Accident: 200450237 - Killed When Run Over By Rail Car

At approximately 8:15 p.m. on May 5, 1997, Employee #1, a flagman, and a coworker were coupling loaded railroad cars to empty ones. Employee #1 was run over by a rail car ran and killed.

railroad, railroad car, flagman, boxcar, run over

Accident: 201030210 - Killed When Run Over By Rail Car

On September 5, 1996, Employee #1, a dock foreman, and five coworkers were in the lower rail yard of the Kaiser International Corporation. Kaiser International is a facility for the bulk handling of coal, and the lower yard is where the coal dumping process takes place. Rail cars, loaded with coal in the upper yard, are driven by a locomotive into a shed, which has a turning mechanism that flips the cars over. The cars are then pushed out of the shed and down a hill. At the bottom of the grade the car switches tracks goes back up another hi. It only climbs part way before gravity pulls the car down into the lower yard. Employee #1 and his coworkers had taken lunch at 12:00 p.m., and resumed work at 1:05 p.m. Thirteen cars had come down the track since the lunch break ended, at a rate of one car every two minutes. The yard's mechanic/electrician was preparing to give instructions to the swingman when he saw Employee #1's body lying on the tracks, approximately 32 ft away from the last boxcar. At the same time, the dump house operator sent the final car out of the dump house and down the grade. The electrician was about to pull Employee #1's body off the tracks when he was stopped by the lower yard man, who said it was too dangerous because another car was coming. Employee #1 was run over and killed. It was not clear what Employee #1 had been doing by the track. He was equipped with a shovel and radio at the time of the accident, and it is speculated that Employee #1 had been planning to dig around the switch. He was a new employee, hired out of Local 94 just three days before the accident. The causal factors for this accident include the employer's failure to implement and maintain a system for ensuring employees comply with safe and healthful work practices; the employer's failure to implement a system for communicating with workers on matters related to occupational safety and health; the employer's failure to train workers in safe work practices at the Kaiser International yard; and the employer's failure to put controls in place that would safeguard workers during rail car movement.

railroad, railroad car, slope, untrained, run over, work rules, communication, boxcar

Accident: 170237507 - Killed In Fall From Boxcar 115358434 06/17/1996 2045 Continental Mills Inc

Employee #1 fell off a boxcar and was killed.

fall, boxcar, railroad car

Accident: 170577589 - Injured In Boxcar Explosion

Employees #1 through #3 and 14 coworkers, all fire fighters, were attempting to control or extinguish a burning boxcar. The boxcar contained 140,800 lb of sodium hydrosulfate that was stored in 32 bins, each weighing 4,400 lb. A fire started when one of the bins began to decompose. The fire fighters felt they had the situation under control when the boxcar exploded. Employees #1 through #3 sustained burns and injuries from flying debris.

fire fighter, boxcar, explosion, fire, struck by, burn, chemical, flying object, railroad car, chemical reaction

Accident: 200420024 - Killed When Crushed Between Boxcar And Loading Dock

Employee #1 was helping to move and place loaded railway boxcars. At the time of the accident, he was waiting in a 30 in. by 48 in. offset cavity of the loading dock for the last boxcar to pass before disconnecting the train engine from the boxcars. Apparently Employee #1 became caught by an appendage on a railway boxcar and he was pulled 26 ft along an 8.5 in. opening between the moving boxcar and the loading dock. He rotated at least three times, sustaining a crushed pelvis and abdomen. Employee #1 was pronounced dead at the scene by the local medical examiner's office.

crushed, loading dock, abdomen, caught by, clearance, railroad car, pelvis, railroad, work rules, boxcar

Accident: 200560027 - Killed When Struck By Particleboard Spacers

At approximately 9:55 a.m. on March 27, 1996, Employee #1 was using a forklift to unload pallets of 4 ft by 8 ft sheets of particleboard from a railroad boxcar. The particleboard had been laid flat on the pallets in banded units, and to prevent the load from shifting in transit, air bags had been placed between the units, with 4 sheets of particleboard standing vertically on each side of an air bag. Employee #1 deflated an air bag, unloaded one stack of particleboard, and then removed four sheets of spacers. He then dismounted the forklift and had just walked into the boxcar when the four remaining sheets of particleboard spacers fell, striking him on the head. Employee #1 was killed.

fall, off loading, railroad car, boxcar, unsecured, struck by, head, mech mat handling