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Showing posts with label National Transportation Safety Board. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Transportation Safety Board. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

NTSB Releases Final Report on Paulsboro Derailment

Topdays post is shared from njtvonline.org
Two years after the toxic spill in Paulsboro, the NTSB’s final investigation report determines that the crew was met with a red signal on the bridge. They radioed to dispatch for the moveable bridge to be locked. The NTSB report says the conductor had no formal training before he inspected the bridge and “erroneously” concluded it was locked. The dispatcher gave the train permission to pass. Moments later, half the train was off the rails.
The NTSB determined the key cause of the derailment to be two things: Conrail “allowing the train to pass the red signal” with rail locks “not fully engaged” and a lack of proper training that would have “prepared the train crew to examine the bridge lock.”
The NTSB found contributing factors to the accident included a “lack of a comprehensive safety management program that would have identified and mitigated risks associated with the continued operation of the bridge despite multiple bridge malfunctions of increasing frequency” and “the failure of the incident commander to implement” “hazardous materials response protocols”.
Gary Stevenson was the deputy fire chief the day the disaster happened right in his backyard.
“We need to do things different the next time this happens. I hope all of us responders have learned from that incident. So we can apply it and spread that knowledge out to other fire departments within the state,”...
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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

In Latest Metro-North Accident, Worker Is Fatally Struck by Train in East Harlem

Transportation safety continues to be a major issue. Today's post is shared from nytimes.org

A Metro-North Railroad worker was struck and killed by a train in East Harlem early Monday morning, officials said, the latest in a string of devastating accidents for the railroad over the past year.

At 12:54 a.m., the man, identified as James Romansoff, 58, of Yonkers, was struck while working on the tracks at East 106th Street and Park Avenue, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The train, from Metro-North’s Hudson line, had left Grand Central Terminal at 12:47 a.m., bound for Poughkeepsie, with 36 passengers on board.

The National Transportation Safety Board said on Monday morning that it was starting an investigation into the accident and was sending three investigators to New York. The transportation authority said that its Police Department was also investigating.

The authority said that Mr. Romansoff, who had been with Metro-North for eight years, was part of a crew restoring power to tracks that were closed over the weekend for maintenance work. Mr. Romansoff and the crew were initially working on a stretch of track that had been taken out of service, according to a source briefed on the situation by federal authorities, but for reasons that remain unclear, Mr. Romansoff crossed into a section of active track.

James Romansoff, 58, of Yonkers, was killed Monday while...

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Friday, January 3, 2014

North Dakota blast prompts review of oil train safety

A federal safety alert Thursday warned that crude oil flowing out of new fields in North Dakota may be more flammable than expected, a caution that comes several days after a train carrying about 3.5 million gallons of the same oil crashed in the state and set off a massive explosion.
The accident on the BNSF Railway, the fourth such explosion in North America involving crude oil trains, has fed mounting concerns over public safety as the rail industry sharply increases the use of rail to transport surging crude production in North Dakota, Texas and Colorado.
Following the latest derailment and crash, which forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 residents from the town of Casselton, the National Transportation Safety Board has launched the nation's first broad examination of the safety of moving petroleum by rail.
Trains carrying oil have multiplied across the country as environmental concerns and political maneuvering have delayed approval of a major new pipeline to transport oil to Gulf Coast refineries. The issue may be most crucial for cities in the West, which were often founded and developed by railroads so that main lines go directly through the centers of today's urban areas.
Crude oil shipments by rail have shot up 25-fold in the last several years as producers rush oil from newly developing shale fields to market. California alone has seen a fourfold increase over the last year, with current shipments of about 200,000 barrels a month.
Refinery operators this...
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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

NTSB kicks train union out of crash investigation


Railroad safety continues to be examined following the train crash in New York last week. This post is shared from cnn.com.
Repair efforts are under way Tuesday, December 3, at the site of a recent train derailment in the Bronx. At least four people were killed and more than 60 people were injured after a Metro-North...

The NTSB said it has booted the rail union from its investigation into the weekend's deadly train derailment for violating confidentiality rules.

