WMATA wrote occupational health into its safety plan - then tried to block audits
Lead dust in emergency supply cabinets turned into a two-year legal fight over who gets to ask questions about worker health.
A federal court on September 25 ordered the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to hand over occupational health and workplace safety records to the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission - its rail safety regulator. WMATA had spent more than two years refusing, insisting occupational health fell outside the regulator's lane. The court shut down that argument on all four fronts.
It started in October 2023, when WMATA reported lead dust contamination in cabinets storing emergency medical gear at a Metrorail station. The Commission added a workplace safety lens to its next triennial audit and, by February 2024, sent 28 categories of document requests - from hazardous materials handling and PPE policies to welding exposure data, noise dosimetry results, and bloodborne pathogen reports.
WMATA balked. The requests exceeded the Commission's authority, it argued, duplicated OSHA's oversight, and would be too burdensome. Months of back-and-forth produced partial compliance at best. The Commission escalated to a formal subpoena in April 2024. WMATA turned over fitness-for-duty and drug-and-alcohol records but refused to budge on workplace health documents.
A magistrate judge sided with the Commission in December 2025. WMATA objected, and the district court took a fresh look at every argument.
The central question was whether "safety" includes occupational health. WMATA argued its regulator's mandate stopped at rail operations - derailments, track defects, the mechanics of moving trains. The court called that reading far too narrow. In ordinary usage, "safety" covers any risk of injury, loss, or danger. Lead exposure, chemical hazards, and missing fall protection all fit comfortably.
Then there was the problem WMATA built for itself. Its own safety plan - voluntarily developed under a framework the Federal Transit Administration encourages - explicitly folds in occupational health. The Department of Safety houses an occupational health team. Training programs cover asbestos, electrical safety, fall protection, and hearing conservation. Having written those standards into the plan, the court held, WMATA could not then tell its regulator the plan was off-limits.
On burden, WMATA put the compliance cost at roughly 3,000 working hours. The court was sympathetic but unmoved - WMATA had not shown the subpoena would "unduly disrupt or seriously hinder normal operations."
For safety and HR teams managing compliance programs, the logic runs both ways: a broader safety plan strengthens protections, but it also widens the audit surface.
