As used in this part:

Accountable Executive means a single, identifiable person who has ultimate responsibility for carrying out the Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan of a transit agency; responsibility for carrying out the transit agency's Transit Asset Management Plan; and control or direction over the human and capital resources needed to develop and maintain both the transit agency's Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan, in accordance with 49 U.S.C. 5329(d), and the transit agency's Transit Asset Management Plan in accordance with 49 U.S.C. 5326.

Assault on a transit worker means, as defined under 49 U.S.C. 5302, a circumstance in which an individual knowingly, without lawful authority or permission, and with intent to endanger the safety of any individual, or with a reckless disregard for the safety of human life, interferes with, disables, or incapacitates a transit worker while the transit worker is performing the duties of the transit worker.

CDC means the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Chief Safety Officer means an adequately trained individual who has responsibility for safety and reports directly to a transit agency's chief executive officer, general manager, president, or equivalent officer. A Chief Safety Officer may not serve in other operational or maintenance capacities, unless the Chief Safety Officer is employed by a transit agency that is a small public transportation provider as defined in this part, or a public transportation provider that does not operate a rail fixed guideway public transportation system.

Direct recipient means an entity that receives Federal financial assistance directly from the Federal Transit Administration.

Emergency means, as defined under 49 U.S.C. 5324, a natural disaster affecting a wide area (such as a flood, hurricane, tidal wave, earthquake, severe storm, or landslide) or a catastrophic failure from any external cause, as a result of which the Governor of a State has declared an emergency and the Secretary has concurred; or the President has declared a major disaster under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170).

Equivalent entity means an entity that carries out duties similar to that of a Board of Directors, for a recipient or subrecipient of FTA funds under 49 U.S.C. chapter 53, including sufficient authority to review and approve a recipient or subrecipient's Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan.

FTA means the Federal Transit Administration, an operating administration within the United States Department of Transportation.

Hazard means any real or potential condition that can cause injury, illness, or death; damage to or loss of the facilities, equipment, rolling stock, or infrastructure of a public transportation system; or damage to the environment.

Injury means any harm to persons as a result of an event that requires immediate medical attention away from the scene.

Investigation means the process of determining the causal and contributing factors of a safety event or hazard, for the purpose of preventing recurrence and mitigating safety risk.

Joint labor-management process means a formal approach to discuss topics affecting transit workers and the public transportation system.

Large urbanized area provider means a recipient or subrecipient of financial assistance under 49 U.S.C. 5307 that serves an urban area with a population of 200,000 or more as determined by the most recent decennial Census.

National Public Transportation Safety Plan means the plan to improve the safety of all public transportation systems that receive Federal financial assistance under 49 U.S.C. chapter 53.

Near-miss means a narrowly avoided safety event.

Operator of a public transportation system means a provider of public transportation.

Performance measure means an expression based on a quantifiable indicator of performance or condition that is used to establish targets and to assess progress toward meeting the established targets.

Potential consequence means the effect of a hazard.

Public transportation means, as defined under 49 U.S.C. 5302, regular, continuing shared-ride surface transportation services that are open to the general public or open to a segment of the general public defined by age, disability, or low income; and does not include:

(1) Intercity passenger rail transportation provided by the entity described in 49 U.S.C. chapter 243 (or a successor to such entity);

(2) Intercity bus service;

(3) Charter bus service;

(4) School bus service;

(5) Sightseeing service;

(6) Courtesy shuttle service for patrons of one or more specific establishments; or

(7) Intra-terminal or intra-facility shuttle services.

Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan means the documented comprehensive agency safety plan for a transit agency that is required by 49 U.S.C. 5329 and this part.

Rail fixed guideway public transportation system means any fixed guideway system, or any such system in engineering or construction, that uses rail, is operated for public transportation, is within the jurisdiction of a State, and is not subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Railroad Administration. These include but are not limited to rapid rail, heavy rail, light rail, monorail, trolley, inclined plane, funicular, and automated guideway.

Rail transit agency means any entity that provides services on a rail fixed guideway public transportation system.

Recipient means a State or local governmental authority, or any other operator of a public transportation system, that receives financial assistance under 49 U.S.C. chapter 53.

Roadway means land on which rail transit tracks and support infrastructure have been constructed to support the movement of rail transit vehicles, excluding station platforms.

Safety Assurance means processes within a transit agency's Safety Management System that functions to ensure the implementation and effectiveness of safety risk mitigation, and to ensure that the transit agency meets or exceeds its safety objectives through the collection, analysis, and assessment of information.

Safety Committee means the formal joint labor-management committee on issues related to safety that is required by 49 U.S.C. 5329 and this part.

Safety event means an unexpected outcome resulting in injury or death; damage to or loss of the facilities, equipment, rolling stock, or infrastructure of a public transportation system; or damage to the environment.

Safety Management management Policy means a transit agency's documented commitment to safety, which defines the transit agency's safety objectives and the accountabilities and responsibilities for the management of safety.

Safety Management System (SMS) means the formal, organization-wide approach to managing safety risk and assuring the effectiveness of a transit agency's safety risk mitigation. SMS includes systematic procedures, practices, and policies for managing hazards and safety risk.

Safety Management System (SMS) Executive means a Chief Safety Officer or an equivalent.

Safety performance target means a quantifiable level of performance or condition, expressed as a value for the measure, related to safety management activities, to be achieved within a specified time period.

Safety Promotion means a combination of training and communication of safety information to support SMS as applied to the transit agency's public transportation system.

Safety risk means the composite of predicted severity and likelihood of a potential consequence of a hazard.

Safety risk assessment means the formal activity whereby a transit agency determines Safety Risk Management priorities by establishing the significance or value of its safety risk.

Safety risk management means a process within a transit agency's Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan for identifying hazards and analyzing, assessing, and mitigating the safety risk of their potential consequences.

Safety risk mitigation means a method or methods to eliminate or reduce the severity and/or likelihood of a potential consequence of a hazard.

Safety set-aside means the allocation of not less than 0.75 percent of assistance received by a large urbanized area provider under 49 U.S.C. 5307 to safety-related projects eligible under 49 U.S.C. 5307.

Small public transportation provider means a recipient or subrecipient of Federal financial assistance under 49 U.S.C. 5307 that has one hundred (100) or fewer vehicles in peak revenue service across all non-rail fixed route modes or in any one non-fixed route mode and does not operate a rail fixed guideway public transportation system.

State means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands.

State of good repair means the condition in which a capital asset is able to operate at a full level of performance.

State Safety Oversight Agency means an agency established by a State that meets the requirements and performs the functions specified by 49 U.S.C. 5329(e) and (k) and the regulations set forth in 49 CFR part 674.

Subrecipient means an entity that receives Federal transit grant funds indirectly through a State or a direct recipient.

Transit agency means an operator of a public transportation system that is a recipient or subrecipient of Federal financial assistance under 49 U.S.C. 5307 or a rail transit agency.

Transit Asset Management Plan means the strategic and systematic practice of procuring, operating, inspecting, maintaining, rehabilitating, and replacing transit capital assets to manage their performance, risks, and costs over their life cycles, for the purpose of providing safe, cost-effective, and reliable public transportation, as required by 49 U.S.C. 5326 and 49 CFR part 625.

Transit worker means any employee, contractor, or volunteer working on behalf of the transit agency.

Urbanized area means, as defined under 49 U.S.C. 5302, an area encompassing a population of 50,000 or more that has been defined and designated in the most recent decennial census as an urban area by the Secretary of Commerce.