The agency made the announcement late Tuesday night, hours after a union representative told CNN that the train engineer apparently "was nodding off and caught himself too late" before the accident.

The train derailment Sunday killed four people and injured 67 others in New York.

In its announcement, the NTSB specifically cited those comments as the violation.

Anthony Bottalico, the union representative, told CNN that engineer William Rockefeller Jr. recognizes his responsibility in the incident.

"I think most people are leaning towards human error," Bottalico said.

Rockefeller's lawyer, Jeffrey Chartier, characterized what happened as "highway hypnosis." He said his client had had a full night's sleep before the crash, and had no disciplinary record.

In a brief conversation with investigators, Rockefeller said that moments before the derailment of the Hudson Line train in the Bronx he was "going along and I'm in a daze. I don't know what happened," according to a law enforcement official familiar with that conversation.

Rockefeller spoke to Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New York Police detectives at the crash site before he was taken to the hospital Sunday.

According to NTSB representatives,...

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Found on

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

NTSB is investigating a Metro North rail accident in Bronx, NY

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a Metro North passenger train accident in Bronx, New York that occurred at approximately 7:20 am on December 1, 2013.

NTSB Rail Safety Investigator Mike Flanigon is the investigator-in-charge, leading a multi-disciplinary team of NTSB personnel. Board Member Earl Weener served as the principal spokesman during the on-scene phase of the investigation.

Monday, December 2, 2013

NTSB LAUNCHES GO-TEAM TO NEW YORK CITY TO INVESTIGATE METRO NORTH TRAIN ACCIDENT

The National Transportation Safety Board has launched a go-team to investigate the Metro North passenger train accident in New York City, which occurred at approximately 7:20 a.m. ET today.

Rail Safety Investigator Mike Flanigon will serve as the investigator-in-charge. He will lead a team consisting of investigative specialists in track, signals, mechanical systems, operations, human performance, survival factors and recorders. Specialists from the NTSB Office of Transportation Disaster Assistance are also responding to the scene. 

Board Member Earl Weener is accompanying the team and will serve as the principal spokesman during the on-scene phase of the investigation.

Monday, October 28, 2013

NTSB says Texas Spirit Air flight had "uncontained" failure

Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.cbsnews.com

A Spirit Airlines plane at Dallas-Forth Worth Airport on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013.
A Spirit Airlines plane at Dallas-Forth Worth Airport on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013.
A National Transportation Safety Board official says a Spirit Airlines jet bound for Atlanta sustained an engine failure before safely returning to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Plane engine explodes, smoke forces plane to turn back

The official says it was an "uncontained" failure. That means broken pieces and parts of the engine escaped the outer engine housing, an unusual and especially serious occurrence.
The official spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.
Aircraft engines are designed to contain any broken pieces within the engine during a failure.
Passengers aboard the Airbus A319 on Tuesday say they heard an explosion and saw flames come up the side of the plane, lighting up the interior. They reported that smoke filled the cabin.
Passenger Casey Rogers described his experience in a phone call with CBS station KTVT in Dallas: "I saw the engine blow up on the outside of the plane, fire and all that. I'm thinking to myself, I see this on the movies. I'm usually on my couch eating popcorn. This never happened to me. And here I am 25,000 feet above the ground and this is happening to me."
Rogers said the crew was professional and handled the situation well.
Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson says no one on Flight 165 was injured.
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Thursday, September 5, 2013

Train Industry Allies in U.S. Senate Move to Delay Deadline for Crash-Prevention Technology

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.fairwarning.org


Prodded by railroads, four lawmakers introduce bill to postpone deadline for installing high-tech safety systems.

The systems, known as Positive Train Control or PTC, aim to override human error and avert deadly collisions like the Chatsworth, Calif., commuter train crash that killed 25 people in 2008. Railroads are mandated to have PTC by the end of 2015 on trains carrying passengers or extremely hazardous materials such as chlorine. But, as FairWarning reported last year, the industry has pushed hard to relax the requirement and win more time to add the costly technology.

