Inquiries look into how bus injured HRT worker

NORFOLK

Three investigations are under way concerning an accident in which a Hampton Roads Transit employee was hit by a bus at the agency's Southside Bus Operations building on 18th Street on Saturday night.

The injured employee, a bus cleaner, is in serious condition at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and will require additional surgeries, said Ron Edwards, HRT's chief safety and security officer. The driver of the bus, also a bus cleaner, is on administrative leave, he said.

HRT, Norfolk police and the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, which administers federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration programs, are investigating.

Edwards said the bus was turning left out of the bus wash when it struck the employee with the right front tire. The employee was not wearing a reflective safety vest as required, he added.

"We are having safety stand-down meetings and putting safety back in the forefront of our minds," Edwards said.

Jennifer Wester, a program director for the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, said her agency is not looking to assign fault in the accident but instead checking whether workplace standards are being followed. If violations are found, she said, the agency could be cited or fined.