WASHINGTON – The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a safety bulletin after a CSX Transportation conductor trainee was killed during a shove movement in Baltimore.
The FRA is investigating the June 26 accident at the Seagirt Marine Terminal at the Port of Baltimore [see “NTSB investigating CSX employee death …,” Trains News Wire, June 27, 2023].
“Based on FRA’s preliminary investigation, a conductor and a conductor trainee (CT) were riding the point on an empty intermodal well car during a shoving move of a train consisting of two locomotives and 43 intermodal well cars,” according to the bulletin issued Thursday. “The CT was using a portable radio with a speaker-microphone attached to his vest to communicate to the locomotive engineer. Preliminary findings suggest that, although the CT may have maintained three-point contact, his posture and position on the car were not stable enough to withstand the forces when the train slowed down and slack ran out. The CT lost his balance and fell forward into the gauge of the rail. The CT was subsequently struck by the rolling equipment, resulting in a fatality.”
The bulletin requests that railroads increase awareness of the dangers of riding moving equipment. And it asks railroads to take four steps:
— Review training programs to ensure they adequately prepare employees to safely and properly ride moving equipment, including the handling of unexpected forces.
— Employees should only ride equipment when necessary for job duties and only after the process for doing so is covered in a job briefing.
— Employees should always face the equipment and maintain at least three point contact to brace for changes in speed and slack action, ensuring their positioning is stable.
— Railroads should review with employees Switching Operations Fatality Analysis recommendation No. 5: Mentor less experienced employees so that they can perform safely.
This is the second FRA bulletin this year involving shove moves. The agency issued an advisory in March following the death of a Norfolk Southern conductor in a grade crossing accident in Cleveland [see “FRA issues safety bulletin …,” News Wire, March 17, 2023].
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