An “analysis of NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) has revealed that pilots flying Boeing 737s, the world’s most widely deployed passenger aircraft, have frequently been ignoring an onboard alarm horn designed to warn of a critical loss of pressure, and thus a lack of oxygen, in the cockpit,” reports Michael Fabey for Travel Weekly.  The 2005 crash of Helios Airway Flight 522, in which all 121 passengers and crew were killed,  was caused by hypoxia.

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Tony Kovaleski exposed the critical problems with Denver’s ambulance response to a crash in December 2008, in the KMHG investigative report “33 Minutes to 34 Right: Denver’s Broken Ambulance System.” A year-long investigation by Kovaleski, producers Tom Burke and Arthur Kane and photojournalist Jason Foster uncovered serious emergency response issues in Denver, at Denver International Airport and at Denver Health. When Flight 1404 crashed with 115 passengers, a computer-assisted analysis of the emergency response showed it took 40-minutes before three ambulances were at the airport, 50-minutes for five ambulances and a full hour before 10 ambulances were at the crash scene.

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Internal Food and Drug Administration documents indicate that an FDA official overruled agency scientists and approved the sale of an imaging device for breast cancer after receiving a phone call from a Connecticut congressman. The legislator’s call and its effect on what is supposed to be a science-based approval process is only one of many of accusations in documents obtained by The New York Times regarding disputes within the Food and Drug Administration’s office of device evaluation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/health/policy/13fda.html?ref=todayspaper

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A investigation by Walt Bogdanich and Nicholas Phillips of The New York Times found that the federal Railroad Retirement Board has not held a formal meeting in over two years.  The board oversees the retirement and disability benefits for railroad workers.  “Operating out of public view, with little scrutiny from Congress and even from its former inspector general, the retirement board has become the agency that cannot say no, last year approving virtually every single disability application it received — almost 98 percent. It did not matter where rail employees lived or where they worked.”  The Times investigation found the board is riddled with problems, including a flawed process in identifying the validity of disability claims. The program’s current inspector general, Martin J. Dickman, has made several proposals to improve the board’s operations, but all have been rebuffed.

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According to a report by Gavin Off of the Tulsa World, Federal Railroad Administration data shows Oklahoma has recorded 1,042 train accidents from 2000 to 2007. About half involved collisions with vehicles, and most of those took place at crossings without gates or flashing lights.

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All-terrain vehicles are rolling by the thousands into the Minnesota woods, offering motorized thrills but also causing long-term damage to public wildlands, the Star Tribune revealed in a multimedia investigative report. As the state Department of Natural Resources struggles to curb destructive off-trail riding, the agency is also mapping an immense trail network for ATVs in the state’s vast forests, according to reporters David Shaffer, Tom Meersman and Glenn Howatt and photographer Brian Peterson.

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Marisol Bello of USA TODAY reported that billions of dollars will be needed to repair deficient bridges throughout the U.S. Twelve percent of the bridges throughout the U.S. currently rate as deficient. “It would cost $9.4 billion a year for 20 years to eliminate all bridge deficiencies in the USA, according to the latest estimate, made in 2005, by the American Society of Civil Engineers.” The report includes a roll-over map listing the number of deficient bridges by state.

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An investigation by reporter Larry Lebowitz of The Miami Herald shows that local taxpayers were promised massive improvements to the county’s mass transit system when they approved a sales tax six years ago, yet those promises have not been fulfilled. Local leaders have already spent half the money on routine maintenance, 1,000 new jobs, and office furniture among other things. “At the heart of the matter: The 2002 campaign avoided any mention of chronic financial problems that had plagued the transit agency, and it promised far more improvements than the tax could possibly deliver.” County commissioners are now considering other options, such as a steep fare increase, to fund improvements to the transit system.

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An investigative report by Josh Bernstein of KNXV-Phoenix revealed that tires on school buses serving six area districts had major damage — chunks of rubber missing, splitting treads — yet the buses were still in use. Despite claims that tires are changed twice per school year, some buses had tires that were over eight years old. Arizona’s minimum safety requirements for school buses do not address the age of tires.

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An investigation into RV safety by Chris Halsne, of KIRO (Seattle, Wash.), found that the government only requires “front-end crash and brake tests for the empty chassis.” Data analysis revealed that many fatalities in RV accidents are the result of poorly secured interior elements, braking problems, and the weak structural integrity of the fiberglass and wood frames. In response to the investigation, the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association said, “NHTSA (The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) hasn’t crash tested finished motor homes because they are fundamentally safe — there simply haven’t been enough deaths to warrant the cost of purchasing and testing these types of vehicles.”

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