I have been injured I need more information I need someone to fight for me

Railroad, Construction and Maritime Accident News in New York and New Jersey

LOSS OF SITUATIONAL AWARENESS REGARDING RAILROAD ACCIDENTS


Posted on Oct 21, 2010

LOSS OF SITUATIONAL AWARENESS - FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION, REGARDING RAILROAD ACCIDENTS, AND NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD, FOR MARITIME ACCIDENTS, WARN EMPLOYERS TO TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT WORKERS, AND THE PASSENGER PUBLIC, FROM ACCIDENTS CAUSED BY WORKERS LOSING ‘SITUATIONAL AWARENESS’

You may recall that when the Ferry Andrew Barberi crashed into a pier in Staten Island, NY because the captain of the vessel ‘zoned out’ and lost ‘situational awareness’ of his surroundings, essentially falling asleep at the wheel of ferry. The October 15, 2003 crash led to many deaths and hundreds of injuries. The NTSB investigation blamed the captain’s use of prescription medications, lack of sleep and other issues that led to the captain’s unfortunate mistakes leading to this calamity.

On October 18, 2010, the Federal Railroad Administration issued Safety Advisory 2010-03, entitled "Notice of Safety Advisory; staying alert and situational awareness." In it the FRA described numerous FELA accidents where F.E.L.A. covered employees were struck by trains as the workers stepped into the trains’ paths.

Rather than assuming these accidents are attributable to the employee’s contributory negligence, the FRA is recognizing that the railroad employer has some responsibility to implement rules and technology to reduce employee stress, and to obligate co-employees to look out for one another along with other suggestions.

Mentioned are the following deaths:

-BNSF roadmaster/track supervisor on September 1, 2010 in Coon Rapids, Minnesota who alighted from a track geometry car near a highway grade crossing and was struck by a commuter train traveling 79 m.p.h.;

-2008 Northeast Corridor (Amtrak and related railroads such as New Jersey Transit (NJT)) incident where track gang workers and contractor hit by Amtrak train;

-2009 conductor working with a yard switching crew was struck after fouling a track from a train from which he alighted;

-2008 conductor hit by another train when he alighted his train on a double-main track. He had failed to have a job briefing with the locomotive engineer.

All of these accidents were preventable, of course, but the fatal injuries were caused by the worker losing situational awareness. The railroads have to do more to make their workplaces safe, according to this FRA safety alert.

See Articles:

Read More About LOSS OF SITUATIONAL AWARENESS REGARDING RAILROAD ACCIDENTS...

back to top


©2012 Hofmann & Schweitzer, All Rights Reserved, Reproduced with Permission Privacy Policy
Attorney web design by Foster Web Marketing, the best attorney website design solution on the Web offering search engine optimization for attorneys, lawyer website design, video for attorneys, and more.
Get SEO Tips from The Attorney Internet Marketing Blog