Articles Tagged with ''train safety''

In the wake of a series of fatal and environmentally catastrophic train accidents, the railroad industry and federal regulators have agreed on a set of voluntary measures intended to increase the safety of crude oil train shipments.

In the wake of recent train derailments and oil leaks, the oil and natural gas industry says it is working collaboratively with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and America’s railroad industry to improve rail safety.
 

Fatalities in the cell tower industry, another train derailment spills oil and chemical safety were among this week’s top EHS-related stories as featured on ISHN.com.

Less than two months after a similar incident in North Dakota, a train carrying crude oil derailed yesterday in Pennsylvania, spilling an estimated 3-4,000 gallons of oil. Twenty-one tank cars of the 120-car Norfolk Southern Corp. train left the tracks at a turn near the Kiskiminetas River in Vandergrift, a small town in western Pennsylvania.

The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday issued a series of recommendations to the Department of Transportation to address the safety risk of transporting crude oil by rail. In an unprecedented move, the NTSB issued the recommendations in coordination with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

The Dec. 30^th train accident near Casselton, North Dakota caused an estimated $6.1 in damage – and promoted the evacuation of 1,400 residents. A preliminary report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) lays out the facts and figures behind the derailments and collision involving two BNSF Railway trains, but does not identify a cause.

A train transporting crude oil exploded in a giant fireball yesterday in North Dakota after hitting another train that had derailed. No injuries were reported, although the accident sent more than 2,400 people living within a five mile radius of the crash site to hastily set up shelters in Fargo.

I know that some people – perhaps many - believe that there is a “trade-off” between EHS and shareholder value. That is, that there is a “cost” to shareholders for achieving superior EHS performance. This is generally not true in my experience. As I will speak to later – I believe that EHS and financial performance more often than not move in the same direction.

Positive train control technology – which some in the railroad industry have opposed due to its cost – would have prevented the fatal Dec. 1st derailment in New York, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which has finished its on-scene investigative work.

The federal government’s semi-annual release of its regulatory agenda, a deadly commuter train derailment in the Bronx and Franken-French-fries are among this week’s top EHS- and health-related stories as featured on ISHN.com: