City Changes Trash Truck Safety Policies

One day after a malfunctioning city garbage truck killed two 8-year-old boys, Los Angeles city officials made several instant policy changes Thursday to improve safety--requiring mechanical problems to be posted directly on vehicle dashboards, expanding drivers’ morning inspections and prohibiting operators from compacting trash while trucks are traveling.

It was Mayor Richard Riordan who suggested placing a placard on the dashboard of problem trucks upon learning that the vehicle involved in Wednesday’s fatal crash had been flagged by its driver Tuesday night, but a maintenance supervisor failed to either get it fixed or place it on the “hold” list preventing it from being used the next day.

“This is a no-brainer,” said a frustrated official in the mayor’s office. “That’s what so sad about it. Why does it take this [tragedy] and him [Riordan] to think of something so obvious?”

On the day after the first fatal accident on a Los Angeles Unified School District bus:

* City officials suspended the maintenance supervisor who mistakenly let the truck out onto the street.

* Trash pickup was delayed as a mayoral task force conducted special vehicle inspections.

* The condition of an 8-year-old boy injured in the incident was improving.

* Officials promised that the city would pay for the funerals and medical expenses of crash victims.

City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who heads the Public Works Committee, scheduled a special hearing for Monday to probe longer-range policy questions, such as the relationship between the Bureau of Sanitation, which drives the trucks, and the General Services Department, which provides maintenance. Alarcon said his committee will also investigate what caused the freak mechanical problem in the hydraulic compression system, what went wrong in the maintenance yard, and whether the latest model of refuse collection vehicle remains the smartest bet for the city.

“The real thing I’m trying to do here is present as much information to the public--and especially to the families of all the kids who had to suffer through this horrible thing--so they have confidence that the city is going to look into this from every aspect,” said Alarcon, whose son was killed in a car accident in 1987. “I’ve been through this kind of trauma. The sense of helplessness is one of the worst things. To at least know that people are going to investigate this, and know that something is being done, is helpful.”

Killed in the gory accident at the fog-blanketed corner of Temple and Alvarado streets early Wednesday were Francisco Mata and Brian Serrano, best friends and third-graders at Glen Alta Elementary.

Eight-year-old Mario Garay, Serrano’s cousin, suffered a fractured skull in the crash, and improved Thursday from critical to serious condition.

“He was alert, awake and talking with his parents earlier today,” said Childrens Hospital spokesman Steve Rutledge, adding that the boy suffered no brain damage and will not require surgery.

*

Trash collection was delayed Thursday as officials conducted half-hour inspections of each of the 390 trucks similar to the one involved in Wednesday’s accident, in which a 12-foot-long hydraulic piston apparently burst through the side of the truck and punched through the windows of an oncoming school bus.

Only about 130 trucks were given a clean bill of health and sent back out on the road Thursday. A handful of trucks were found to have problems connected to the hydraulic system, but General Services Department chief Randall C. Bacon said these were minor and would have been caught in routine inspections every five weeks.

The CHP on Thursday was continuing to investigate the accident and a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman said the federal agency would join local authorities next week in inspecting the truck.

“When children are killed on a school bus, it’s something that the NTSB takes seriously,” a spokesman said.

Because the CHP has prevented city officials from examining the truck, the task force of police, maintenance workers, truck manufacturers and independent experts that worked through the night Wednesday inspecting the fleet could not be sure exactly what it was searching for.

“We’re doing an exhaustive review and really taking an overabundance of caution,” said J.P. Ellman, Board of Public Works president. “We’re looking for basic types of things that go wrong.”

Sanitation officials said longer hours and extra weekend pickups should allow them to get back on schedule by early next week, and asked residents to continue putting their garbage out on the appointed day and leave it at the curb until trucks arrive.

But the policy changes could permanently affect pickups. A full compression cycle takes about four minutes, and drivers will have to stop after loading about half a dozen barrels rather than conduct the compression while moving.

“It may slow things down a bit, but I don’t thinks this is an issue that we want to fudge on,” said Bureau of Sanitation spokesman Roland Silva.

