assessment, data/trend analysis and field inspections to ensure compliance with policies, federal, state and local laws and regulations.”

Lavin’s first day with the system will be on May 9. Godspeed, Pat.