 Four senators who have received political contributions from the industry recently introduced a bill to extend the deadline another five to seven years, until at least 2020. The National Transportation Safety Board has called for the safety measures for more than two decades. Over the last decade, the agency has investigated 27 train crashes that killed 63 people that it says PTC could have prevented. The Associated Press

Federal poultry inspection proposal based on bad data, investigators say. The U.S. Department of Agriculture relied on incomplete and outdated data for its plan to extend a poultry inspection program to plants across the country, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. The new procedures, piloted at 29 sites since 1998, let plants dramatically speed up processing lines and replace many government inspectors with poultry company employees, which...
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….

Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Evacuation Zone Expanded in NJ Toxic Train Derailment

The US Coast Guard has expanded the evacuation zone in Paulsboro NJ (Gloucester County)  following the toxic derailment of a train carrying deadly cancer causing vinyl chloride. Evacuations have been mandatory since last Friday when a movable bridge failed to function and collapsed when a freight train was moving over it.

The National Transportation Safety Administration (NTSB) is co-ordinating an intensive accident investigation. The NTSB reported yesterday that the bridge had problem and that the train engineer contacted a Conrail dispatcher for authorization to cross the bridge even though the bridge signal was red indicating bridge trouble. The NTSB also reported that the bridge was inspected by two Conrail supervisors shortly before the event because of trouble signal being sent by the bridge safety mechanism.

Most vinyl chloride is used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic and vinyl products. Acute (short-term) exposure to high levels of vinyl chloride in air has resulted in central nervous system effects (CNS), such as dizziness, drowsiness, and headaches in humans. Chronic (long-term) exposure to vinyl chloride through inhalation and oral exposure in humans has resulted in liver damage. Cancer is a major concern from exposure to vinyl chloride via inhalation, as vinyl chloride exposure has been shown to increase the risk of a rare form of liver cancer in humans. EPA has classified vinyl chloride as a Group A, human carcinogen.
Read more about "vinyl chloride"
Vinyl Chloride Workplace Poison

Vinyl Chloride Conspiracy Documents


Related articles

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Truck Crash That Kills 11 Results in Call For A National Cellphone Ban

Citing distraction from the use of a mobile phone by the driver of an 18-wheel semi truck as the probable cause of a crash that killed 11 people, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended banning the use of mobile phones by commercial drivers except in emergencies. Accidents arising from the use of cell phone are resulting major liability & workers' compensation problems for employers.

"Distracted driving is becoming increasingly prevalent, exacerbating the danger we encounter daily on our roadways," said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. "It can be especially lethal when the distracted driver is at the wheel of a vehicle that weighs 40 tons and travels at highway speeds."

On March 26, 2010, at about 5:14 a.m. CDT, near Munfordville, Kentucky, a truck-tractor semitrailer combination unit driven by a 45-year-old male departed the left lane of southbound Interstate 65, crossed a 60-foot-wide median, struck and overrode a cable barrier system, entered the northbound travel lanes, and struck a 15-passenger van, driven by a 41-year-old male and occupied by 11 passengers (eight adults, two small children, and an infant). The truck driver and 10 of the 12 occupants of the van were killed.

Investigators determined that the driver used his mobile phone for calls and text messages a total of 69 times while driving in the 24-hour period prior to the accident. The driver made four calls in the minutes leading up to the crash, making the last call at 5:14 a.m. CDT, coinciding with the time that the truck departed the highway.

The Safety Board also determined that the median barrier system, which had recently been installed following another cross-median fatal accident on the same section of I-65, contributed to the severity of the accident because it was not designed to redirect or contain a vehicle of the accident truck's size. Because median crossover accidents involving large vehicles are so deadly, the NTSB made recommendations regarding the use of appropriately designed median barriers on roadways with high volumes of commercial vehicles.

At the meeting today, the NTSB issued 15 new safety recommendations to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), all 50 states, and the District of Columbia. The Safety Board also reiterated two previously issued recommendations to the FMCSA.

A synopsis of the NTSB report, including the probable cause, findings, and a complete list of all the safety recommendations, is available on the NTSB's website. The NTSB's full report will be available on the website in several weeks.

RELATED MATERIAL

Board meeting announcement (9/8/11)

Investigative update (5/14/10)

Launch of investigative team to accident site (3/26/10)