*

In addition to tagging problem vehicles, sanitation officials on Thursday ordered drivers to immediately stop trash compression and return to the yard if they hear odd noises coming from the compactor. Further, drivers will be notified of any maintenance and be asked to inspect the trucks themselves to ensure it was done.

Also Thursday, the maintenance supervisor who failed to place the problem truck on the “hold” list was placed on paid administrative leave until the accident investigation is complete, Bacon said. He refused to identify the supervisor except to say he is a longtime employee who has worked for General Services more than a decade.

According to Bacon, the driver who operated the truck on Tuesday placed a “trouble” report--questioning a loud pop in the hydraulic system--in the maintenance supervisor’s “in” basket as he was supposed to. The supervisor logged the trouble report in, Bacon said, but forgot to do anything about it.

“He just, inadvertently, didn’t get it done,” Bacon said. “It was just busy and he inadvertently overlooked it.”

Every morning when drivers report to work, they check the “hold” list in the sanitation office and then are assigned a truck that has been approved to go out, Bacon said. Each driver conducts a short inspection and must fill out a checklist about the condition of items such as the instrument panel, tires, windshield wipers and brakes before leaving the yard.

Drivers fill out another checklist, which includes item No. 7--”Check operation of lift assembly and packer control mechanism”--and give it to their supervisor upon leaving the yard. “If they can’t fix it that night then they put it on the hold list and fix it when they get to it,” Bacon said. “If it just needs a screw tightened up, a mechanic would go and do that. If they don’t know what [the problem] is, a mechanic does a thorough inspection of what appears to be the problem.”

*

City officials declined Thursday to release the trouble report that Tuesday’s driver filled out for truck No. 70, or the checklists filled out on the vehicle Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. They also would not release records showing the maintenance history of the truck, which the city bought in 1993, or similar vehicles.

Deputy City Atty. Christopher Westhoff said the records would probably be released today.

Some workers at the North Central Collection Yard said Wednesday’s tragedy was a freak accident, but some blamed a lazy night crew for not doing adequate follow-up.

“If they had done what they were supposed to do, that truck would never have come out of the yard,” one driver said.

Another driver, though, was more sympathetic. “Who would expect that kind of thing to break?” he asked.

Some city officials have blamed the fatal mistake on cutbacks that have left staff overworked, but budget documents show that the maintenance division actually had an increase in funding this year, with 20 more mechanics working on trucks and cars.

However, overall staffing has decreased by about 10% since fiscal 1991-92, from 557 to 498 this year, while the number of sanitation trucks has remained steady at just under 1,000.

In budget documents from last fiscal year, officials made dire predictions about the cutbacks, which at that time left the maintenance staff at 478. “These reductions continue to reduce the department’s ability to provide essential support services to operating departments such as . . . vehicle repair and maintenance,” they wrote.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, who represents the neighborhood where the accident happened, said it is the long-term trend of downsizing that worries her.

“When the systems were built, there was redundancy, people checking on each other’s work. Then came the era of downsizing,” Goldberg said. “The system is more and more counting on everybody getting it right, every time, because the redundancy is gone. It saves a lot of money, but tell that to the parents.”

Francisco’s relatives have already consulted an attorney, and are considering lawsuits against the city and the manufacturer of the hydraulic system, Ontario-based Amrep Corp.

Daniel Woodard, head of the city attorney’s civil liability division, said it is “much too early” to determine whether the city was responsible for the accident. Nonetheless, he said his office is contacting the families of all 48 children who were on the bus to offer city assistance.

“We want to make sure the families have what they need and we’ll sort out the liability issues later,” Woodard said.

Amrep’s owner was in Los Angeles on Thursday observing the special truck inspections, and Alarcon invited him to Monday’s hearing. Company officials, however, referred all questions to their attorney, James Reed of Santa Ana, who called Wednesday’s accident “an isolated incident.”

“This is tragic,” Reed said. “We have no idea what the condition of the truck was” when it was taken out for a trash collection route early Wednesday morning.

Times staff writers Richard Simon, Patrick J. McDonnell and Erin Texeira and correspondent Geoffrey Mohan contributed to this story.