Track workers deaths prompt transportation study
Source: Associated Press
Track workers deaths prompt transportation study
By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press | September 24, 2014 | Updated: September 24, 2014 1:23pm
An investigation into last year's spike in the number of deaths among track workers has concluded that some federal workplace safety standards should be extended to railroads. A report approved Wednesday at a meeting of the National Transportation Safety Board finds that differences between regulations of the Federal Railroad Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration can be confusing.
Among its recommendations is for the railroad administration to include OSHA standards during job briefings for roadway workers. The NTSB said it undertook the investigation after 15 railroad workers were killed on or near the tracks in 2013, compared to eight in 2012 and five in 2011.
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The fatal accidents had a wide variety of causes. Seven workers were hit by trains in New York; Chicago; West Haven, Connecticut; Socorro, New Mexico; Walnut Creek, California; and Leesburg, Missouri. But other deaths were caused by falls from bridges in Philadelphia and Marianna, Florida; a mudslide in Old Fort, North Carolina; heat stroke in Trevose, Pennsylvania; and an electrocution in Harpursville, New York.
One worker was killed in Mathis, Texas, when an aerial lift vehicle overturned; one was hit by a car in Bradner, Ohio; and one was killed by a rail that was on moving equipment in Washington.
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It also called on railroads to include unions in accident investigations.
"Union representation brings operations-specific knowledge to the operations team and helps facilitate the cooperation of union members," it found.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/15-track-workers-deaths-prompt-NTSB-study-5777122.php
